When SRK Won Me Over- Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

As I mentioned in a previous post, the very famous Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, which launched Shah Rukh Khan's lover boy persona and remains at this writing the longest running movie in Bollywood history, only served to leave me slightly bemused as to the appeal of SRK. The movie was fine and he did have some moments that proved he knew how to turn on lovey-dovey charm, but mostly I spent the film thinking, "Really?" Why, I wondered, has this odd-looking man with his over-the-top "look at me!" acting style won the hearts of fans the world over?

I warmed up to him a little when watching Dil To Pagal Hai (The Heart is Crazy), which is an overblown 90s romance full of cheesiness and angst and fate and love and soul mates and Madhuri Dixit running through verdant green meadows and DANCING and some horrifically ugly dance costumes and I love it. I just do. I've heard this type of Bollywood movie described as "candy floss romance," which didn't mean much to me until I remembered that "candy floss" is the UK English term for cotton candy. It fits perfectly. There is nothing of nutritional value in cotton candy at all, but it certainly tastes delicious! And sometimes you just want to indulge.

I'm sure I will devote an entire blog post to Dil To Pagal Hai eventually, but for now, check out the rain song with all the adorable dancing children (watch the kids in the background closely starting at the 2 minute mark to see one little boy miss his cue in hilarious fashion):

But I still wasn't feeling the magic, although his chemistry with Madhuri Dixit is sizzling (Madhuri herself is fabulous).

Then, one night, I was scrolling through the offerings on Netflix Instant Streaming and came across Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (A Match Made by God). I have to admit, the fact that it starred Shah Rukh Khan was part of what made me pretty indifferent to watching it at first. But I thought I'd give it a go.

I planned to just watch it for a little while to check it out but watched the whole thing then and there. I suppose you should know before reading on that I cannot with any kind of objectivity speak of this movie. I love it that much. I love it so much that perfectly reasonable criticisms of people who don't like the movie make me irrationally defensive. I love it so much that it almost ties with Jab We Met, which was on such a pinnacle I thought no other Bollywood would touch it. And in that one viewing Shah Rukh Khan wormed his way into my heart and I totally got it. I don't even find him funny-looking anymore, but impishly handsome. That's the power of his charisma.

The story centers on Surinder Sahni, a bespectacled, quiet-spoken and perfectly ordinary middle class man who is invited to attend the wedding of his favorite university professor's daughter, Taani, played by Anushka Sharma.

He is charmed by her, and who wouldn't be? In fact he is immediately smitten. But she's about to be married and all, so... short movie, right?

No, of course not. I will warn you that the beginning here, which sets up the premise of the film, is an awful lot to swallow, at least for a Western audience. I always give this warning when recommending the movie, as well as assurances that just rolling with it is worth it! What happens is, as fate would have it, a tragic bus accident means the wedding doesn't happen. Suri's old professor friend, Taani's father, promptly keels over with a heart attack. On his deathbed at the hospital he calls Suri in and begs him to marry Taani so he knows she'll be taken care of after her dies. He begs Taani to marry Suri even though she is grieving, because he doesn't want to leave this world worried about her. Both of them agree, Taani to make her father happy, Suri ostensibly for only the same reason (but we know better).

So now Suri is in the unenviable position of being married to the woman he loves, but without her loving him back, and he is at a loss for how to go about changing this. He ends up having a friend change his look entirely and goes to see her at her dance lesson, but though she ends up seeing him there she doesn't recognize him.

Seeing his chance to spend some time with her with no baggage, he ends up playing a double role: her dance partner, Raj, and her husband, Suri.

Raj

Suri

A very sweet love story follows. I love it all. I love the music, and the song-and-dance numbers are very entertaining and sometimes touching. There's humor I actually find humorous, and Anushka Sharma's debut performance is quite lovely. Then there is SRK's performance. He is wonderful in this. The man can actually act! His reaction to the decision Taani eventually makes brings tears to my eyes every time. YES, I KNOW I'm sappy! And sure, the movie is kind of sappy. But it is wonderfully heartfelt and sweet. Also engaging, and technically well-made with brilliant colors and beautiful cinematography. And you should watch it. And if you don't like it DON'T TELL ME because I don't want to be disappointed in you. All right, fine, but while you're telling me, just know that I'll figuratively have my fingers in my ears while singing "Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai" at the top of my lungs.

He just wants her love!

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge- First impressions of Shah Rukh Khan

Before I take a look at the last two Shahid Kapoor films my semi-obsession led me to, let's talk about Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, which I watched somewhere in the middle of all these Shahid films.

It began to be clear that, as much as I love Shahid Kapoor and think he is terrifically talented, his filmography is something of a mixed bag. After awhile it occurred to me that I should maybe try another avenue for finding fantastic Bollywood. To the internet I went, and searched for something like "best Bollywood movies." People disagree, of course, but I began to notice one title coming up again and again. A long title in Hindi that I found, at first, completely impossible to keep in my head. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

Before looking into this film, I had never heard of Shah Rukh Khan. Now that I have waded a smidgen further into the sea of Bollywood, it seems incredible, but it's true. I had never heard of Shah Rukh Khan. If any readers are uninitiated or newly curious about Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan is a megastar- quite possibly, by sheer number of fans, the biggest movie star on the planet. Just barely having dipped my toe into Bollywood, I did not know this. But people on the internet were gushing, absolutely gushing about this movie. And I read that it is the longest running film in Indian history. According to the wikipedia entry, as of this writing it is still running in Mumbai. It first came out in 1995. Can you imagine a movie in the US staying in theaters for over 15 years? I was intrigued by reports of this phenomenon of a film.

The English translation for Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge: "The brave-hearted will take the bride."

So I watched it. And I liked it. I did like it. I enjoyed it. But, perhaps not unsurprisingly, after having found it because it was touted as being one of THE BEST BOLLYWOOD MOVIES EVER, and after all the anticipation... it didn't seem THAT amazing.

And I was bemused by SRK (that's Shah Rukh Khan, don'cha know). I thought he was unbelievably annoying for the first half of the film, and only started showing some charm in the second half in India, charm which was still interspersed with obnoxious interludes. I could see- it was plain and obvious- that we were supposed to find his manic antics charming, his habit of talking really fast and over the top of people funny, and his entire manner rakish and endearing. But I must admit that it turned me completely cold. Also, and this is another thing that I find odd to remember, I thought he was really ugly. *ducks and runs away from legions of angry SRK fans*

I did! I thought he was "homely as a mud fence," as my mother used to put it. Now, in the second half of the film I began to see his charm. I had been thinking, as I watched, "THIS is the biggest star in India?" Then came the song Tujhe Dekha To, and the romancing started in earnest, and I began to get a glimmer of the appeal. His eyes are very expressive. He can do the lovey-dovey eyes like nobody's business. He is a master of being besotted.

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So no need to fear- eventually I joined the fantastically huge brigade of Shah Rukh Khan fans. The man has been blessed with heaps and bags of charisma. But it wasn't DDLJ that turned me into a fan of SRK. That honor belongs to Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, bridged to by Dil To Pagal Hai. But that's a topic for another day.

So the story: Raj (SRK) and Simran (Kajol- another very famous Bollywood luminary whom I hadn't heard of before this film) have grown up in London but are Indian at heart. They meet as they take a trip through Europe with groups of mutual friends after graduation. Simran first hates Raj, but then she falls in love with him, which is a problem because after the trip she's going to India with her family and marrying her father's best friend's son, whom she has been promised to since birth. Raj follows her to India and devises a plan to win her father over and marry Simran himself.

It was interesting to see how adamant Raj was the Simran's father give his consent. Simran actually asks him to run away with her, but he insists that this is not what Indians do, and he will only marry her with her father's permission. This is totally foreign to both my Hollywood experience and my actual experience (I didn't let my husband ask my father for my hand in marriage, only his blessing, because I thought it would be disingenuous when I knew I would marry him no matter what my parents said). And therefore fascinating.

DDLJ won me over in the end, just like Shah Rukh did. If you want to get into Bollywood at all, this really is a must see. It is referenced over and over and over again. Just try not to let Raj annoy you in the beginning, open yourself to romance laden with traditional Indian family values, and enjoy the ride!