Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

 

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi , also known as RNBDJ, is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Aditya Chopra and produced by Yash Chopra and Aditya Chopra under the banner Yash Raj Films. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma, who makes her Bollywood debut with this film. It follows a mild-mannered office worker Surinder Sahni (Shah Rukh Khan), whose love for his beautiful and vivacious wife Taani (Anushka Sharma), causes him to transform himself into the loud and fun-loving "Raj Kapoor" to win her love. It was released worldwide on 12 December 2008 and marked Chopra's return to directing after an 8-year hiatus following his previous directorial venture, Mohabbatein (2000), which also starred Khan.

The film was not heavily promoted pre-release by Khan or Yash Raj Films, mainly due to uncertainty and apprehensions regarding cinema-market conditions following the terror attacks in Mumbai.^[8] Upon release, the film received critical acclaim and broke many box office records. It was quickly declared an year end blockbuster, and at the end of its theatrical run, it grossed over ₹1.57 billion (US$22 million) worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing Hindi film of the year overseas, as well as Yash Raj and Khan's highest- grossing film. The film has attained a huge cult status. The film's soundtrack was composed by Salim–Sulaiman, and it became the first Bollywood soundtrack to reach the top 10 albums sales on the iTunes Store.

The film's script was recognized by a number of critics and was invited to be included in the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, just a day after its release. The script is accessible for research purposes only; students, filmmakers, writers, and actors are among the regular patrons.

 

Plot

Surinder "Suri" Sahni is a shy, introverted, and kind-hearted office employee for Punjab Power who falls in love at first sight with Taani, the extroverted, cheerful daughter of his former Professor Gupta at her engagement, but is unable to express it. Her fiancé and her entire wedding entourage are killed in a road accident. The shocked Gupta suffers a major cardiac arrest and is hospitalized. On his deathbed, fearing that Taani will be alone in the world, the dying Gupta implores that Surinder marries her. Surinder silently concedes because he likes her anyway and as a respect to his professor, while Taani agrees to fulfill her father's last wish. Professor Gupta passes away and after an impromptu wedding, Surinder takes Taani to his ancestral home in Amritsar. While his good nature leads Surinder to treat her with exceptional care;– he even lets her have his bedroom all to herself;– he is too frightened to profess his love for her. Taani later tells him that she will try to be a good wife and thus respect her role in his life, but that she can never love him due to having no love left within her after the loss of her former fiancé. Surinder, grateful for the increasing acts of wifely affection that Taani shows him, proceeds to indulge her wishes. These include regular evening trips to the cinema to see Bollywood movies which appeal to Taani's fantasies about romance and her passion for dancing.

A few days later, Taani finds a dancing competition poster and asks for Surinder's permission to take part in it as it would help her unwind from her mundane life at home. He grants her request and provides the entry fee. During the evenings that Surinder and Taani spend at theatres, Surinder realises it is the strong and masculine images of men that Taani admires, and later on, asks his best friend, Balwinder "Bobby" Khosla, a hair-salon owner, for grooming advice that could help him win her love. Bobby gives him a complete makeover—which includes trimming off his mustache, changing his hairstyle to spiky, and fitting him out in funky Western-style clothing, including aviator-style shades with oversize pastel lenses. Surinder is thus transformed into "Raj", a name he borrows from the hero of a film that Taani admired. Raj goes to Taani's dancing competition venue to see her dance. Raj joins the competition and at the end of that dance class, all participants are put into groups of two by random numbers given by the staff, and both Raj and Taani have the number '21'. Despite Raj's initial over-the-top attempts to emulate the "cool" images given by heroes in films, after the first attempt of impressing Taani in that way, Taani refuses to be his partner, telling 'Raj' that they will never win the competition if he continues his antics. Raj responds by imploring her that he will improve and they become friends, working together on their dance routine.

Raj feels encouraged with Taani's guidance in special dance sequences, and Taani feels good to come out from the mundane home cooking-washing housewife routine. Finally, luckily and miraculously, they are both selected for the finals. It is at this time, Raj decides to profess his love for Taani. Taani is shocked and enters into a period of internal conflict, despite Raj telling her that they can still remain friends even if she does not reciprocate his love. Surinder also faces a dilemma as he can not tell Taani that he is disguised as Raj. He thus attempts to win Taani's love as Surinder, an act which only alienates her further. Bobby tells him to show his love to Taani as Surinder. He takes Taani to a trade fair where he finds that Taani had no interest in the fair except for the Japan section. Knowing that his salary would not be sufficient enough to take Taani on a trip to Japan, he enters a Sumo wrestling competition where the winner gets a chance to visit Japan. He wrestles with the Sumo wrestler, gets injured in the process, but finally wins the competition. Taani gets shell shocked and infuriated at this. At home, she asks him while dressing his wounds, the reason for his actions, and pleads him to not keep showering his care for her as she would not be able to repay. Surinder tells to himself that true love cannot be repaid. He is disappointed that Taani cannot see his love for her as himself, only as Raj. Later that night, Taani plans to elope with Raj. Surinder tells Bobby that he will end the charade in his own way, sacrificing his cravings for her love, leaving her his property and transferring himself to Delhi. On the day of the competition, Surinder takes Taani to the Golden Temple to gain God's blessings for her performance for that night and, internally, also for her life without Raj.

While there, Taani has a realisation in which she believes God has shown her a sign that her marriage to Surinder is divinely inspired. For the first time, she reflects on her husband and becomes aware of the strength and integrity of Surinder's character, something which she grows to love. Taani thus tells Raj on the night of the competition, that she cannot choose him over her husband as it is equivalent to leaving God. She leaves him in what appears to be a state of shock with tears in his eyes, but Raj is secretly happy that Taani loves his "true self", Surinder. When the time comes for their performance, Taani is stunned to see Surinder instead of Raj joining her on stage. While dancing Taani puts two and two together and through a series of flashbacks, she awakens to the fact that Surinder is in fact Raj. Backstage, after their dance, she tearfully confronts Surinder, and when he confesses his love for her, she admits that she reciprocates his feelings. The two win the competition.

The film ends with Surinder and Taani visiting Japan via the tickets he had obtained at the trade fair, on their honeymoon.

 

Cast

·         Shah Rukh Khan as Surinder "Suri" Sahni / Raj Kapoor

·         Anushka Sharma as Taani Surinder Sahni (née Gupta)

·         Vinay Pathak as Balwinder 'Bobby' Khosla, Surinder's best friend

·         Manmeet Singh as Raju, garage owner

·         Richa Pallod as actress in a film in the theatre (cameo)

·         M. K. Raina as Professor Gupta, Taani's father and Surinder's professor

·         Aneesha Dalal as Dance Master (Madonna madam by Raj)

·         Kajol as Nargis (special appearance)

·         Bipasha Basu as Sadhana Shivdasani (special appearance)

·         Lara Dutta as Helen (Special appearance)

·         Preity Zinta as Sharmila Tagore (special appearance)

·         Rani Mukerji as Neetu Singh (special appearance)