Filmmaker Karan Johar is known for his grand love stories that involve wealthy families and their exorbitant lifestyles. For KJo, even the poor own a lamborghini and wear Gucci and Armani. Honestly, that’s the USP of his films and it has worked for him, as of now.
A Karan Johar film can easily be identified – Snow clad mountains, actresses in chiffon sarees, swanky cars, royal families and their values (Parampara, Pratishta, Anushasan…), massive houses, and star-studded cast. With Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, Karan Johar will mark his return to the director’s chair after nearly seven years.
The trailer looks promising and it has all the elements required to make a super hit film, still something is missing. Is it Shah Rukh Khan’s charm that’s not there or Kajol’s unapologetically brilliant acting or over-used plot or weak songs? Let’s understand.
Ranveer Singh and his over-used charm
Ranveer Singh is a fine actor who has proved his acting skills over the years. Give him any role and he’ll make it his own but in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, he is not able to strike a chord with the audience. In ‘Tum Kya Mile’, the actor looks reluctant and not at all romantic – The possible reason can be that Ranveer Singh is too exposed – You’ll find him at every award function, party, or just like that. He doesn’t shy away from posing in his quirky style for the papparazis. That’s honestly a rare quality in today’s time but it is going against him. People have started associating Ranveer Singh with fun and loud characters and it might take them a while to accept him as a romantic actor.
Relatability
Another factor is relatability. The trailer shows how Rani and Rocky fall in love and to convince one another’s families, they decide to swap homes. Honestly, this never happens. The audience has evolved and they need realistic plotlines. They won’t get convinced with mere masala and a big budget.
Song and comparisons
Remakes are a trend but the audience finds it offensive if you ruin the evergreen songs or story. In the case of Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, ‘Whut Jhumka’ by Arijit Singh, Jonita Gandhi is definitely a miss. It is being compared with Madhubala’s Jhumka Gira Re. The lyrics of the remake lyrics are penned down by Amitabh Bhattacharya while its music is given by Madan Mohan, and Pritam.
Plot revealed
The makers have somehow revealed the entire plot of the film in the promo. In an Instagram live video, Karan Johar also revealed that there’s going to be a lot of action in the film. Having said that, I don’t see any point in watching the film when I know the story.
Audience sensibility
I understand that Karan Johar has his own style of making films, but it’s high time that he needs to realise that audience no longer is looking for senseless masala content. They want to watch something that has a meaning, a message and more.
The film is releasing on July 28, 2023.
