Romantic movie & movie with a love story, there are differences. Think twice, you will find them. Raanjhanaa is an out and out hardcore, brutal love story, garnished with brilliant performances, script, music, dialogues, wit, cuss-words and aroma of Banaras.
Director, Anand Rai, knows & exploits the right chord to give 'goose- bumps' to his viewers. First Kanpur (Tanu Weds Manu) now it's Banaras. He roped in a National Award winning actor to play the prime character, Kundan, in this heart wrenching tale. Kundan's family has been brought from Tamil Nadu, some 200 years ago, to Banaras for practicing 'Panditayi' on the ghats of Ganga.
All started in a way you have rarely witnessed, in the recent past. The writer and director gave you no time between any two incidents in the narration. Pre-interval it's amazingly paced & power packed. Kundan, aka Pandit, stalking Zoya everyday & everywhere. Zoya, like a typical girl, enjoyed every bit of this 'picha karana'. The game of teenage continued its journey, with a break of 8 years, to their young age and drifted from ghats of Banaras to JNU & political streets of Delhi, via Punjab. Murari, the childhood friend, tried his every bit to save Kundan, from the love of Zoya, who was trying to get something which was not in the lines of his hands, but like they say 'an excited heart has no ears' or the typical line "Love is Blind", Kundan unknowingly (knowingly) wrote his own destiny.
Post interval, everything and everybody was so scattered that it was quite a task to move ahead with the narration. In the consequence, director injected something which was not enough to satisfy you emotionally or mentally, as a viewer. But, again the climax lifts the film up to the level from where it started.
Dhanus, as Kundan, may be a surprise for them who have seen him for the first time. We have two categories of actors in the film industries across the globe, A) Superstars & Actors. You can count many superstars and as many actors. But, there is a rare breed of Acting Superstars, Dhanus belongs to it. It's the immense talent of this Tamil Actor that not only he dubbed in his own voice but he brought the Banarasi accent, the real essence, in his dialogue delivery. You can sense the way he speak as a teenager and as a mature man. His body language, cute smile & expressive eyes, all yells a lot about his stature as an actor.
By far, this is a better performance of Sonam Kapoor, as Zoya. Zoya is an unaccountable character & Sonam did justice to it. Abhay Deol, as Jasjit, in his short presence made his way and showed his (usual) elegant side of acting as a political leader. The actor or the character, other than Dhanus's Kundan, who left his mark and got few best lines in this love story is Murari, played by Md Zeeshan Ayyub. Swara Bhaskar as Bindiya is fantastic.
The duo, ARR and Irshad Qamil once again, after Rockstar, created musical magic. Raanjhanaa,Tum Tak, Banarasiya all are beautiful and expresses the circumstances of the characters. Rehman's background score, too, is good as always.
Directors, after getting fed up of capturing lush green Europe & glittering American streets, have moved to the trendy France, Classy Chez, Turkey & Latin American countries in search of new locations. But, Anand Rai has used the Banarsi locations, viz assi ghat, Ramnagar Qila, BHU & JNU, to tell his story & he succeed better than most of his contemporaries. Banaras has never been cinematographed like this before.
Himanshu Sharma, the story and dialogue writer, deserves some acknowledgment in the award functions next year. Rarely we do remember so many dialogues once we get out of the theater.
You hate love stories?? It's a must watch for you. You love love stories??? Go and watch the other dimension of it.
Director, Anand Rai, knows & exploits the right chord to give 'goose- bumps' to his viewers. First Kanpur (Tanu Weds Manu) now it's Banaras. He roped in a National Award winning actor to play the prime character, Kundan, in this heart wrenching tale. Kundan's family has been brought from Tamil Nadu, some 200 years ago, to Banaras for practicing 'Panditayi' on the ghats of Ganga.
All started in a way you have rarely witnessed, in the recent past. The writer and director gave you no time between any two incidents in the narration. Pre-interval it's amazingly paced & power packed. Kundan, aka Pandit, stalking Zoya everyday & everywhere. Zoya, like a typical girl, enjoyed every bit of this 'picha karana'. The game of teenage continued its journey, with a break of 8 years, to their young age and drifted from ghats of Banaras to JNU & political streets of Delhi, via Punjab. Murari, the childhood friend, tried his every bit to save Kundan, from the love of Zoya, who was trying to get something which was not in the lines of his hands, but like they say 'an excited heart has no ears' or the typical line "Love is Blind", Kundan unknowingly (knowingly) wrote his own destiny.
Post interval, everything and everybody was so scattered that it was quite a task to move ahead with the narration. In the consequence, director injected something which was not enough to satisfy you emotionally or mentally, as a viewer. But, again the climax lifts the film up to the level from where it started.
Dhanus, as Kundan, may be a surprise for them who have seen him for the first time. We have two categories of actors in the film industries across the globe, A) Superstars & Actors. You can count many superstars and as many actors. But, there is a rare breed of Acting Superstars, Dhanus belongs to it. It's the immense talent of this Tamil Actor that not only he dubbed in his own voice but he brought the Banarasi accent, the real essence, in his dialogue delivery. You can sense the way he speak as a teenager and as a mature man. His body language, cute smile & expressive eyes, all yells a lot about his stature as an actor.
By far, this is a better performance of Sonam Kapoor, as Zoya. Zoya is an unaccountable character & Sonam did justice to it. Abhay Deol, as Jasjit, in his short presence made his way and showed his (usual) elegant side of acting as a political leader. The actor or the character, other than Dhanus's Kundan, who left his mark and got few best lines in this love story is Murari, played by Md Zeeshan Ayyub. Swara Bhaskar as Bindiya is fantastic.
The duo, ARR and Irshad Qamil once again, after Rockstar, created musical magic. Raanjhanaa,Tum Tak, Banarasiya all are beautiful and expresses the circumstances of the characters. Rehman's background score, too, is good as always.
Directors, after getting fed up of capturing lush green Europe & glittering American streets, have moved to the trendy France, Classy Chez, Turkey & Latin American countries in search of new locations. But, Anand Rai has used the Banarsi locations, viz assi ghat, Ramnagar Qila, BHU & JNU, to tell his story & he succeed better than most of his contemporaries. Banaras has never been cinematographed like this before.
Himanshu Sharma, the story and dialogue writer, deserves some acknowledgment in the award functions next year. Rarely we do remember so many dialogues once we get out of the theater.
You hate love stories?? It's a must watch for you. You love love stories??? Go and watch the other dimension of it.