Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

I went for this movie with zero-expectation just to watch SRK after a long interval of more than a year and I didn't get disappointed. Seriously, it is a very ordinary movie which takes up an age-old idea (of arranged marriage) and adds all kinds of 'spices' and SRK to it just to cater to a very specific kind of audience, which includes SRK fans and YRF loyals or time-pass movie goers.


Surinder Sahni cannot be 'one' single man. There are many contradictions within this character. The man leads a dull, boring, monotonous life with his yellow suitcase, yellow tiffin, yellow car and a yellow bed sheet... (i might have missed other yellow objects around him). And he accepts the fact that he is indeed a boring person. Now, he decides to change his personality just to surprise his young, vibrant, newly-wedded wife. He turns himself into the "movie-hero" who makes his Taani ji smile. The surprising part is that he looks extremely comfortable in this new transformation as if it came naturally to him as soon as he bleached his hair and shaved his moustache.



He flirts with his wife posing as Raj, her dance partner, till she starts developing feelings for him. As soon as he observes that his wife is falling in love with another man (which actually is he himself in a new avatar), the husband within him wakes up and decides to judge Taani based on the decision she makes. That was something i didn't like at all in this character. Till he was extracting fun by spending time with her, dancing with her, being close to her, things were fine. He could have done all this being her husband. Things would have been much less complicated. God forbid if Taani would have ran away with Raj, Sahni ji would have had to live like Raj the whole life. May be the director didn't think this way... or he was sure that Taani would be like other pativrata naris and choose her husband to spend the life with.


The movie began well when the 2 main characters were etched on screen but then it turned into a mish mash of older movies. The golgappa competition, the bike chase-fight sequence and the wrestling competition were like useless additives in the movie.


Many scenes reminded me of DDLJ. The way Taani opens the window and stays there for a while looks like Kajol's introduction scene. Then, i guess the bed and even the mosquito-net was the same as the one in DDLJ. Remember the scene when Kajol is sleeping and she wakes up to the tune of 'Tujhe dekha to ye jaana sanam'? There is an almost similar shot in this movie. And then there is a scene in this movie when Taani, in a very tense moment, is sitting and waiting for Raj. The line which came to my mind was "Mujhe yahan se le chalo Raj". And after a few sentences, Taani ji repeats the same dialogue delivered by Kajol, 13 years back. There were some other scenes too, which i can't remember right now. If only i carried my note-pad and a pen to the theatre. :)


Haan... there were scenes which reminded me of Dil Chahta Hai too. The "Phir milenge" song starts at exactly the same moment as "Woh ladki hai kahan". It is a fun song with SRK teamed-up with 5 current heroines imitating 5 yesteryear's heros. The song is picturised well and is sung by my favourite, Sonu Nigam. Another scene which seems to be inspired from DCH is the scene when Taani realizes that her husband is her rab. She shuts her eyes and asks god to show his face to her and who else but Surinder ji's face is projected, just like the moment after the opera when Akash realizes that he has fallen in love with Shalini. What yaar... give us something new.


After so much criticism it would be unfair if I don't mention the "Haule Haule" song which is the highlight of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. I loved it. The picturization is very casual and makes the audience fall in love with Surinder ji.


The movie ends like million other movies when the 0n-the-verge-of straying-wife realizes the sanctity of marriage and returns to her husband. My favourites among such movies are Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Gharonda.