Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi Movie Review

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi marks the return of Aditya Chopra as a director after 8 years. His last movie Mohabbatein did well at the box-office, but it isDDLJ that continues to make news a decade after its release (its still running in a theatre in Mumbai). The expecations are quite high. Can Aditya Chopra recreate the magic of DDLJ, once again, with Shahrukh Khan in the lead?

Like last year’s Om Shanti Om, SRK has a new heroine, who again like Deepika Padukone, appears slightly taller than him.

Surprisingly unlike most Aditya Chopra movies, there are just 4 characters in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi; Surinder Sahni – Raj (both SRK), Taani (Anushka Sharma) and Bobby (Vinay Pathak). Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is a simple film about a couple whose marriage turns from a compromise to one made in heaven, by Rab himself!

Surinder Sahni is a simpleton working for Punjab Powers with a personality of a nerd. At the wedding of his college professors daughter he falls head over heals in love at first with the bride, the beautiful and very bubbly girl Taani. Just when the air of happiness and celebration reached its peak, the news about the accident of the groom and his entire family puts everything to lull. Surinder being the most favorite and admired student of the professor takes the responsibility of taking care of Taani and ties the nuptial bond with her. The rest of the story tells us about the extent to which Surinder goes to bring back the liveliness and happiness in the life of his lady love. It’s about how he wins his share of love compromising yet taking his stand for the man he is.

There are 2 major negatives and flaws in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

1) The length! Its more than 2 hours 40 mins long for a movie, which preferabbly should not have exceeded 2 hours. A bunch of unnecessary scenes, just to add masala, to an otherwise simple movie is disappointing. Also the movie is a stretch, with the pace being painfully slow at times.

2) The story! How can a newly married woman, who promises to be a good wife, fall in love with her dance partner? Okay, such things do happen when the marriage has no hold. But then the Raj – Taani love story is far from convincing and just doesnt strike the right chord. When a love story involves a married lady, who is cheating on her husband, the build up and the impact has to be tad bit more.

And how in the world does Taani not recognise Raj as her husband? With minimal changes in looks which included the removal of his moustache, specs and a change in hairstyle. The face and voice was the same, wasnt it?

The dialogues are great. Sets are adequate, simple and perfect for a movie like Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. The music is average. Haule Haule and the title track are good. Dance Pe Chance has been choreographed well. Rest are okay.

SRK’s character of Surinder Sahni is something most people would identify with. A simple common man, who goes through his daily routine and 9 to 5 working life. Acting wise, SRK has put in a lot of effort into this role and it shows. The mannerisms are funny, overall good performance.

Then comes the Raj makeover and SRK starts perfecting his hamming skills. The over the top character is strictly for SRK fans. Others could find it irritating.

Anushka Sharma is brilliant in a highly refreshing performance. Her expressions and dance stands out. A huge contender for the best debut award this year. Vinay Pathak is fine.

Overall, the story and the execution is a let down. The performances are decent and the movie sure has some light moments that would make you smile and laugh. At the all important box-office, the opening has been suprisingly not upto expectations for such a huge film. It should pick up over the weekend. Going past the Week 1 figures of either Singh Is King or Om Shanti Om seems highly unlikely.

Rating: ★★½☆☆ Wait for DVD release or Television Premiere

Other notes: Kajol, Rani Mukherjee, Lara Dutta, Bipasha Basu and Preity Zinta.. all have special apperances in a song. The theatre was half full for the morning show and the audience reaction was decent. They seemed to love the scene wherein SRK keeps a rose along with his phone number, for his newly married wife.

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254 Comments

  • Thats prety much sums up my plans to watch the movie, may b i’ll hit the boxoffice after a week or so…may b on a single screen if some more good word of mouth.

  • hmm.. that puts off my plans for t he movie.. i cant see a below par movie ..my money is too hard and well earned to spend over below average affair .. ill let it irt flop and see it on tv with breaks hopefully early next year

  • I trust your site review. Your Om shanti om review saved my 1000 bucks last year.

    Better to download and watch it next week.

  • i am totally disagree with the review of the movie,i saw this movie on thursday in uae.
    it is a very good movie,beautiful story,outstanding performamce by shahrukh khan,anuskha and vinay pahtak.Direction,songs and picturization of the movie is fantastic.
    i am not a biggest fan of Shahrukh Khan,i like Shahrukh,Amir,Hritak and akshay.
    i am giving you a very fair review.
    i personally think it is a biggest block buster of 2008 after Rock On,Shahrukh performance was over the top,anuskha act very well,Vinay pathak is funny,it is a best movie for families.
    Go for it,i am sure you will love it.

    ****/5 stars.

  • Vikram, downloading movies from the internet is illegal. Its a crime. If you have decided not to watch it in theatre, then wait for the DVD release or television premiere.

    Never buy or rent pirated CDs or DVDs.

  • I am an Indian working in UAE as a software engineer. I have seen the movie already twice..here movie released on 11th itself… Truly Shahrukh proves that why he is the King of bollywood….

    If you think Shahrukh khan deserves to get the award for Chak de…then I can assure you that Shahrukh’s performance is more than that in this movie!!!. No one would have ever dare to do this role!!. He has taken whole responsibility of the movie on his shoulders!!.What an God gifted talent he has…

    Actually the tagline of this movie should have been “There is an extraordinary performance by Shahrukh in an ordinary simple story!!”. Every scene is excellent!!!.

    The climax is superb!!!!!!!. Also there are so many cute scenes which touches your heart…these should be only felt on screen!!! so iam not revealing that.

    In one word…forget RAJ of DDLJ…A New lover boy has arrived who loves his wife more than anyone else !!!. You will again fall in Love with Shahrukh by watching this movie….and this not because of his six pack but purely based on his supreme acting which can make any girl fall in love!!!.

    Most importantly, this gives a good message as a whole to the world….unlike movies like dilkabaddi and dostana which are creating ripples in the good couples by promoting dangerous ideas…degrading our indian culture infront of the world…

    Shahrukh, Iam sure u will get the award this time for sure!!!. Shahrukh’s movie is like a tsunami..he will sweeps everyone!!!

  • Syed what culture are you talking about? The girl in the movie cheated her husband. And she was married for about a week or two if am not wrong. Is that the Indian Culture ur talking about? Its different that Raj was Surinder, but she was unaware of it.

    Movie was strictly strictly average. Its not even a one time watch. Waste of money. Dont watch it.

  • syed-dubai…
    i don’t know what to tell you brother….what kind of culture u grow up i don’t knwo and i if you r talking about cheting wife is your culture then i’m not surprised to hear that comment from you… its same old story…ghisa pita…i guess u haven’t watch tare zameen par and muna bhai…

  • Loved it! SRK was effortless and Anushka was charming. A simple story with a heart and the purity rarely visible in movies these days. Put a smile on my face and helped ease the gloom after 26/11, even if it was for a couple of hours.

    Importantly, told me a story of someone I would definately know somewhere in my lane of memory. Its lovely to feel that being Ordinary is very special too! After all, like the movie tagline goes, There’s an extraordinary love story in every ordinary jodi! And you cant beat that! :-)

  • I think it is the best film of the year. We have seen some blockbusters like Singh Is Kingh this year. But they were only for passing good two hours. But RNBDJ is extar-ordinary. Go for it and see another SRK-Adi magic.

  • the movie was mind blowing and out of this world.Each and every scene is classic.I bet u all wll forget all those singhs ,who r claiming to b kings and will remember only one king,king khan

  • ok i think that comment was really discriminating…im not hindu but u really should not say that, you have no right to say that to people you dont know. but i do think reviewers should cut movies some slack, almost every movie review i have read this year has been negative. they always crib about how this isnt right or how that isnt right…i mean come on not every movie is made to win the academy award race. some movies are just for the common people to sit and enjoy, but this movie still does deal with an important issue about age gap that many go through. honestly i dont think reviews have any effect on the box office…sing is kinng was rubbish but it still made good money, and some movies that get good reviews for being “intelectual” do really bad at the box office because at the end of the day the people know what they want to watch

    being ordinary is special! :)

  • @hindusfucker

    1ST OF ALL RATINGS VARIES FRM PERSON TO PERSONS.
    2ND LY IT DOESNT NECESSARILY MEAN THAT ALL GOOD GROSSING FILMS WILL HAVE HIGHER RATINGS.

    U MENTIONED OSO, THEN WHAT ABOUT CHAK DE. DIDNT IT GOT GOOD RATINGS?

    FILMS LIKE A WEDNESDAY, TAHAAN,SHAURYA ETC WERE SOME EXELENT MOVIES THIS YEAR BUT DID THEY GROSSED MUCH???

  • Indicine Team: I don’t agree with yr review..the movie was 2hrs and 40minutes but lots of ppl loved it.. enjoyed it.. and never got bored, some of them said it’s a bit long but it’s a nice movie which we’d love to see it again and again.

    Firstly.. How can u consider (the length) as a major flaw?!!!
    Sangam was almost 4 hours length.. I remember in the past, when Sangam was released, everyone used to say: what a nice movie but it’s too long.. so u can’t consider the length as a negative point or as a big flaw, if the movie was done perfectly and was interesting the length doesn’t really matter. Gone With The Wind was also 4 hours and was the most successful hollywood movie ever.. and as everyone loved it, lots of ppl watch it on dvds like serials.. in parts.. the length could be considered as a flaw if the movie was a bore.. now imagine that the movie (God Father) was 3 hours.. this serious mafia movie.. everyone would’ve slept at the theatre!

    Secondly.. if there were 4 characters or 20.. does this really matter if it’s an interesting movie?!! that’s not an important issue.. I saw many indian movies which had many big actors and weren’t good movies, and flopped.

    Thirdly: what’s wrong with the story? The story is the best coz it’s a new script.. and u r asking: how can a married woman fall in love with her dance partner? Why Not Indicine Team?! Never happend before?!! And she had a big reason to fall in love with another guy, a young guy, as she’s married to a man whom she thought she’d never fall in love with, and as he was 20 years older than her and a boring man, not attractive in any way.. so she was excused for her weakness and falling in love..and that’s the story.. the main part in this movie that she falls in love with a man who’s different, and in the end.. she finds out that her lover & her husband r the same guy!

    And u asked: How couldn’t she recognize her husband after the makeover and It was a minimal change in his look! actually Shahrukh as Raj was completely different without spec. moustache, hairstyle, clothes as well as his character.. he was completely a different man in his look and in his attitude, character which was hard for her to recognize him.

    Anway Indicine Team: I don’t care.. whether this movie is a super hit or a flop.. what I do care that I enjoyed watching the movie, didn’t get bored, love to see it again and I’m very happy that Shahrukh proved himself as a very talented actor.

    Let’s see.. if Akshay Kumar.. who’s fighting with some stupid potatos.. would be able to perform this way in his future movies!!

  • i don’t think it is a extraordinary movie. i think it is a average movie which do not have repetition value. so better go and just enjoy the movie once……………………………….
    excellent performances by king khan………

  • <>

    yeah right…downloading movies is a crime…and making movies with deshdrohi dawood’s money is not a crime? Have you guys ever wondered why are most (except this) Yashraj movies made in switzerland? hint: Indians have over trillion dollars stored away in illegal swiss accounts.. Get the picture??

  • Fathiya,

    Its not about the length but the pace. A 4 hour movie (Jodha Akbar) can be great. While a 1 hour movie might seem too long. So the problem with Rab Ne, is the length because the pace is very slow. Whatever they were trying to convery / show in 2 hours 45 mins could have easily been done in 30 mins lesser.

    Where has it been mentioned that 4 characters is a negative? We just mentioned that the movie has 4 characters. Its neither a positive nor a negative. If anything its a positive, as Aditya Chopra has tired something different. He always has many characters in his films.

    And regarding your last point of Shahrukh Khan proving himself as a talented actor. I pity you feel that way after he has worked in over 40 films. He has movies like DDLJ, KKHH, Baazigar, Devdas, Swades, Chak De India behind him. He has nothing to prove! And no i wouldnt rate his performance in Rab Ne as even amongst his Top 10. Raj part was extremely poor. Over the top and too loud.

    Now the main part. The story! Well there are too many flaws to mention here.

    – Taani never till the climax get any doubt that Raj could be Surinder. But in the end when he comes on stage, she recollects everything. How? Did something that never strike till she fell badly in love, strike now? How does Surinder coming on stage prove he is Raj?

    – I have clearly mentioned in the review. It is possible for someone who is married to fall in love with her dancing partner. But the way they fall in love, the build up to it has to be convincing. She has to be so desperately, so hopeless, so helplessly in love… becuase she has promised her husband to be a good wife. Its all about the direction, the way the director convinces the audience.

    And there are many more flaws in the story.. I can go on and on here!

    Regarding the look, fine we agree. Maybe she could not have recognised him. But the voice? Did he change that too? Atleast I couldnt hear the difference.

  • Indicine Team: thanks for the feedback.. that’s how we are.. we see any movie differently.. therefore the responses for any movie we watch r different from the audience.. some ppl on chakpak website found it a brilliant movie and the best movie which they’ve seen in their life! and some ppl find it “average” and some find it a bad movie.. and the director is also a human.. like u and me.. also sees the script in his own way and then he makes his movie. It’s a matter of what u believe or disbelieve.. what u like or dislike.. some ppl never forgive humen’s weaknesses, falling in love, or betraying their partners even if they had some big problems in their life and were unhappy, and some do.. they do excuse others for their fault.. forgive and forget easily.

    About the points which u have mentioned:

    1) I did mention that Shahrukh proved himself as a very talented actor coz lots of ppl, haters, enemies, and as u know, always want to prove that Shahrukh isn’t a good actor.. Shahrukh works under yash raj, johars’ banners, shahrukh is so and so.. therefore I mentioned this scentence.. for those ppl to go and watch him in this movie.. and u didn’t like shahrukh’s acting in his role as Raj!! If u did understand shahrukh’s character as sury, a simple man who never knew how to be attractive, never had any relationship with the opposite sex as he mentioned for his wife.. so his role demanded that he overact while playing (Raj) as he was trying to be “cool”, actually he didn’t know how to be elegant and win the girl’s heart coz his friend who works as the hairdresser had also a bad taste for clothes ( coz they were living in a small town, in some old places like old Delhi.. u can see in our real life how some poor simple ppl wear their clothes, the poor young boys wear sometimes clothes which u wd laugh at.. so shahrukh didn’t overact.. but he was trying to be macho, talking loudly and walking like strong men.. that’s was his role to perform and wear some colourful t.shirts and pants.

    2) About Tani that she never had any doubt about Raj, I already explained, but in the last scene, on the stage.. she was surprised because Sury, her hsuband who didn’t know anything about dancing steps, suddenly starts to dance the way Raj used to do with her! he holds her in his arms the same way.. moves the same way!! that made her surprised and then.. she remembered everything in those moments.

    3) Lots of ppl in fact promise certain things but they never keep their promise.. She said she’s gona be a good wife.. but she also told her husband that she’d never be able to love him. And when a woman is living unhappy marriage life, she feels the emptyness, lonlyness and easily she’d fall for any man she meets, specially with someone like Raj.. who loved her so dearly.. gave her the love she was dreaming of.

    Indicine Team: The movie is wonderful, but each of us while watching any movie would understand it differently, do u think that the super hit movies like Kabhi Khoshi Kabhi Ghum or DDLJ were some pure movies.. with no negative points, were flawless movies!! I can submit to u, if u wish, all the flaws in KKKG which was a super hit movie.!

    KKKG had more than 6 or 7 flaws, but ppl loved it blindly!!

  • Fathiya, with regards to your above comment, I will reply in detail later.

    For now, some more flaws that i would like to point out.

    – Why did Taani not once mention to Raj that she is married?
    – How did the boring Surinder, who has always been the nerdy types, overnight turn into a cool stud? It takes time to work on your personality, doesnt it? You cant change overnight!
    – Another small flaw but stupid nonetheless. How did Raj light up the whole city with I LOVE YOU? I understand he works for a power company, yet.. Something that is utterly impossible. Given it is a cinematic liberty that the director has taken. But either give us a nonsensical comedy like Singh Is King / No Entry or give us something realistic. The audience is confused, if its a realistic love story or a fantasy.

    Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is a confused film! And if you actually think of the story, its heavily flawed.

  • Just got back, the cinema was atleast 60 percent full..but i went to a 4.30pm show so people would still be at work…To sum up I AM DISAPOINTED BIG TIME! the movie is everything i was afraid it would be and that is unrealistic to the core. The problem with the movie is that yes the look of the film is very simple, small town, small thinking..but then a simple film takes a U-Turn and it ends up crashing. Rab ne bana di jodi is not all bad don’t get me wrong the first 30mins is just top-notch! If only the film stayed like that and it would have been great. I actully was pumped in the first 30mins that i was watching a great film.

    The story between Surindar and Taani and how they met up and got married was really something. But the chrecter devlopment of Taani was not good at all. Her farther passes away so her farthers last wish is for her to marry Surindar, very good way to put them together. But why Taani is still hurt, Not hurt as in her farther passes away as in hurt as in why does she find it hard to love again? No past was brought to why she does not want to love another man. As i go on the starting was top notch there is one scene where he write a letter to Tanni and he does not know to leave a rose or not by the letter. Audience were clapping for that bit.

    When shahrukh khan gets his first lunch tiffin from Tanni that was really sweet..Sweet moments like that was so real and good and then followed the haule haule song which was well done! The film loses it when the dance compitition kicks in and Suri Turns to raj to make his wife love him as raj, the intension was very sweet he wants to see her wife happy. But he could have stayed as suri and changed a new look and still let his wife know who he is. Why the split personalty and the lies? The raj chrecter is anoying as hell, each day he practises with her raj goes back to the salon owned by Viny pathak and puts on this time a fake Mucchie and becomes suri again. The film becomes very real at one point to very cartoonish, The comedy scenes are not evan funny. The dhoom 2 scenes where not evan funny, The Sumo Wrestling scene was never meant to be funny it was meant for you to feel sympathetic to Suri. Also how wife can not recornise her husband one bit is just too stupid. But lets not be harsh. Rab ne bana di jodi the message it delivers to you at the end is just too good. The dance compition climax is just amazing, audience were slapping for it and the final dance did give me goosebumps the last 20mins of the film was good.

    But yet it is a disapointment, atleast 1.45mins of the film is just plane boring and stupid, The Hum Hain Rahe pyar ke song which featured kajol, lara, preity, bipasha and rani was not evan exciting the song was forced in and it just did not excite me one bit. Another thing the tujhe mein rab diktha hai track was soo poorly done. the song was suppose to be a soft number with alot of face expersions and rajs chrecter messes it up by dancing to it. The song could have been used in so much of a better way.

    The movies performances goes to shahrukh khan as suri, Yes surindar as shahrukh khan is what proves why shahrukh khan is one amazing actor. you see no shahrukh khan in suri it is just Surindar. You feel for him you feel simpathy for this poor guy who can not express his love. Watch it for Surindars chrecter. As (Raj) shahrukh khan goes over the top infact i wish this Raj chrecter never ever exsisted he is what ruined the movie. Anuksha does well, but not brilliant, her face expressions are good but the story of her and the chrecter devlopment of her is not well done and i am suprise aditya chopra did not devlop her evan more for the audience to atleast feel for her

    Like i said Phir Milenge and Tujhe Main Rab Diktha hai where big disapointments as the way they were shot was not good at all, haule Haule is the only song they shot in the right way.

    Overal Aditya chopras worse film out of the 3, but the messege is good and it does leave you smiling at the end there are patchs where the film is good to excellent but a few good scenes here and there does not make a movie work. Sorry aditya chopra Ji you have disapointed me this time round..Now someone come here and call me Biased

    ** (Two stars out of five)

  • Oh my God! What a bad movie, what i have seen in srk career. The move gona be flop. srk has acted too bad . This movie is the badly and poor quality movie.

  • as usual faathiya is up standing and shouting for the movie cajoling all to see the movie for how much drool drool she loved the movie blah blah and more blah..crazy.. this movie is aptly reviewed and heavily flawed and we do not like flawed product ..in any case its not about srk.. its the movie as a whole just like its not about the actor of bond films its the movie in total .i agree its worthless and i will not recommend it to anyone..

  • sure now with faathiyas views im more than ever detrmined notto see the movie..cos everytime she stands up for the movie it is either a bad film or a FLOP FILM case in point dostana which was both ..thanks faaatiya

  • Akshay kumar fighting stupid potatoes eh fathiya? atleast he doesn’t choose dumb stories like RBDNJ and you’ll see Chandni chowk to china is sure to gonna be a hit :p

  • And that’s not actually fighting he was trying to cut the potatoes which didn’t work and yes ofcourse THERE ARE BREATHTAKING STUNTS AND ACTIONS IN THE FILM WHICH EVERYONE WOULD LOVE.

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