AmreekanDesi

Remember those days when you loved chewing gum? You could go on and on for hours at stretch, before finally getting sick and tired of having the rubbery piece travel between the various extremities of your mouth.

Sometimes film makers do that with movies. And we get Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. It starts off fun and happy, but drags on and on for hours before you start wishing for it to end.

Shahrukh Khan is King. No doubts about that. He is the king who never seems to age. Or so we used to think till his 43 years started peeking through the 25 year old facade somewhere in the middle of the song and dance and fooling around.

Reminds me of one of those Math questions from high school. 8 years back he could play kids 10 years younger, but in 7 years he will be double the age of those kids as of today.

About the movie, by now very likely you all know the story, but here’s a brief outline.

Shahrukh Khan is this bhola bhala gaon (Amritsar!) ka scooter driving government employee. He is attending the wedding of his professor’s (who loves him, btw) daughter, when suddenly they get news that the groom’s baraat had an accident and everybody died. Professor saab has a heart attack, and his dying wish, that his daughter marry SRK.

Chat mangni and pat byaah later, SRK suddenly is married to the most beautiful girl he has ever met. The girl though categorically announces that she will be a good wife (by cooking lunch for him everyday) but will never be able to love him.

Now starts the tale of love deception. Nice boy SRK shaves off his mustache, dons tight clothes, and goes around wooing his lady love. Only she doesn’t know that the person flirting with her is actually her husband.

Lamest extra marital affair. Ever.

The first half is fun. Seriously. At one point, a certain non believer couldn’t help but feel amazed at how SRK brings life to a movie with his unique brand of acting.

Alas, the movie soon moves into the K-rap territory symbolized by Ekta Kapoor and her brand of citizen journalism. The same guy who led his wife into this mess starts doubting her loyalty. WTF? The story stretches and meanders through Amritsar’s roads for much of the second half of the movie.

This movie doesn’t do a lot for women and their empowerment. Dad dies and the girl has to marry a person of his choice. The girl’s idea of marriage is just packing a lunch dabba for the husband. The husband is this geeky freaky game playing person out to manipulate the wife.

Ekta Kapoor has achieved what she set out to do. Down with Naari Ekta! (Gee, that’s the best pun ever)

Eventually everybody is happy and loyal again. A good rub was what they both needed. Rub Ne Bana Di Jodi.

They did some very cool things with the credits at the end, so dont get up from your seat as soon as the movie ends. Watch the entire credit listing, and prizes for the first person to name  Vinay Pathak’s very own personal valet. Talking of Vinay Pathak – superb performance. He does a great job as SRK’s Punjabi boy best buddy. As for Punjabi, when are we going to get some actors who don’t kill Punjabi? Punjabi is a fun language, and sounds very cool, but  the way SRK says rab, i just hear massage, and i don’t think that that is what is being referred to.

All said and done, watching the movie in New York amidst a predominantly Indian crowd, eating Samosas, drinking Chai, we will say we enjoyed the show. Its a nicely done movie. Worth a watch for Shahrukh fans. As long as you don’t think much during the movie you will enjoy it.

If you want other options, go check out Slumdog Millionaire. That is the real deal. Review coming up next.

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Hindi, Dec 2008
Rating: 3.5/5

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