RAANJHANAA REVIEW Rating: * * *

RAANJHANAA

Banner : Eros International

Producer : Krishika Lulla

Director : Aanand L. Rai

Music : A. R. Rahman

Tamil Bramhin Kundan Shankar (Dhanush) lives in Banaras, develops a crush on the Muslim Zoya (Sonam Kapoor). Kundan proposes but the Zoya rejects and slaps him and she goes away to study. Eight years later she returns but she is in love with student leader Akram (Abhay Deol). On the wedding day the truth comes out that Akram is not Muslim and he is a Hindu, by the name of Jagjeet Singh. He is beaten and he dies. Kundan traces Zoya to Delhi where Kundan becomes a victim of political conspiracy and is killed.

The story is romantic thriller on a political backdrop is written by Himanshu Sharma. Love, emotion, comedy and action drama are combined with social & political issues. Performance-wise, Tamil actor Dhanush is debuting in Hindi and he performs well. Sonam Kapoor looks convincing. Abhay Deol, as Sonam`s love interest in a tiny role is justified, but as a college student he seems miscast. Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub as Kundan’s friend Murari and Swara Bhaskar as Bindiya are brilliant. Kumud Mishra, Vipin Sharma, Sujata Kumar, Arvind Gaur, Shilpi Marwaha and others are adequate in support.

Director Aanand L. Rai has repeated his writer from TANU WEDS MANU but he failed to extract a good script. Especially, the second half is weak. Politics has been inserted forcefully into an otherwise good romantic script. The first half is fair and makes for an interesting, intense, introspective love story. The entire score for songs as well as the background bear the hallmark of A.R. Rahman. The cinematography by Natarajan Subramaniam and Vishal Sinha are superb. Editing by Hemal Kothari is sharp. Production values are very good. Technically, sound. The publicity was excellent.

At the box office, the film has opened to average-plus houses and might pick up on word of mouth publicity, especially amongst family audiences over the weekend. The revenues from overseas and sales of satellite rights will be a likely bonus.