Utterly charming fare!

Rating: 7/10 (14 December 2008)

Okay, so I saw the new Shah Rukh Khan film directed by Aditya Chopra and--no points for guessing right--I LOVED it. "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" has the sketchiest plot, but thoroughly endearing performances by Shah Rukh and confident new find Anoushka Sharma. Vinay Pathak was very good, too, playing the usually thankless hero's best friend role. This is probably the first Yashraj film to be shot in India in a long time. We are shown Amritsar, its Golden Temple, but mostly the bustling lane where Shah Rukh lives in a gorgeous rambling old-world house with courtyard and barsaati that I immediately wanted to own.
Shah Rukh gets better and better, once again playing two characters in the same film. There would have been no film without his performance. I loved the decency and diffidence of his Surinder Sahni character, who mans a help-line for the State utility company: Punjab Power here; lighting up your life, ji. To reveal any more would rob whatever tiny element of surprise the film has. I reiterate: Shah Rukh's phenomenal success allows him to inhabit characters that are compellingly real. During his struggling days, he was so full of himself, so desperate to prove himself and to succeed, there was no room for a character. Audiences saw the same abrasive smart Aleck in film after film, until he hit the big time. Once stardom came, the actor in Shah Rukh was able to emerge. For the past few years, every character (with the possible exception of "Don") he played has been immensely watchable: the dignified Kabir Khan in "Chak De India", "Om Shanti Om"'s hapless Om Prakash Makhija and oversexed bratty Om Kapoor, and "Paheli"'s lovelorn shape-shifting ghost, to name a few.
I am blown away by the poise and professionalism of recent first-time leading ladies. One would never guess they are débutantes: Deepika Padukone was almost scarily self-assured in "Om Shanti Om", and Anoushka doesn't lag far behind. She doesn't appear to possess Deepika's megawatt glamor, but fills the girl-next-door requirements of this film admirably, while singing, dancing (full marks here), and emoting like a filmi veteran. Anoushka wears understated salwar-kameez for most of the film with a spectacular collection of "aari" and "phulkaari"work dupattas...now there will be a huge spike in their popularity. Very sad that the one-of-a-kind "phulkaari" ooparnas that I was thrilled to find this past March at a Taj Blue Diamond artisanal exhibition/sale (and for which I plonked down a bundle) will soon be seen on every Harinder, Gurinder, and Jatinder Singh and Kaur. Amend that: the Harinders and Gurinders have always been wearing them, but now the rest of India will catch up.
The BIG item number of the movie: Anoushka imagines a filmi song sequence where Shah Rukh's "Raj" character sings and dances with five heroines in a colorful homage to the various eras of Hindi films: Kajol as Nargis (Kajol, in a simple white saree and black blouse, has never looked more beautiful.), while SRK plays a Chaplinesque Raj Kapoor; Bipasha Basu as Vyjayantimala (makes an interesting pair with Shah Rukh, wonder if they'll be cast together in a film soon...) with SRK as a noddy and natty Dev Anand; Lara Dutta as a Helen-type (there will only be ONE Helen, Lara's valiant efforts don't even come close to the real thing) while SRK channels a suave Shammi Kapoor; Preity Zinta as a Technicolor Mumtaz paired with SRK's Rajesh Khanna, and, finally, Rani Mukherjee looking amazingly like the "Khel Khel Mein" Neetu Singh with SRK Rishi Kapoor. Must say, however, that the song itself isn't memorable despite the gimmicky mix 'n' match lyrics taken from old movie songs, but the visuals make up for it. Surprisingly for a Yashraj film, the music is not brilliant, but merely serviceable.
Also saw trailers for "Billo Barber", the next Shah Rukh film costarring Irfan Khan and Lara Dutta (they play husband and wife) with SRK as a very famous movie star (hmmm...hasn't he done this before?), and the next Yashraj offering--located comfily once more in NRI land--called "New York", starring John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, and Neil Nitin Mukesh with some sort of a tense 9/11 plot line.
Glossary: "aari" and "phulkaari" - types of embroidery that originated in Punjab...I learned this on my last trip to India.