In Raanjhanaa, director Anand L Rai returns to familiar territory of unrequited love which he'd explored with some success in his previous movie Tanu weds Manu. As with that movie, this movie also set in the Hindu heartland, in this case, a vivid & colorful Benares. Here too, the hero played by Dhanush falls head over heels for the lady Sonam Kapoor.
Dhanush plays Kundan, a Tamil Brahmin born & brought up in Benares whose ancestors had moved to be priests in a local temple. As a boy, he comes upon Zoya, the daughter of an affluent Muslim professor and it is eternal love at first sight for him. After several years of persistent pursuit, nay stalking, umpteen slaps and a slashed wrist, Zoya finally relents and reciprocates only to find the age old cliche of differing religions being raised and her parents pack her off to study at Aligarh initially & therafter, at JNU. While at JNU, she falls in love with the idealist student leader Abhay Deol. However, Kundan remains obsessed with his love for her and awaits her return and when she returns, he is devastated to know that she has not only forgotten about him, but is also in love with someone else.
The first hour of the movie sails through smoothly with many a light moment set in the earthy & colorful milieu of Benares capturing the city in all its rustic charm. However, as soon as the movie moves out of the Benares to Delhi & beyond and tries to dabble in issues such as campus politics and hot social issues in news, the narrative feels contrived & comes unstuck.
Despite its several flaws, the movie remains eminently watchable for its positives. For one, Rai has made this movie with lot of heart and national award winning actor Dhanush, making his Bollywood debut, has given a sparkling performance and has carried the movie through on his slender, yet very able shoulders. Sonam Kapoor looks good and has an elegant screen presence, but still has a some way to go in terms of performance especially in the more emotional scenes. The leads are ably supported by the stellar cameos by Mohammad Zeeshan Ayub as Kundan’s best friend Murari and Swara Bhaskar as Bindiya, Kundan’s childhood friend who eternally pines for him. The movie benefits to a great measure from A.R. Rahman's music which blends nicely with the proceedings and some splendid cinematography which captures the city of Benares in all its colourful glory.
FLAWED .. YET, DEFINITELY WORTH A WATCH !
No comments:
Post a Comment