A cheap trick bereft of the Adi Chopra magic

Rating: 4/10 (13 December 2008)

There are numerous times in 'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi' when Surinder Sahni (Shah Rukh Khan) keeps saying that it's God who is scripting this love story. Well, if that's the case then the almighty happens to be a rather lousy scriptwriter. Aditya Chopra's anticipated directorial return is lukewarm; there may be an extraordinary love story behind every ordinary jodi according to the tag-line but the film is firmly ordinary. Chopra, unlike his other films doesn't cast the canvas wide this time, delving only into a marriage arranged by fate between Surinder and Taani (debutante Anushka Sharma somehow never rises above your average soap performance). But he keeps the length of the film the same, which stretches the story far too thin for it to be even remotely plausible.
SRK fits decently well into 'ordinary-man-trying-to-be-awkwardly romantic' garb as Surinder hitting the ji-spot with his humble Punjabi demeanor but his alter ego, Raj (the guise he assumes to attend dance classes with his wife!) is old SRK in a new bottle and not one bit refreshing. As if to emphasize the lunacy going on in the name of a story, Taani falls for Raj never realizing for one instant that it has been her husband all the time! Raj's over the top performance looks so cooked up that sometimes even you, let alone Taani, will wonder if it's two different people.
The film takes too long to build up, and about as pacy as a turtle on a morning walk. The repetitive moments (the whole dance gig outlasts its welcome), self referential gags (once again YRF's Dhoom gets a mention) and ungainly plot twists pretty much kill off any salvage value left in the film. This one won't warm the cockles of your heart, unless you are an SRK worshiper or Anuskha's college mate, a bunch of whom were right behind me screaming up a racket right all through.