Raanjhanaa

"मेरी हर मनमानी
बस ततुम तक बातें बचकानी मेरी
नज़र दीवानी बस  तुम  तक मेरे सुख दुःख
आते जाते सारे  तुम तक
तुम तक तुम तक तुम तक सोने यार
तुम तक तुम तक तुम तक सोने यार

तुम तक तुम तक अर्जी मेरी
फिर आगे  जो मर्ज़ी...."

 ~~ Raanjhanaa
~ Irshad Kamil

This was my movie to watch out for in 2013. I think much bigger than Shahrukh's Chennai Express. Coming from me, that's saying a lot. I don't know why though. It just looked so good and from what I had heard of it, the storyline sounded good. And there is a charm in stories that are based on smaller towns and cities of India. And since this was a movie shot in Benaras, I was excited and looking forward to it. When the trailer came out i was ecstatic because from the looks of it, it was matching up to my expectations. The music of course was breathtakingly beautiful. So this post, is not a movie review, it's my experience and my emotional take on Raanjhanaa.

If there is one song, that describes the movie, it's the spiritual and romantic Tum Tak, where the hero sings about his love and his wait for the woman of his dreams. The melody makes you want to hear it on repeat.  Well, that's AR Rahman for you. The music binds the story and makes the movie almost poetic. So, Raanjhanaa is about a little Tamil boy Kundan (Dhanush) living in Benaras. He is street smart and extremely witty. His band of mischief makers includes his best friend Murari (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) and Bindiya (Swara Bhaskar). In the first five minutes of the movie, he falls in love in a love-at-first-sight (well not love, crush maybe for a 10 year old) kind of situation with a girl reading the namaz, Zoya (Sonam Kapoor). One of my favorite dialogues from the movei comes now when Kundan says "Namaaz mein vo thi par aisa laga ki dua hamari qabool ho gayi" . His life's mission from then on is to make that girl his. As he grows up and enters teen age, his resolve only grows stronger. In this journey from childhood to teenage  Anand Rai, the director, navigates around Benaras's streets in what makes for some beautiful and picturesque cinematography. That's the charm of small-town India. You don't have to jazz it up with beautiful sets or expensive looking furnishings, you automatically connect to it. As Kundan grows up his crush develops into a deeper worshiping kind of love.  With constant encouragement (or abuse, depends on how you look at it) from his friend he finally gathers the courage to offer his love to Zoya. The first time around she slaps him and then she slaps him again and again and again. All the while liking the attention from Kundan.  Bindiya is the quintessential U.P girl who is just like a guy in her younger days, she screams, she abuses, she dances just like a guy! She grows up being infatuated with Kundan and flirts very openly as well. And well she obviously hates Zoya.


I'm going to stop the story here for a while to talk about the characters. Kundan is madly deeply and crazily in love. Nothing else matters for him. Except Zoya. It's almost like she is his reason to exist. And what's beautiful about Kundan is, it's so believable. There is a bit of Kundan, it not all of him, in many many many many boys. That strong unshakable belief that he will eventually win over the girl of his dreams and everything is going to be perfect in the end is infectious. And you find yourself within minutes of the movie believing that Zoya and Kundan are meant to be. His antics are so endearing, that while in regular normal life this may come across as cheap in most cases, but in the movie he makes you want to hug him! And Dhanush's small physical stature makes Kundan's teenage phase very very real and very natural. But what makes kundan even more enjoyable is his friendship with Murari. Here is a friend, who has grown up with Kundan, was with him when he fell in love with Zoya, encouraged him to talk to Zoya, sighed when Kundan said and did unbelievable things in his pursuit of Zoya, pulled his leg, but always always stood by. The friendship is so real so everyday, it's entertaining to watch. You will laugh when they laugh, cry when they cry and dance when they dance. Murari is just absolutely beautiful to watch and I don't think Kundan would have been complete without him. Bindiya is spunky and in love with Kundan. Swara of course the amazing actress that she is is such a beautiful fit and her love for Kundan adds fun to the story but also makes you sad at some level. what must she be going through when she sees the man she loves whining away for someone else? Again in Swara you find a bit of yourself, loving a man who maybe will never ever love you back. I'll talk about Zoya in a while.

Back to the plot. Kundan's repeated attempts to talk to Zoya and confess his love are in vain.  Finally after some 16 slaps, Zoya eventually agrees to meet him. She finally tells him her name and asks his, he says Rizwan, she is muslim after all he couldn't have said "i am a hindu brahmin and my father is the temple priest!" For him what mattered was 16 slaps later, he finally knew her name! At that moment you see Kundan breaking into a Tamil ishtyle dance and you want to stand up and clap and dance in the theatre!  They meet, he tries to impress her with a musical card and his broken hindi shayeri. She realises he is hindu and slaps him again (!) and goes away. After many days, he catches up with her in as auto rickshaw and threatens to cut his wrists and does so when she says she doesn't love him. At that moment, she jumps to hug him and the look on Dhanush's face is PRICELESS. Her family gets to know and she is sent to Aligarh to study away from 'bad influences'. Kundan promises to wait for her and does for 8 long years. Until she comes back, now a student in the very left and very political JNU in Delhi.

I'm going to stop with the story now. And talk about how I felt about the movie. It's a lovely watch and everyone should definitely go watch it. The music made me hum and sway, Dhanush is awesome in his bollywood debut and nails the part of a small town hero in love with the object of his life's desire.  His passion and love and craziness and belief touches you at each and every scene. In one scene you see his harsh side, that of a jilted lover, and it's one of the movie's more powerful scenes. Everyone should have someone who loves them that way. But then we all want more in life than just love, isn't it. That's Sonam for you. So when she says "people will laugh at me if I fall in love with you," you are aghast, but also know that at some basic level, that is true. She looks beautiful in the movie and like many reviewers have said, this has to be her best performance so far. She blushes and enjoys the attention like any other girl would, she look plains and still pretty. There is no pretense and put-on like her other movies. She is the perfect Zoya.

Times change, people grow up, Zoya falls in love with a senior in JNU(Abhaye Deol in a short and sweet cameo here), which doesn't work out and they dont; end up together, but that doesn't mean she will fall in love with a 'gas cylinder walla' from Benaras. It's sad  when she uses that phrase in a conversation. No one wants to hear it, I didn't want to hear it, but it's the truth isnt it? Life's twists and turns, regret and jealousy and fear and hatred makes the characters act in what looks like 'shocking' ways, but then those are real emotions from real people in real life.

It's true the movie gets a little serious in the second half, but that because the first half is so full of Benaras and young love and teenage craziness, that it's impossible for the second half to match the rigour and beauty and passion. The old world charm that Anand Rai's Benaras invokes is unfortunately missing in politically potent Delhi. But one thing that definitely picks up is Sonam's performance. She is just absolutely brilliant in the second half, her eyes do look empty and lifeless and so so so convincing of the situation the character is in. She hates Kundan and holds him responsible for the events, her hatred shows on her face at times. She's done a brilliant job. Kundan's character too goes from "Zoya is what i want in life" to "i dont know what I am doing anymore". This may sound bad but Dhanush's portrayal of a confused and guilty  Kundan is as strong as a mad-in-love Benarasi Kundan

One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when after vowing to work at Zoya's wedding and promising her that he will get married to someone else (Bindiya) on the day of her wedding, he finally breaks down when he tries on his wedding sherwani. I weeped  when he falls to his knees and sobs. My other favorite scene is when a village woman asks Zoya who her husband is and she answers with such beautiful emotions and there is a shot of Abhaye Deol that follows. It's just beautiful. As much as the first half is about the overt show of love, the second half is much more understated and leaves you with a sort-of coming of age feeling.

The high point of the movie has to be the dialogues and the screenplay. They are so earthy and local that it makes it very easy to relate to them. Himanshu Sharma excels in his grasp of Benarasi lingo. The character are so endearing because of his dialogues. Brilliant work  and a notch above awesome Tanu Weds Manu script! The trailor does full justice to the excellent dialogues in the film. The other thing that stands out in the movie is how selfish the characters are. Sonam literally uses Kundan to get her work done and is very flippant about it after it. And well, it's not just the women, Kundan does the same with Bindiya.

When I left the theatre I heard people commenting (It's awesome how you can just overhear these remarks soon after the movie is over. Try it out the next time, walk silently and hear people talk!) So, I heard this girl say "Arre Yaar, this was a one man show, it was Dhanush all over." I vehemently disagree with that statement. Like i've said before, Kundan would have been incomplete without Murari who is his accomplice for everything in life. He would have been incomplete without Bindiya, the woman who loves him maybe as madly as he loves Zoya. And most of all, this Raanjhanaa would have been incomplete without Zoya. There is nothing "one man" about the movie. Dhanush is fun to watch and is a class actor, but that is no way undermines the other performances. Not at all.

Now, as I walked out of the movie, a friend asked me what I thought of it. I didn't know what to say. Yes, I loved the movie and the performances, but right after the movie, I couldn't get myself to say it. Because the movie left me a little sad, in fact it left me very sad and I couldn't pinpoint the exact cause. I didn't know what i didn't like about it. Maybe I came looking for a lighter love story, maybe I wanted more of the first half. I dont know. I might go again to watch it and make my peace. But, I'll tell you this, it's the story of a boy who loved a girl and would do anything for her. It's about a girl, who also loved unconditionally and is living an empty life and tries to find her happiness or peace in a form of revenge. It's about a friend who loves his friend to death and shares a bond that only men and their childhood friendships have. And it's about another girl who loved and lost. They are all believable and they are people we have either been or met in  life. It was an eternal love story. But an eternal real love story.


मेरी अकल  दीवानी तुम तक

मेरी सकल जवानी तुम तक 

मेरी अकल दीवानी तुम तक 

मेरी सकल जवानी तुम तक 

मेरी ख़तम कहानी तुम तक 

मेरी ख़तम कहानी बस तुम तक 

तुम तक , तुम तक, तुम तक, तुम तक…