why i love rab ne bana di jodi
Jan. 25th, 2009 10:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lobelia321Why I love the Hindi film Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, directed by Aditya Chopra for Yash Ray films (2008), starring Shahrukh Khan and Anushka Sharma, featuring music by Salim-Suleiman, sung by Sukhwinder Singh, Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal, and others.
• Haule Haule. This song is sung by Sukhwinder Singh, and I loved it before I ever set foot in the cinema. He sings it superbly, putting in gorgeous little flourishes and 'mms' and 'aas'; it is just heavenly. The lyrics (by Jaideep Sahni) are absolutely lovely.
When I saw the picturisation of this in the cinema, my heart well nigh stopped beating. It is one of the most beautifully picturised songs I have ever seen. The goofy harmonium line so wonderfully animates Shahrukh's goofy nerd-character Surinder. It is totally his song. When I saw him floating through Amritsar's lanes (to discover he's perched on a motorscooter), I was spellbound.
• The film has soul. The soul resides in the character of Surinder Singh. This is the nerdy moustachioed office clerk who falls in love with the young wild girl whose spirit has been crushed by bereavement. This story is so true and the character is so warm, I can forgive the film everything else.
• The details of Surinder's home life. The loving attention paid to the furniture in his kitchen, the tiles on his floor, the tap where he washes, the colour of his tiffin. The way he carefully wipes each plate and puts it back. I could have watched Surinder manoeuvring his way around his home for hours.
• The love story. This is such a romantic film. It is about an ordinary guy who is overwhelmed by the extraordinariness that is love, and I love the film for permitting an ordinary guy to experience this and be transformed by the experience.
• Shahrukh Khan. He brings Surinder to life. I forgive him all his decades of hamming for just this one role. He still hams it up a bit in the alter ego of Surinder because SRK, as not rarely in his films (think Duplicate) plays a double role in this movie, in true Shakespearean comedy-of-errors style. Critics have totally panned this alter ego character Raj. He grates on your nerves, is rash, looks absurd in various supposedly 'cool' outfits -- but!
Here is how I interpret all of this:
Critics have panned SRK as Raj. I see this as part of the movie's diegesis. This is Surinder trying to act as what he thinks a cool guy should be. So it's over the top and absurd; that is because Surinder has no clue how to be cool and the hamming of SRK becomes the desperate hamming of Surinder.
Critics have panned Surinder's flamboyant and 'crazy' friend, the hairdresser Bobby (played by Vinay Pathak) who is coded as covertly gay (with orange-coloured hair and campy mannerisms). Critics have asked how likely is it that a shy nerd like Surinder would have a friend like this? I would say, not unlikely at all. We all have 'unlikely' friends, often left over from childhood or school days. And Bobby is needed narratively-speaking; he is needed as a foil and a sounding board and he is the motor that gets the whole disguise-deception going.
Taani, the girl (played by Anushka Sharma), chooses the right guy. Critics have found it unlikely that she doesn't recognise her husband the nerd in the flimsy disguise of Raj. But duh, have these critics never ever seen a single comedy of errors Verwechslungskomödie in their lives? This is what happens in this genre: flimsy disguises enable the narrative to progress. It's not about little trivial bits of realism (is one moustache enough to change someone's appearance?) but about the truth about deception and expectations.
I thought the complex nuances brought about in the character Surinder's deception were wonderful. Surinder is culpable because he has lured Taani into the compromised romance. She doesn't know the man she loves is Surinder; she feels terrible because she is being unfaithful to her husband; and her husband knows that he made her fall in love. It is such an interesting moral dilemma.
I loved the final dance. I would have liked the moral choice to be brought out more here, but it was there in the music. I would also have liked the Raj character to have bled into the Surinder character a bit more at this point, but it sort of did because, in the end, Surinder had learned the dance steps as Raj, and I could imagine him now going a bit wild himself, moustache and all.
Anushka Sharma was a bit of a stick next to SRK. She is sweet but not up to him. Who can withstand SRK on screen and not be overawed or outshone? Kajol absolutely can. Anushka seemed a bit too in awe, and that was fine as long as he was Raj but when he became Surinder, she needed to take him more in hand and not be so in awe.
This is a totally chaotic post because my thoughts and emotions about this film are aswirl but I thought I needed to get them down now or I never will.
Oh, and my laptop came back from the laptop hospital sooner than expected!!! I love Apple.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-26 01:42 am (UTC)Maybe you should post some of these reviews at Amazon or somewhere people read a lot? You have so much interesting to say, lots of people who don't know Bollywood would be fascinated.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-26 11:12 pm (UTC)Right. I'm not moving. *stomps foot*
Oh, thank you for saying you're fascinated by my ramblings. I was feeling like a total idiotic ramble-pambler who couldn't string one coherent thought together. Especially after reading the incredibly knowledgeable posts of some real Bollywoodettes.... :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-28 12:14 am (UTC)Here's the official site: http://www.rabnebanadijodi.net/
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-28 12:26 pm (UTC)