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RNBDJ Results - Aditya: Fail, Anushka: Pass, SRK: Merit List, Team: Pass with Grace marks

Just glance through the songs of RNBDJ and you can get a reasonable whiff of what lays inside the movie. Many hailed SRK as lucky when Yash Raj movies gave him his big break in Dar and subsequent super-stardom in DDLJ. But this time round, I must say Yash Raj is lucky to have SRK on their side to end their failed year at a successful note.

If RNBDJ has pulled crowds to multiplexes, it’s only because of SRK - whether it is his performance in this movie or his overall aura which keeps audiences glued to screens across the globe - but SRK definitely is the only good thing which happened to RNBDJ [Most reviews also say so].

The story is not a believable one, especially because of the speed with which the plot setting is breezed through (the bus crash and subsequent marriage). While the script is good, the scriptingstyle is too clichéd (well is it the first time someone has created a song parodying old bollywood cinema?) I didn’t expect Aditya Chopra would copy so blatantly and not even try re-packaging the lift-offs.

What makes the movie believable are the characters - Suri, Raj, Bobby and Tani. And it is here that SRK takes all the credit. Whether it is the simple studious Suri or the dil ka sachha but ill mannered jat Raj - SRK portrays both characters with panache and perfection. Both the characters are completely unlike what SRK has ever played in past. And most of all - they are completely converse of the personality that SRK represents in real life.

There are a few bright locales of scripting in the otherwise not-so-great story. The scene where Suri leaves a note to Tani, adds a flower to it only to remove the flower in a double-take, is so very representative of the typical reticent Indian male.

Back to the cast - Vinay Pathak is good as usual - Bobby Khosla is the perfect representation of the hair-saloon owner who in the glam-sham assumes the self-perception of being a stylist. You are instantly reminded of the expensive looking (but not so posh) saloons in cities like Chandigarh.

And finally, Anushka - the new comer who has been painted as ‘not so sexy’ by tabloids across the town (except rediff which acknowledged - "She has a nice smile and is adequate in a wholesome, television-actress sort of way" but still rebuffed her performance by saying that - "the writing is so obvious that this isn't the kind of role that could challenge the debutante."). 

Well I believe Tani, the bubbly small town girl who is suddenly loaded with the chores of an ideal wife is quite a believable character - and if so, I think Anushka does turn out to be a good actor given that her portrayal is quite believable. And her sweet smile and well toned figure are definitely her pluses. 

Albeit, I am not as sure of Anushka's success as a regular Bollywood masala heroine and her ability to compete with Kareena, Katrina, Kangana and Deepika. But then did anyone expect Vidya Balan or Konkona Sen Sharma would be the hottest bollywood heroines ? The point - you don’t necessarily need to be ‘sexy’ or ‘have a chutzpah’ to become a name to reckon in today’s cinema.

To end, the movie is another masterpiece for SRK after OSO, but quite a damp squib from the Yash Raj banner and Aditya Chopra.

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