By Sarjit Kaur | Movie Review |
Funny, witty, moving and profound with significant lessons to experience and take home. One minute we were laughing, the next reflecting and before we knew it, tears just rolled down uncontrollably. Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani, a family drama playing at TGV cinemas. Brought to you by Karan Johar, the same producer who made the blockbusters – Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in 1998 and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham in 2001.
Karan addresses the significant generation gap challenge in families and how judgement, gender bias and control become the stumbling block in relationships. Once these prejudices are released, unconditional love begins to organically find place in the home. But it takes 3 to tango… 3 generations.
Karan brings themes on patriarchy system and also matriarchy system, body shaming, gender stereotyping and the cancelling or judgement culture, where we tend to cancel people in our lives easily, only to regret later. He sheds light on how societal and cultural norms dictate the way we compliantly live, at the expense of casting our dreams and purpose aside.
The casts were excellent in the portrayal of their respective roles namely:
- Alia Bhat, a Bengali TV news anchor and female activist with a Queen’s English mother and a Kathak dancer father
- Ranveer Singh, a flamboyant, loud, witty and colourful Punjabi boy, who is a traditionalist at heart and lives by his family’s conditioning
- Jaya Bachan, the grandmother stronghold who dictates her family dynamics and runs a Ladoo business empire
- Dharmendra, the grandfather with dementia
- Shabana Azmi, the poetic lover and grandmother who revisits her once-in-a lifetime soulmate
Karan presents two love stories here, a bonus and hence the 3-hour duration! Rocky and Rani, a couple with contrasting personalities meet after reuniting their grandfather and grandmother respectively, who met back in 1978 over a poetic encounter.
The young couple falls in love and decides to live with each other’s families (individually and separately) for 3 months before getting married (food for thought!). Therein, Karan shows the striking dissimilarities between the Bengali and Punjabi cultures, but in a fun way. The couple became conscious of the family that they are marrying too, ever present in the backseat.
Old Hindi songs are rekindled which stirred emotions. Flashbacks took us back in time and boom, we were back in the present! Filming was done in Mumbai, New Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, rejuvenating the urge to book the next flight there again. Alia’s minimalist looks in simple sarees yet creative blouses are an eye-catcher. But most of all, we love her for her personality and the causes she stands for and champion, voicing them in a balance of a masculine and feminine way, much to the rejection of old school practitioners.
Karan demonstrates how unfavourable patterns in a family repeat until one member awakens to redeem their destiny and cut old chords thru awareness, voicing perspectives objectively and doing their personal work.
Story line is real and relatable to our challenges in families and societies. You reflect and see yourself and even certain family members living the screen story, both the dominant and passive members. Syntax and language use are definitely current and appealing to Gen Y and Gen Z. Translation is excellent including verbatim captures on Ranveer’s Punjabi wayre of a speakinger English.
A treat, medicine and therapy for all 3 generations in a family. A must watch! And bring all 3 groups if you can. Let the movie do the talking and bridge the generation gap, that may be supressing the love and dreams that we collectively hold in our hearts.
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