Hadippa...Three Cheers!!!

Rating: 8/10 (13 December 2008)

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is a sweet love story that sweeps you away with its earnest emotions and imperfect characters that vouch of their virtues and vices just like you and me. The plot may be something you would be if not hugely, yet slightly skeptical about, but it works because of these very characters who breathe the same air, eat the same food, and dream a little dream just like you and me. The hero is an 'aam aadmi' who could be your neighbor, someone you see everyday on train or bus on your way to work. He wears sports shoes with dull color shirts and timeworn pleated pants; he is a man with ordinary looks almost like sarkari babus, shopkeepers or sales men from old Delhi or here more specifically, Amritsar. He is a man of mediocre stature and boasts of only unambitious common-man material needs. He is no 'Rahul' that thanks to recent breed of cinema is symbolic of rich chocolate boy image. But Surinder Sahni a.k.a. Shahrukh Khan can't resist the temptation to be 'Raj' 'naam toh suna hoga', again, the name and portrait he has immortalized since DDLJ. He is not Jim Carrey in The Mask who aspires to be a superhero to his alter ego. Garish in his makeover, with unsteady and unsure steps, Raj dances with his dream girl to make her laugh and fall in love. You don't see a black and white distinction between Suri and Raj and that's what transpires into a masterly screenplay and brilliant direction. There is a little Raj in Suri and vice-versa. Without fearing to give away much in this review, even though the story is largely predictable, the film exhibits an array of heartfelt scenes. There is a scene where Suri contemplates leaving a red rose with the breakfast he prepared for his wife. It's a beautiful scene that is suggestive of the protagonist's love that is throbbing to express itself. But Suri being what he is must contain his love where Raj is able to take it a leap above its counter self and voice his love from ridiculous to sublime. Another scene where a victorious Raj surprises you by crying for Suri who is slacking behind him in winning the same lady-love, gives you a tug in your heart. Music-wise 'Haule Haule' is one of the best songs to come out of Bollywood in a long time. It's earthy, colorful, with lyrics that describe the whole mood of the film. The pace of the film is tolerable, if not fast. Dialogs are not as good as Aditya Chopra's other films like DDLJ or Mohabbatein, but still they work because they are mouthed with sincerity and passion. But yes, the number of times the word 'Pyar' is used in the movie, pushes it over the borderline for high or too much sugar. May be as a promotion, the producers could have quizzed the audience on how many times the characters mouth that word! Vinay Pathak as Bobby; Suri's childhood friend is very effective. The newcomer Anushka Sharma was a brilliant choice. She is a complete natural but kudos to Aditya Chopra for sketching her character with subtlety and not making the audience suffer any melodrama by making her erratically jump into her sad past at every given opportunity. Finally, why Rab Newill really work? One word, which is also the final word-SRK.