Adi Ne Bana Di Jodi – 2
iView Author: crazyrals (Bangalore,India)
Email: crazyrals [at] gmail.com
Content: I had posted an article last month with the same title, which
was speculative in nature. The article can still be found
here: http://passionforcinema.com/adi-ne-bana-di-jodi
Since that post sounded like a preview of the movie I thought I should
post an article after watching the movie which would sound like a
review. But, its not a review; its just random thoughts and what I
felt about the movie.
I saw the movie on 15th Dec and I loved the movie. I went to the movie
with an open mind and I returned home happy and smiling. I have loved
Adi’s previous two movies as well, DDLJ and Mohabbatein. I loved Adi’s
dialogues in DTPH and Veer Zaara, which his dad Yash Chopra directed.
Basically, I am a big Yashraj fan because they pack in the romantic
punch like nobody else can. Others just imitate them and learn from
them, like KJo etc. The Chopras sense of screenplay[the romantic
aspect] is just unbeaten, whether its Lamhe, Silsila, Chandni, DDLJ or
whatever. Other writer/directors just copy them or get inspired by
them, but they can’t create the same magic. A case in point is is the
recently released ‘Dostana’, which went on to become a hit but the
soul was missing. Nowhere it looked like either smallB or JBraham had
fallen in love, they were just trying to create the atmosphere of love
and they just loved the idea of being in love; the moments that spark
off love were missing. Love was being concocted, they were forcing
themselves to fall in love. Anyways, that’s not what this post is
about.
Coming back to RNBDJ, the movie started off with a fantastic premise
and had a great last half hour. Since most people already know what
the movie is about, I shall not delve into that. But I do think that
the YRF bashing that’s happened was totally unnecessary and uncalled
for. Love is meant to be simple, so lets keep it simple. We don’t need
a total make-over of the hero to make him look different[referring to
Suri and Raj]. The make-over was just fine and worked for me because
the make-over was in the attitude and presentation, not style and
fashion. What Taani saw was a person with a different attitude and
zest in the personality, not some sci-fi make-up doll. The make-over
had to be practical too, so Suri can become Raj and vice-versa in not
more than 10-15 mins. So, that totally worked for me.
The movie was set in Amritsar and in Punjab people speak Punjabi and
they don’t say ‘hey bhagwan’ or ‘haye ram’, they say ‘rab di sau’,
‘rab da vasta’ and ‘haye rabba’. Knowing their bounds, being familiar
with the territory and using it to their advantage is the YRF
trademark, just as making underworld movies is Ramu’s cup of tea,
handling sensitive issues is Mani Ratnam’s forte, and making movies on
great indian weddings is Barjatiyas USP. So, nothing wrong with
excessive or incisive Punjabiyat. Howcome nobody complained when
Imtiaz Ali made JWM based on a Punju girl and ‘rab’ was invoked as
many times. That’s when I feel that YRF bashing is in vogue.
Anyways, once more coming back to the movie RNBDJ. I loved the
dichotomy that Suri faces by creating his alter-ego Raj. What started
off as a simple plan that could keep Taani occupied and make her happy
turns out to become his saddest moments as he watches Taani falling in
love with Raj. On one hand is his love for Taani as Suri and on the
other hand is Taani’s love for the virtual[unreal] character Raj.
Although he wants her to love him as Suri he cannot say it out to her
but wishes to wait and watch whether true love triumphs over momentary
happiness and pleasure. This concept was brilliant and very well
handled. The quest to find true love and and the quest to be
somebody’s true love.
What I did not like was the lousy wrestling crap. I am sure Adi could
have written a better scene to showcase Suri’s love for Taani rather
than fooling around with the wrestler to win a couple ticket for a
trip to Japan. In fact when the wrestling bout began, I was hoping
that SRK would be beaten black and blue and Taani would run up to him
showing her care and concern[as she was indifferent when they entered
the fest] and stop him from further assault, but that did not happen.
And what actually happened was probably keeping in mind the end credit
rolls.
What I liked was over the top ‘jat’ character Raj. SRK played that out
very well, getting the accent and the nuances perfectly right. In
fact, he gave a very balanced performance as the simple Suri who wants
nothing but Taaani’s smile and bring love back in her life. His body
language as Raj as well as Suri was fantastic. I liked the dialogues,
especially when the credits rolled at the end of the movie. I liked
the fact that when I walked out of a SRK movie I took home a Suri
Sahni and not a Raj/Rahul/SRK himself. I liked the portrayal of
selfless love, loving without asking for anything in return as in the
Jimmy Shergill and Jugal Hansraj characters in Mohabbatein. I liked
the songs, especially the ‘Haule Haule’ and ‘Tujh Mei Rab Dikhta Hai’.
Among the casting, Vinay was also very well cast and he is soon
becoming a bankable actor. Anushka Sharma had excellent screen
presence and she performed very well for a first timer, much better
than the Amrita Arora, Celina Jaitley etc who still can’t act to save
their lives. I think she will go a long way if she handles her career
properly. SRK was awesome, Adi’s direction and dialogues were
brilliant, cinematography was fine.
The screenplay of the movie was very close to DTPH, especially the
second half and the last half hour which ends with familiar situation
and similar kind of dialogues when Taani begins to describe Suri and
the last dance number happens while she recalls all the moments where
Suri tried to make her happy, bring joy to her, did things that would
make her smile.
All in all, it was a good movie with nice entertainment. I am planning
to watch it a couple of more times because I don’t know when next Adi
will direct a movie, hopefully within a decade.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
I have some issues with this movie still.
Mr. Suri is okay with shaving his moustache when he becomes Raj. He also professes great love for Taani but in the end he still insists on being accepted as Suri. What kind of love is that in which he is not able to let go of his ego? Yes you may say he is not comfortable being Raj (though it does not seem so from his portrayl) but then he does a lot of uncomfortable things for his love. why can’t he stay uncomfortable all his life if his love is so pure for Taani?
Why do we always have to make the heroine go for an ‘agni pariksha’ every time? What kind of a self-respecting man would accept any woman, and of all women his ‘true love’, being subjected to such a humiliation (after the final dance, behind the curtains, I really wished Taani would slap Mr. Suri)? Why would she be wrong if she ran away with Raj? Why should she not be a little selfish?
The movie starts with a realistic premise that a guy like Suri could have got a girl like Taani only through some unlikely circumstances and that he is willing to go all the way to make her love him. All is good till this point. But in the end, his selfless love disappears somewhere and the old chauvinist egoist Indian male appears who is not able to provide any happiness to his own wife but still can not tolerate it when she seeks her happiness in another man. Who wants to accepted in his moustached version when the girl clearly does not like that.
Let us flip this movie around and say the guy was smart and had to marry a naive village girl somehow. Now the girl tries hard and becomes a hep young women to win over his hubby. Would the movie show in the end that the hero accepted the girl as she was and she again starts dressing up as a village girl? Can Adi make such a movie? It is his own chauvinism that shows through Mr. Suri’s character. And I am pretty sure the character of Mr. Suri is actually modelled on Adi himself (Are you seeing this Rani dead, I am good with the moustache too??) But sorry Adi, there is no true love in this story. It looked promising till the first half but then it shone through that Indian male wants a hep wife whom he does not deserve, can not keep her happy but still wants her to live in his house and sacrifice her life and happiness for the a**hole of an husband since ultimately it is all about male chauvinism.
“Let us flip this movie around and say the guy was smart and had to marry a naive village girl somehow. Now the girl tries hard and becomes a hep young women to win over his hubby. Would the movie show in the end that the hero accepted the girl as she was and she again starts dressing up as a village girl? Can Adi make such a movie? ”
Actually there was such a movie called Bahurani, where Rakesh Roshan, refuses to marry Rekha because she is a village girl. Rekha then comes to city, does a make over into a city lass, and Rakesh falls in love with her. Thanks to my late night viewing, end up watching all this kinda stuff.
exactly. . And love isnt simple my friend its the most complex thing in the world. . Yashraj came close to exploring it with sathiya bt now they are back to the same regressive idiocy
@ P
There have been quite a few movies made with a girl coming from the village, getting a makeover & finally getting accepted the way she is.Apart from Bahurani pointed out by Ratnakar I vividly remember a tamil movie ( Sivaji Ganesan, Revathy, Suresh) called Marumagal which had a similar premise.If I’m not wrong the movie even was even remade into telugu & hindi.
Where did you see them falling in love in this movie? Did I miss something? That was my major problem with this movie aside from it’s regressive tone (ordained by God. I think God has more important issues to address – lol). SRK and Anushka showed no emotional connection not as Raj or Suri. It left me completely cold.
i do not know but in the post it has been repeated more than one time about end credits.I think you must be happy to see end credit as the ordeal was over.
I am not a sucker for romantic films, i did like ddlj expect the climax.Mohabattein well what i can say it went on ,on on, and on
@P[cmnt #1]:>>>He also professes great love for Taani but in the end he still insists on being accepted as Suri
looks like u missed out on something. suri was prepared to elope with taani as raj
>>>>why can’t he stay uncomfortable all his life if his love is so pure for Taani?
he wanted to be accepted for what he is. in fact, adi used this concept in mohabbatein as well when kim sharma says to her dad saurabh shukla ‘koi pyar kare to tumse kare…tumhe badal ke pyar kare to wo pyar nahi sauda kare’
>>>>Why would she be wrong if she ran away with Raj? Why should she not be a little selfish?
in my post i have clearly mentioned tat i like the selfless love tat adi professes. even in ddlj raj cud have acted selfish and eloped with simran, but he wanted to win over the family. even in mohabbatein jimmy shergill and jugal hansraj want their loved ones to be happy and so they love selflessly.
Why is this crappy movie being discussed so much? its not worth it. Some new hollywood movies were released this week. Hasn’t anyone wathced them? Pl post a review if anyone has.
Manjushaa,
I feel you have a very condescending tone in general in many of your posts. Post # 8 was no different.
If someone wants to discuss a movie. Let him discuss it. If you don’t like it or find it crap, don’t come to this thread.
But don’t question why its being discussed and don’t decide the worth of a move for the next person. Please.
Majushaa is right.
I thought this is a forum where people who love sensible movies can come together and discuss. Frankly, if people start discussing movies like RNBDJ, Dostana etc. here, you might as well invite so-called ‘filmmakers’ like Karan Johar, Rakesh Roshan, Aneez Bazmee, David Dhawan etc. And honest filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap, Sriram Raghavan, Dibakar Banerjee, and Vishal Bhardwaj can go find themselves another blogsite. Imagine, guys, continue with your discussion of such stupid films and you won’t ever have a director of Kundan Shah’s calibre posting his thoughts. As such, this blog was growing pretty well. Please don’t throw a spanner in the works.
“If someone wants to discuss a movie. Let him discuss it. If you don’t like it or find it crap, don’t come to this thread.”
Actually Vishesh, people like me and Manjusha find all this utter crap and we feel it’s our duty to stop it in keeping with PFC’s stature. That’s why we have visited this thread. We sincerely don’t wish to see such threads anymore. If you wish to discuss such films, please do so elsewhere.
Last point: Who allowed this review of RNBDJ in the first place? I’d request the moderator (or whoever is in control) to please reject such stuff in the future. It’s just not PFC.
@ Mohanlal & Manjushaa
Whoever gave you the impression that only
“certain” specific type of movies must be discussed here? And to question PFC as to how an article has been allowed to get published is sheer audacity & arrogance from your end.If you find this discussion to be crap, pls stay away as Vishesh rightly said.If you want to review some
“good” movie, please do it- is anybody preventing you from doing so.I am surprised to even read such comments from people like you over here.Whatever makes you think that you are the
“custodians” of good cinema?
Sorry Manjusha and Mohanlal,
I disagree with you. I dislike RNBDJ but what is insensible to you might be sensible for many. None of us have the right to decry the others choice. If you dont like the film, then don’t read this article in the first place. PFC is not a place where some directors can be declared as bad and some as good. Everybody has a right to their opinion.
Mohanlal the vigilante, performing duty to save the Cinema, eh.
You with your higher ground of cinematic sensibility, decide what is good and what is grand. Who am I ? Nobody, Sir ji. I don’t think I can counter argue that point.
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Nothing to take against Kundan bhai, he made some useless movies like Dil Hain Tumhara and Hum to Mohabbat Karega. Now, because of that we should ban Kundan Shah, no? Soch lo Mohanlal, the vigilante.
I will still like to know more about them from Kundan bhai himself, if ever wants to go through that ordeal again :-) Of course, cos I know he is a film-maker who loves his craft.
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I mean, if talking about RNBDJ and Dostana can bring PFC on its knees then I must say that these movies made the maximum “impact” and then they deserved to be talked more :-) Actually, a thesis is must.
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Lastly, you showed me the door. Alas, wish I could show you the window to the cinematic world. I am myself myopic. At least, I know that.
I know its a free forum and can’t ask for topics to be banned. But here are somethings i observed in past few weeks.
There have been posts on Mumbai Meri Jaan, Alfred Hitchcock, South Indian Movies of 80’s, Ed Norton over past couple of weeks. And the comments they have got are in single digits.
I dont have anything against RNBDJ but please man, we are just having an overkill of it. It is a plain average movie in my opinion, and does not deserve this many posts and discussion.
Yeah i know its individual opinion, but precisely, the reason i had joined PFC was hoping to meet like minded people, with whom i cud discuss on movies which otherwise none even discusses about anywhere else. Sorry to say this, but have been feeling somewhat let down.
If we are going to spend all the time, just discussing RNBDJ, then what is the difference between PFC and the umpteen movie sites out there.
@Mohanlal,
Thats a Fanatic take. Not going in to the nomenclature kind of things as that takes away the right spirit from any discussion.
If you are all for sensible or good cinema then best way is to watch them and discuss them, write about them rather than to insert a stick in to the running wheels of other’s vehicles who may have different desitinations to go.
Hope to see your fruitful comments on the posts devoted to sensible cinema.
PFC has many such posts.
You said it Ratnakar! That’s what I meant. I mean, how much discussion are we going to have on RNBDJ? Is it some kind of a masterpiece with layers of meaning, classy direction and exemplary acting? Nothing of the sort. It’s just run of the mill or even lower than that. We have already had so many reviews and hundreads of comments. Most of them inconsequential. Majority of the comments could be put in four categories – I like Shahrukh, I hate Shahrukh. YRF movies are crap and what’s wrong in liking a YRF movie? How much more time and energy are we going to waste on this? People like me have the option of not coming to this post but then what’s the point of having such a blog of ‘passionate cinema lovers’ when the discussions don’t rise above the level of banter by college friends on their regular adda? Shouldn’t we be little discerning?
If people are happy discussing rank ordinary mainstream films to this extent, it tells a lot about the quality of this forum. It’s not about anybody’s personal opinion. It’s there for everyone to see.
Thank you Mohanlal for support. I was thinking of not visiting PFC so regularly as all you get here is Shahrukh and Karan Johar. That has been my experience since I started logging in. But I keep visiting it habitually.
Ratnakar,
The posts on RNBDJ are not stopping the posts on other intelligent posts. If they happen to be single digit, let it be.
Ho sakta hain people who happen to read stuff on RNBDJ may end up reading other posts and get a feeling that this site is meant for Cinema, in general. They may start contributing to other posts. That’s how I started.
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Otherwise we are doing the same stuff that normally happens with big production houses where they try to control the flow of information for their movies or products and try to kill the golden goose who helped in their cause.
Ratnakar Sadasyula -
“If we are going to spend all the time, just discussing RNBDJ, then what is the difference between PFC and the umpteen movie sites out there.”
You said it, Ratnakar.
As for all those who took offence to my post, my apologies. I consider myself neither a ‘vigilante’ nor a ‘custodian’ of good cinema. I’m just someone who loves cinema, period. It could be any genre. It could be an indie or a mainstream film. If it succeeds in getting me totally involved, I’m game. If it’s the kind where the scriptwriter and the director take me for a nitwit who will gobble up anything thrown his way, then I’d rather walk out and leave the field clear for others who revel in it. Just like I’m now leaving this thread for those who find such movies worthy enough to be discussed.
Swear I won’t be a ‘Kabab mein Haddi’. Have a nice time, folks.
@Manjushaa,
Sorry for reacting to your extreme kind of point of view.
PFC is an open platform and its up to you (any individual) to take up or down its level of discussion.
You have something specific level in your mind, make an intelligent post on the cinema you like. Make intelligent, informative comments on suitable posts you like and maintain that standard in the discussion which you are looking for.
You find support in Ratnakar’s comment but Have you made comments on posts Made by Ratnakar, which he complains that posts on very good cinema dont get enough comments.
Why they dont get comments? You as a reader, who love to see quality posts on cinema, are not taking a trouble to make comment on such posts.
You (anybody) are not paying anything to read articles on PFC. PFC can not fulfil everybody’s demands. Its not run by tax, which you guys must be paying to Income Tax department.
You want to see standard, please bring it. Please Make an input.
Different people think differently. Very intelligent people have been found opining that Indian government should not spend much on Primary and middle level schools and should invest heavy money on higher education. Other kind of intelligent people say dont invest in education from graduation upwards.
An average cine watcher is happy discusssing film stars and their films, which you find below standard.
But then you and many other people making complaints are not seen on the posts dedicated to quality cinema. so that leaves one confused.
Discuss A shyam Benegal in same force and cover the space so that it may appear that that kind of cinema is also popular among people.
But then people just read and keep silence.
Revolution starts from self.
Sorry again for reaction.
@ 18 Mohanlal,
Sorry for my over the top sarcastic remarks if they hurt you.
That’s the whole point you made. If a movie gets you involved you want to talk about it. So why put down a movie which got other people involved.
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I can understand you did not like RNBDJ at all. I respect that stand. But if someone else liked it and found something interesting, let them talk out too. Who knows, you may also start agreeing with their POV. If not, its OK to comment about how you feel and not how others should feel or not to comment at all and move on to more interesting thread. That’s all I meant.
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I would not want you to leave PFC sir, just because there was too much Rab over here :-)
@To All,
Wait till Dec 25th, then RNBDJ will stop!!! Ghajini will start
ha ha ha…
Nothing offensive here but like what ratnakar said sometime i feel that we are focussing too much time in either praising or bashing YRF films. I dont just understand that why cant we treat all the movies in same platform…at last a movie should be discussed not a production house…
Vishesh,
Thanks for your sincere comments.
BTW, I said I’ll leave this thread, not PFC.
See ya at some other post.
@ Mohanalal
I echo Vishesh’s views here.Apologies from my side too for being a bit too harsh in my response to your comment.I feel all of us have a space over here on PFC.Its just that whats passionate to be someone need not be passionate to someone else.So please dont go away my friend.I am sure you’ll have lots of “your” moments too
PFC is an open forum. if ppl feel strongly abt some movie or want to tear apart a movie, they r welcome to do so. instead of making snide comments/remarks they can do well to spend tat time in putting up constructive posts on movies of their likes/dislikes
Hey guys,
A movie is a movie. What we all want to know is what works in a movie – aesthetically, artistically, and even commercially. I am sure very curious to know as to what can be done to improve a movie like RNBDJ. And just saying it is an average movie is not enough. Enlighten us about why you think it is bad or average. What stops it from being great? A lacunae in script, bad direction, poor acting? RNBDJ may not become the shining light of cinema ever but it certainly could have been another JWM which many people seemed to like on this board.
this is the umpteenth RDBDJ review on PFC. Do we really need so many review of a single film? moreover, this particular review doesnt even offer anything new. Just some public display of affection for YRF. There should be at max two reviews and then people can use the respective comments space to express their opinions.
RNBDJ will be discussed because it’s been the biggest release in weeks! And as I notice, since Manjushaa’s post number 8, we are only discussing what to discuss and what not to discuss! It is completely ok to have 50 posts on one film! Big deal! Dont click on it if the title doesnt interest you. The ones who are interested, will discuss it. This is a site for film lovers and film lovers will be of every kind. Who is stopping anyone on writing on Billy Wilder and Kamal Hassan? Go ahead and write ! We should not comment on other’s choice of topics. If the topic has gone through the Moderators on PFC, then they must have passed some quality check. We need to trust them on that.
Coming back to RNBDJ, I really liked the first half but the second half was totally messed up. I mean, this is a love story, and I saw no love happening. Suri’s love-at-first-sight was beautiful and convincing. But Taani’s? I am sorry, but one divine intervention scene at The Golden Temple does not amount to falling in love for me. When did she fall in love with Suri? Wasn’t she just planning to elope with Raj? It left me unmoved.