Can Aditya Chopra pull it off?
Has anyone visited the Yash Raj Films website recently?
They’ve unveiled the first look for Aditya Chopra’s upcoming directional venture “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi“. Below the poster, which by the way is quite interesting, there is the following “Film Overview”:
Aditya Chopra’s third directorial venture after eight years, “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi” starring Shah Rukh Khan, will remind audiences of the magic touch that has made “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” the longest running motion picture in Indian cinema history. Indeed the jodi of Adi and SRK will once again be a treat for film audiences and the romantic confection of “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi” looks set to capture hearts across the globe all over again.
That’s quite the hefty promise there, wouldn’t you say? After all, it’s a well-known fact that DDLJ has been running in at least one cinema hall for 13 years now. In a day and age where a film is considered an absolute blockbuster if it manages to remain in theaters for 7 weeks, the DDJL train has been smoothly charging forward, now approaching 700 weeks. That, my friends, is nothing short of astounding. So to set the expectations going in that Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi can “capture hearts” in a similar fashion is a tall task indeed.
Of course the question is, can Aditya Chopra pull it off?
Well, some will point to the recent string of flops and generic, lifeless disappointments that the once proclaimed “Numero Uno” production house has dished out and mass marketed to audiences recently and cynically predict doom for Chopra’s third directional venture. They will go by the dismal performances of nearly all the dozen or so flops he’s backed in just the last 2 and a half years, and declare Yash Raj Films as a sinking ship that even Captain Chopra can not save.
I, however, being an optimist, and yes I’m willing to admit that I’m still a fan, will say that I think he can pull if off and I truly hope that he does. Because you see, if he somehow manages to disappoint with RNBDJ, then not only will his reputation as a film-maker and the reputation of Yash Raj Films suffer an immense, perhaps irreparable blow, but us loyal fans will also be persecuted by way of humiliating ridicule for sustaining our faith in him.
Now this faith does not come from blind loyalty alone. After all there was a reason why Aditya Chopra achieved such a high level of success and all the media hype that comes with it. In the not-so-distant past, it was virtually undeniable that this man was the most influential trend-setter in Hindi cinema, a man who had his fingers on the pulse of the ever-evolving tastes of the audiences and thus managed to produce (and in many cases wrote at least the story if not the screenplay) a string of crowd-pleasing, modern day masala entertainers which Indian audiences, domestic and abroad, enthusiastically embraced. One can argue with a great deal of validity that these films were illogical, fluffy, escapist fares which had very little in the way of grounded realities. But when were they ever promoted as being hard-hitting realistic cinema? All they ever promised were a complete package of big stars, hit music, eye-candy locations and a enjoyable 2.5 hours of big screen entertainment. And for what it’s worth, the films delivered more often than not.
In fact, the years 2004 to 2006 catapulted Aditya Chopra and the Yash Raj Films factory to even greater heights.Veer Zaara, Hum Tum, Dhoom, Bunty Aur Babli, Salaam Namaste, Fanaa and yes, Dhoom 2 were all big successes. It also gave mainstream credence to the Metrosexual hero and metro centric themes/characters, and of course provided an added boost to the star-power of Saif Ali Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukherjee, Preity Zinta, Hritik Roshan and, of course, Shah Rukh Khan.
Let’s cut back to the present day, and it’s clear that Aditya Chopra is at a crossroads. “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi” will either go on to become a huge success, the blockbuster film YRF needs to rejuvinate the production house and reinstate the general audiences faith and confidence in their brand of films, or it will tank and take down with it all the success that they’ve enjoyed since the mid-90’s. As stated earlier I’m banking my hopes on the former scenario, and wishfully think that this could be the turning point Chopra and company so desperately needs to “turn things around”. Who knows, it could very well be the reason why Aditya Chopra, after a long 8-year hiatus, made the decision to once again direct.
Aside from the fact that Chopra has a proven track record of success, what makes me personally hold out hope is the first look itself. The middle-class neighborhood setting, and the central “looks” of the central characters are intriguing. Obviously Shah Rukh’s character is not the “young, vibrant, cool stud” typical of Yash Raj Film heroes. And that in itself is quite promising. I’ve always enjoyed SRK portraying those down-to-earth character, middle-class characters who struggle as much as you and I. Here its rather evident that he’s playing an older man with awkwardly uptight body language, a conservative, serious, umm, nerdy middle-aged, middle-class man. The other half of the “Jodi”, played by the young newcomer Anushka Sharma, provides us with the rest of the story. A young bride with a mischieviously look in her eyes, the perfect (even if obvious) foil to what we can presume to be her husband (or perhaps husband to be?).
If our very own RK was on the money when he broke the news, or the speculations rather, that “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi” is a re-working of “My Fair Lady”, well then I’d say that Aditya Chopra is on the right track. At 40+ years of age and after repeatedly playing the “Raj/Rahul” rich guy from affluent family falls in love type roles, it would be a refreshing change of pace (once again after Chak De India and Swades) to see Shahrukh play a somewhat more down-to-earth character. I don’t expect hard-hitting reality here, it is still a Yash Raj Film after all, but it looks to be something different, which no doubt audiences are ready to embrace.
With roughly 8 weeks till the films release, the music and promos should be out very soon. One can expect, or at least hope for, melodious music (Salim Suleman) which will only generate more positives vibes for this much-awaited (and closely guarded) project. I’m looking forward to seeing how good the music, and of course the promos will be, as then we’ll start to see a clearer picture emerge on where this film, and the fortunes of Yash Raj Films, are truly headed.
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
it will surely be a blockbuster superhit.now forget ddlj.
I want Aditya Chopra to pull this off. And Tony, whats up with The Golden Road, I read the synopsis and I must say, it is intriguing.!
i hope it sinks faster and deeper than the f’in titanic
Tony,
I am sorry to burst the bubble but SRK returns to his Rahul/Raj in the movie. Watch the other posters of RBNDJ. I was once a great fan of DDLJ too but KJO and YRF have been substantial in their efforts to impede the growth of the audiences towards progressive cinema. We see a Rahul in every teenager today but we dont see a mahadev of Sajjanpur wanting to become writer.
It will be a film that generates revenue for yash raj but it will no doubt be a shitty film jsut like most other yash raj films
and even if this is a hit it wont bring back any trust or any such thing in yash raj,its a known thing that out of every 15 films you have to make one decent film…
same thing with rgv
somehow one producer who i find very bankable would be UTV their films are consistently good and progressive and at the same time they promote new talent
go utv…
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It is another massive “Tashan” in the making.
No hopes, here. I always thought those who were deifying him had had one too many.
Then stooge Karan’s statement “We are all puppets of Aditya’s Chopra’s vision” displayed as much smarminess as phoney vocabulary. It made the workings of a massive publicity entourage open.
SRK and AC, well, who cares?
I think it would be rather silly to judge from just the first look. We are judging a 3 hour film on the basis of the creative intellect of 5 people from the creative agency.
I really hope it is a good film. I would appreciate a good film coming from anyone. I am not pro-someone and anti-someone. For the sake of cinema, I hope this one is good.
It is tough to judge directors who hae=ve made 1- 2 films, both of which were radically different from each other. Aditya’s DDLJ was amazing, Mohabbatein was terrbile. Anurag’s Black Friday rocked, but Hanuman Returns and No Smoking disappointed.. Shimit Amin rocked in both his films so I have more faith in him than the others. How would I judge whether the ‘real’ Aditya is the one we saw in DDLJ or Mohabbatein? I really hope it is the former. Its tough to figure out if DDLJ was a fluke and Mohabbatein a bad decision. And for everyone who even hated DDLJ, well, you can stay away from this one. I loved it. And I have no qualms in admitting it. I like popular cinema as much as differentiated cinema. I would not hope that any film tanks like the Titanic.. I hope it works, for the sake of the audience .
My problem is with the camp’s audacity to churn out one after another mindless films, disrespecting the gradually increasing level of audience’s intelligence. I hate it when they take the audience for granted and still give those punjabi ganna shanna, ganne de khet and make their stars bigger than the characters they play. If this movie flops then it would be a lesson to YRF that the aam aadmi has improved and he has his own volition for cinema. Will be the beacon of hope to so many younger directors who are making quality cinema even with the lack of money, big banners and over hyped actors with abject talent.
I am actually eagerly awaiting this movie. The concept poster looks cool, Aditya is trying something very different from his past two films and God knows the industry needs a wonderful hit in these very harsh times. I’m optimistic and hope to see the magic of DDLJ again!
OZ!!! Nahin!!! Not you!!! Please!!!!!
Check out the link an you’ll know why… Dont go by this poster.. http://www.rabnebanadijodi.net/news_gossip/srk_s_new_spikey_avatar_rab_ne_bana_di_jodi
PS: I enjoyed DDLJ and wish the same magic works for this movie.
There is one huge difference between Aditya Chopra and his father.When Yash Chopra started out he had many “firsts” to his credit.Waqt,Humraaz,Daag,Kabhie Kabhie,Deewar worked because all of them had unique storyline never explored before in Hindi movies.Aditya Chopra in his craze for marketing,gloss and style has forgotten the basic requirement of filmmaking-good stories.He even pulled off Mohabbatein which made profits also.But what’s the use.Does it have shelf life?Will people watch it after 10-15 years.As far as DDLJ is concerned he got everything right specially the casting and music.It happens only once in a lifetime……..like Ramesh Sippy did in Sholay.
I agree completely with Anindya on the last line. The magic will never repeat again.
Also the cineplex/multiplex and fast-food-movies culture will definitely kill the longevity of our films.
your post actually scares me, never really gave this much thought!! what if this film fails, can it take down YRF with it? is so much really at stake?
what if this film goes down, will that indicate a turn in Indian cinema and the kind of films we prefer? Is it going to lead to a cinematic change we all desire?
and the key and most basic question, is it going to be for the better or the worse?
something tells me we need films like “rab ne bana di jodi” to work. As much as we want the other form of alternative cinema to be on the forefront, we still need the “YRF” brand of escapist cinema in a country like ours…..
I believe as long as Aditya chopra remains true to its roots, the film is going to work. it might not be the new DDLJ that the industry is hoping for but it will stand its ground…
The question is can Aditya Chopra pull it off? It doesn’t necessarily mean, pull of to the magnitude of DDLJ’s success, even Sippys failed to recreate SHolay’s magic(not comparing these two films, just my point), and the spikey look makes it all the more interesting for me. As long as they concentrate on showing the characters rather than the SRK king khan, and stay rooted to the story, the film should be fun.
And something says, it would be. Have my fingers crossed.!
Somehow I feel this one might be the real deal from YRF and its reclusive mastermind……just a wild guess!
@14 RR
Relax dude…. this is YRF and not AIG!!!
Btw what do the rest of the people think…. Should the Fed ;-) come and save these guys also in case AC screws up…. Are they that important for the Indian film industry… I somehow don’t feel so… What is it that they have that the rest of guys in bollywood cannot do without… what’s their USP left?
I ctually dont agree that either RNBDJ wd be a smash hit or a disaster. Take for eg Veer Zara…..Although hailed by many a critics as a gr8 film or luvd by many YR loyalist…fact of the matter is dat it not in the same league as DDLJ ,KKHH or even K3G (…if we consider the moolah it reaped).YRF may hav lost the pulse of cinegoers….but they havent forgotten the handling of Media….They are masters of potraying their above avg films as hits and hits as super hits…Also….goin by the recent trends…a movie is declared a hit or flop only within 3 days of relese…The hype ( Adi + SRK + string of cameos),the movie will create will take care of these 3 days and 20-25 shows a day in a multiplex will take care of the rest…
The last frontier….POPULAR AWARDS(FILMARE , ZEE etc etc)…If the movie is a real blockbuster..then every1 from SRK to anushka to Salim-Suleman wd keep on thankin each other…ANd even though if its a pseudo-hit,it wd still win side awards like best dialogue, best background store etc etc( Can any1 tell me …why on this earth…Veerzara got best dialogue awards….may be 4 that aweful shayari…main quaidi no. 786…..)…SHah rukh may hav 2 dance a bit more in that case
..So….my point is dat in any case ….YRs and SRK wd definitely be blowing their triumphet….whatever the case may be…………
I wish this film makes it big. I’ve been a die-hard YRF loyalist for years and somehow am pained at the mundane or substandard fare being dished by the house post Bunty Aur Babli (I include Chak De India as well in the mundane group). So, for old times sake, I sincerely wish the underdog whips it up this time.
Tony : Where did the My Fair Lady idea come from? A reverse take on My Fair Lady (With SRK playing the rustic converted to the posh) would be quite interesting. And hatke too.
Fingers crossed.
@Rohan ha ha .cant agree with you more!!!!
@Anindya #12
I agree with you. A great cinema maker is one who gives a great cineam for a period of time. And after DDLJ, AD chopra disappointed with Mohabbatain(forgive for spelling).
Now a days, cinema making is all about box office. Marketing is more important than storyline.
I wish that he delivers a good movie this time. I dont expect DDLJ, as my views are same as yours. DDLJ is an incident, where everything falls so well into place. So is Sholay. You can not expect them to repeat it. No way. AD or Sippy didnt know what they are creating.
Mugal-e-Azam, could have been repeated as it was peice of art and not an incident.
Next Sholay or DDLJ will be from someone else.
Completely agree with Rohan, Anindya and abhishek….Rohan..ur post made me roll with laughter….for tat matter even main hoon na and OSO won huge accolades…and remember the chaos created by Manoj Kumar and interviews later…it all seemed made up…one movie I am waiting for….UTV has decided to produce a movie on Kishore Kumar with aamir khan playing the lead…wud luv to hear more news abt it…but for this year we have Luckyeeeeee luckty oyeeeeeee