February issue 2009

By | Arts & Culture | Movies | Published 15 years ago

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’s tagline — “There is an extraordinary love story in every ordinary jodi” — neatly sums up the concept behind the movie. However, there is nothing really extraordinary about the movie itself.

Jodi starts out in typical Bollywood fashion. Taani (Anushka Sharma), the leading lady, is all set to marry the man of her choice when things take an unexpected turn: the groom dies on the way to the wedding. Her father (played by M.K. Raina) suffers a massive heart attack. On his deathbed, he asks his daughter to marry Surinder (Shahrukh Khan), his favourite student and somebody he had hoped his daughter would marry. The humble Surinder, who was smitten by Taani the moment he had set eyes on her (at her abandoned wedding ceremony) ends up marrying Taani. But marriage doesn’t ensure love. The bold and vivacious Taani tells Surinder she cannot love him. And so the tiffin-carrying, simple and shy Surinder Sahni undertakes a mission to win her over. He transforms himself into the hip, flirtatious Raj — the other Shahrukh Khan we see in the promos of the movie — who enters a dance competition as her partner.

No prizes for guessing that Surinder eventually wins Taani over. The story is sweet, silly and sentimental; frankly, more is expected from Aditya Chopra, the director of the super hit Dilwalay Dulhaniya Le Jayen Gay.

The film has its moments, though. Especially funny are the scenes showing Raj’s discomfort in the tight-fitted jeans he has to don as part of his new guise and also Surinder’s, when he has to eat biryani after gobbling platefuls of gol guppay in an eating competition. But comedy aside, the movie seems to lack something. Even the medley remix with special appearances by Bollywood hotties Kajol, Bipasha Basu, Lara Dutta, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukherjee fails to lift the movie.

The saving grace of the movie is Shahrukh Khan, who lights up the screen with his consummate acting skills and plays the almost-double role of Raj and Surinder with aplomb. Other than Khan, Anushka Sharma impresses in her debut role.

All in all a soppy movie, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi can be viewed at least once for King Khan.