Raabta- Divine Love and Reincarnation, Recipe for disaster

Director- Dinesh Vijan

Budget- 50 Crores approximately

Best Dialogue- "Agar roze nahi rakhe to phir Eid ka kya maza."

Raabta's first look suggested that it was a mushy romantic comedy and as we all are suckers for a good romance, we eagerly awaited for its trailer.

In the trailer, Irffan Khan says, "Ab ye bhi koi kahaani hai, chalo kahaani badalte hai, raja badalte hai, rani badalte hai, kal jo adhoora tha aaj badalte hai", we realized that it was a reincarnation drama and half of the buzz of the film was lost.

Then we were shown a glimpse of the item song "Raabta" featuring Deepika Padukone and some buzz was again created.

Guess the leading lady Kirti Sanon wasn't much pleased with this shifting of focus towards Deepika's long legs so the makers took J Star's hit song "Mai Tera Boyfriend" where we get to see Sushant's six packs and Kriti's long legs. Sadly, this song was kept at the end of the film and most of the audience had already left after watching Deepika's item number.

The hero is from a middle class family who does stupid things like jumping from bridges and his logic is, "Saare din mai legal kaam karta raha to bacchon ko kahaniyan kya sunaunga?"

Yes, that's how bad the character development is and it is followed by worse lines like, "Meetha Bechti Hai Par Dard-E-Dil Dikhta Hai Teri Ankhon Se" or "24 Ghante Tu Itna Acha Smell Kaise Karti Hai? Kaunsa Sabun Lagati Hai?" 

It could have been intentional as even the heroine tells him, "Kitna Cheesy Hai Tu?" to which our hero replies, "Mera Kuch Part Chocolaty Bhi Hai"!

I'm still wondering what that line meant.

In the first half of the film both the hero and heroine keep saying "hum kar kya rahe hai". After the interval the heroine gets to know what is going on and there is one more character who from the beginning knew what was going on. Then when the heroine tries to tell the hero the reason behind their actions he doesn't believe her.

If this sounds confusing to you then you have no option left but to spend 2 and a half hours of your precious time and some hard earned money and find how everything is connected.

The starting credits thanked Deepika Padukone, Rajkumar Rao and 10 other people. During the whole film I kept waiting for Rajkumar's appearance and later when i googled, I came to know that the highly insignificant role of the 300 year old man was enacted by him.

Jim Sarbh, who excelled as the terrorist in Neerja, plays a rich NRI but guess he can't decide between Pakistani accent or British accent and so talks like a mentally retarded person saying stupid lines like, "Mujhe dekhne se fursat mile, to kaunsi drink piyogi bata dena".

It's surprising that Dinesh Vijan of Maddock films who chose to produce a sensible film like Hindi Medium selected Raabta for his own directorial debut.

The film was released in 1800 theaters and got an opening of just 5.6 Crores. The film will be lucky if it can even make a lifetime earning of 25 Crores which is less than half of the film's budget.

In a line, item songs and chemistry between the lead pair can bring the audience to the theaters but it's only the content accompanied by good dialogues and acting which can make the film a hit.

Avoidable

Hindi Medium: Fair point well made, Mr Chaudhary

Cast: Irrfan Khan, Saba Qamar, Deepak Dobriyal, Swati Das, Tillotama Shome, Amrita Singh

Director: Saket Chaudhary

Budget: 22 Crores including P&A

Hindi Medium is about a mother's desire to send her child to an A-list school because she thinks that in India, “Angrezi zabaan nahi hai, class hai”. She’s in a constant state of anxiety and always thinks that inability to speak fluent English leads to one being a social outcast which leads to depression which will lead to drugs.

Irrfan Khan as the doting husband who can't see tears in the eyes of his wife is excellent. He has no problem in accepting that, “My life is Hindi but my wife is English”.

Throughout the film he has given such a range of expressions that you can actually feel what is going on in his mind even before he utters his lines.

Saba Qamar has given equal competition to Irrfan in the acting department. Her chemistry with him is so natural that we actually believe that they are a couple who have been together since a long period of time. Though her character is a stereotype of many Indian mothers who are overprotective about their children or of newly rich women who want to be a part of the high society, she plays it with such confidence that all her actions are bound to make you laugh.

If Sanjay Suri and Neha Dhupia expertly portray the rich and snobbish elite section of our society, giving them tough competition are Deepak Dobriyal and Swati Das who are “paidaishi gareeb”.

These supporting artists make it sure that there is never a dull moment in the film.

The thing which sets Hindi Medium apart from all other films is that it doesn't try to change the mindset of anyone or bring any radical change. It doesn't give any lectures on a utopian kind of society. It’s a simple story of a couple who are with each other in thick and thin and have accepted the other with all their shortcomings.

The film was released in around 1100 screens and managed to collect 2.8 Crores on Friday. Because of good word of mouth the collections increased by almost 50% on Saturday and it made 4.25 crores thus proving that a good film always works in the long term.

In a line, there are satires and then there are courageous films which dare to question and judge the same multiplex audiences who have the power to make the film a box office success.

Highly recommended. Good one time watch.