At the onset, Karan Johar's latest film, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani may look like a love story but it is actually a story of two families from very diverse backgrounds coming together and adjusting to each other as their children fall in love.
In his previous films, Johar talked about dysfunctional families, adultery, unrequited love and loving parents. All these films have had family dramas as the backdrop. His latest is an amalgamation of all these but unlike his previous films, Rocky Aur Rani also put in relevant messages on patriarchy, misogyny, sexism and much more in the nearly three-hour-long film.
Amid all the showsha, dialogue baazi lies a story of two very different people falling for each other. The lead pair is as different as chalk and cheese. He is a loud Punjabi boy from a conservative business family in Delhi while she is a successful TV journalist from a liberal, creative and modern-thinking Bengali family. One would never expect the two to fall in love and yet they do.
The problem starts when they, after accepting their feelings for each other, realise that their families are very different and would never agree to their alliance. And so they decide to swap their homes.
Rani goes to stay at the Randhawa Palace, where Dhanlakshmi Randhawa (Jaya Bachchan), Rocky's authoritative grandmother rules the household and Rocky goes to stay at the Chatterjee Villa where the gender roles are not so clearly defined. Rani's father (Tota Roychoudhury) is a dancer and mother (Churni Ganguly) is an English professor .
Writers Ishita Moitra, Shashank Khaitan and Sudip Roy include conversations on mysogny, feminism, racism, body positivity and patriarchy within the two families. These make the film rather a hatke Johar film.
There is a lot of cultural appropriation in the film and both Punjabis and Bengalis are shown with a generic lens. But the director and writers call out both communities fairly.
A decade ago, Shoojit Sircar's Vicky Donor had a similar premise- a Punjabi boy falling for a Bengali girl and their respective families taking their time to adjust to their cultural differences. The film's scenes were far more realistic and hence impactful.
Alia looks stunning and plays the confidant, perfect Rani very well who is feisty and is the voice for those who need one.
Ranveer's role was more difficult to play on screen than ALia's but the actor, known for his versatality, nails it. Rocky is over the top in the beginning but has layers to his character where he wants to adapt to Rani's culture and unlearn a few things on the way
It's refreshing to see Shabana Azmi and Dharmendra romancing each other. They even indulge in PDA on screen - a rarity for Hindi cinema.
The film is tad too long. At two hours 48 minutes, it stretches on a bit too much with unnecessary scenes in the first half and a few melodramatic ones in the second half. It also is ultimately a very predictable story.
Despite the predictability and its duration, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani is a wholesome family movie. It touches upon relevant topics but doesn't delve deeper and keeps entertainment as its primary focus.