Raanjhanaa

I must admit that my initial thoughts about Raanjhanaa were not the most positive.  That Dhanush was part of the movie was one of the prime reasons.  I really didn’t see the reason for picking up a one song wonder as a lead actor.  I wasn’t aware that he was a National Award Winner (Aadukalam – 2011).  Needless to say, the 30 year old, Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja aka Dhanush has made most critics (including this amateur one) eat humble pie.

Dhanush, coupled with director Anand L Rai (Tanu Weds Manu) gives us one of THE most intense love stories since Rockstar (which was still far more intense).  Raanjhanaa is a story of the wishful, yet unrequited love that Kundan (Dhanush) has for Zoya (Sonam Kapoor) who he lays eyes on as a ten year old.  That one look turns to puppy love, a romance and then just intense love for someone who starts meaning the world to you.

 

Anand L Rai has paid quite a bit of attention to the finer details in setting up the characters of the movie.  So, with Dhanush playing the lead role, it is established very early in the movie that Kundan is a 2^nd generation Allahabadi, born to the family of a Tamil priest.  To Rai’s credit, he also ensures that there is no camera angle covering Kundan’s father when some Tamil dialogues are delivered.

 

Kundan waits till High School to express his feelings for Zoya only to be “gleefully” slapped 16 times before he slashes his wrists and earns her love.  But the Zoya’s staunch Muslim father (Kumud Mishra) ensures that she is packed off to Aligarh to complete her studies.  Zoya returns a few years later with little or no memory of Kundan.  To make things worse, she is in love with Akram (Abhay Deol) who she has met at JNU Delhi.

 

Undeniably, Dhanush has exploded into Bollywood, much like his super hit song that has garnered over 70 million hits (all versions put together).  The part that he needs to be careful about now is to be choosy with his next role/s.  He gets to the screen a certain energy that was last seen with the cast of Kai Po Che (read Sushant Singh Rajput).  Unlike Sushant, our man is 30 (looks 20 though) and doesn’t have as much time.

 

Anand Rai gave us a decent movie – Tanu Weds Manu – a couple of years back.  I must say that he has learnt from his mistakes and paid attention to a lot of detail.  Stuff like costumes that most directors really don’t care too much about seem to be top on Rai’s agenda.  All the characters wear regular clothes and are in character.

 

The cast has given everything that they have.  Sonam Kapoor looks beautiful and despite her over the top performance, this one is probably her best to date and quite good.  Abhay Deol is restrained but the character demanded it.  The pick of the support cast is Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub who is fabulous.  And it is time that Swara Bhaskar gets lead roles in mainstream cinema and not just art house.

 

Rahman’s music as always will come across as average but will grow on you like nothing else.  If there is a flaw, it is the pace of 2^nd half where it starts meandering a bit before the climax which is revealed at the beginning itself because the movie is in flashback mode.  All said and done, Raanjhanaa is a well made movie.  Could have been better of course but definitely worth a dekko.  6 on 10.

 

Watch the trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER9vmhxFucg