Movie Review: Rakshabandhan

The Post Review: That must come first 

7 hours after watching this film, I am still thinking of it, and just realised two very important things: 

A. In the time I was watching the film, at least 2 women died - like, really died, for the same issue that the movie was trying to educate me on. 

B. If I wasn't professionally qualified, my parents would have paid dowry for me. Its personal. I could have been the sister who died, or one of the 10 women who file a complaint of domestic violence or dowry for the 1 who dies, or the 100 who "adjust" and don't file a complaint. Instead, they raise kids who grow up watching father being abusive to mother, dadi comparing gifts from the two daughters in law. All of that. That "happily married mother" could have been me. 

The Pre-Review: Why I went at all 

Logically speaking, I went for Anand L Rai and Akshay Kumar - professionals whose earlier work I have liked. 

But the honest truth is that since watching the trailer, I knew I was going to watch this movie - reasons unknown. It was just one of those things that would happen. That happens to me very rarely, but when it does, there is no point resisting the mandate. One just does what one is told to do. 

Given that everything today gets political, didn't even bother checking with friends before booking the ticket. Chose a small theater with limited seating and just booked. 

********** 

This movie was a huge revelation for me. I have always believed that Akshay Kumar has a certain honesty in his heart that shines through his work - irrespective of the character he is playing. 

You know those nagging questions in your head that are neither important nor urgent but gnaw at you nonetheless? This was one of those. One usually likes an actor for his own work, but in this case, I knew there was something more, and couldn't place it. Watching Akshay Kumar on screen filled a huge hole in my heart, but I didn't know what that hole was called. 

Within the first three minutes of the movie, I knew why i was mandated to come watch this film. Here is the answer: 

Akshay Kumar fills a Balraj Sahni shaped hole on the screen (and in the heart.) 

Those who know me will now that I have missed Balraj Sahni's presence on screen very, very much.

Akshay Kumar brings the same honesty, the same integrity, and the same magic to his screen presence.

While writing this review, I saw the first few minutes of Waqt once again, and almost cried for joy. 

On to the review  

The most downloaded image from my blog is this: 

This is a graph that shows the number of dowry deaths reported in India - every year from 2011-2016. 

This graph tells you that India loses one young woman to dowry every hour, and has consistently done so for over 2 decades at least. And these are just the reported numbers. The dotted line is the trend line. 

You will read the same statistic in a post script at the end of the movie - I am just putting it out there so you don't miss the post script. This post script is the most important part of the film. Just in case you watch the movie and go, "Are, aisa thodi hota hai?" Exactly aisa hi hota hai. Exactly. Aisa. Hi. 

And now we come to the less important parts of the film. 

There is only one Punjabi dialogue in the film - "Ai enni jehi gall hai?" And THAT is how Punjabi should be spoken.  Had he messed up that dialogue's delivery, I likely would not have forgiven the lapse. That is one of the most important dialogues in the film. After this dialogue, he goes on to provide a guidebook style warning to the majnus of the area. Through that and another sequence, we see a character that does not fight a system because part of him believes in it, even if the only role he gets to play in that play is the rock under the elephant's foot. 

Also the gesture of going back to hit boys who do eve teasing. You will find it hard to believe, but once upon a time, that was the truth of Delhi. If you tried to whistle at a girl in public, you would be physically beaten - first by the girl (hence the Punjabi phrase - Kadaan sandal?), and then by bystanders. You could not do it. Period. 

This movie teaches you the importance of a leading cast and how they can literally carry a film on their shoulders alone. This leading cast has done that, though the ensemble cast is made up of good actors too. 

What comes up short is the development of the characters of the ensemble cast - all the 3 sisters appear as guest appearances only. We can describe them in 1-2 words, instead of the complex characters that each of them is likely to be. And for that, the credit must go squarely to the writer - Himanshu Sharma, and the director, Anand L Rai - their previous work also has not capitalised on the layering provided by ensemble cast in story telling. 

What shines through is the honesty in story telling. What you think is extreme becomes even more sad as you realise that not only is this not extreme, but that, in many, many families, and not necessarily in Chandni Chowk, this is de rigueur, this is matter of course.  

The end might appear hurried to some reviewers, but to me, I think, it was just rightly paced - The sisters finding their place under the sun. 

I wish I could change just one thing in the story - if Sapna and Kedar had married earlier in the film, it would have given us richer story telling, as Sapna's character would have navigated the challenges of the story alongside Kedar, and not from the sidelines. And, I would have liked to see the rubbishing of a promise that itself is steeped in regression. A promise like that deserves to be broken. Especially after his realisation. 

On the technical side, the film does well on sound, background score, lighting, costumes, editing, and art direction. It could have done better on screenplay. 

The camera work was adequate, but given that the movie had a playground like Chandni Chowk, am not sure it did the best it could. 

Special thanks to the makers for not subjecting us to dream sequence song and dance routines, cliched meet-cutes for each of the 3 sisters, random festival songs just because it's Chandni Chowk, useless subplots with miniscule politically correct messages, and other predictable stuff that routinely finds its way into films and every single time insults the intelligence of the audience and wastes their time. 

In the OST (Original Sound Track, for those born after the 1990s): Tere Saath Hoon Main and Bidaai stand out. There are no hummable songs, but that, methinks, is the general trend with movies these days. (Coincidentally, no one plays Antakshari any more, everyone only goes to India's Super Singer or some such, so there is no need for hummable songs either, no?) 

Endnote

I am glad I went. Will gladly go again.