The movie disappointingly starts off with yet another heroine searching for her Raja, that will come on a horse in a baraat and take her away on a doli. But things improve and quickly. Rani, or Ranee as the credits spell her name plays the character of Mala, a Kinder Garden teacher who is a headstrong girl with strong beliefs in women’s lib. Rani displays her fine acting skills and Mala her character in very well done fiery speeches throughout the movie. For a first film the job is very well done by the heroine in this female orientated movie.
The story of this movie is somewhat unusual, but thankfully it is unusual in a good way. After Mala slaps Raj (Shadaar Khan), when he insults her during a ‘fiery speech’. Raj vows to get revenge. In what I though was overly graphic lead up and descend from, rape scene, Raj gets revenge. Mala however, unlike many other characters in movies cringe and cry when she is put under the embarrassing pressure tactics of Raj’s rape lawyer. Instead via cleverly delivered dialogue she challenges the double standards of our culture, justice, marriage, fidelity and anything else she can get her hands on. Even a poor rickshaw driver is subject to her speeches.
The plot takes a clever twist here, when Mala demands who will marry her now and as a results of Raj all her hopes of a happy life have been destroyed, the judge ‘sentences’ Raj to marry Mala. This to me seemeedd a bit farfetched, a weird kind of justice, Mala’s easily acceptance of her doshi as her pati is also hard to swallow. What follows is typical wife abuse scenes by the husband and family members, all of which the character of Rani handles with love. And in the end, as always happens, everyone lives happily ever after.
It is no secret to the audience that the film was shot on a low budget. But the plot and the well acted roles of Rani, Gulshan Grover who plays her adopted father, Saeed Jaffery who plays Raj’s pompous father and even surprisingly Monish Behl, who plays Raj’s ‘good’ brother. As for the ‘hero’ well let us just say we are lucky that he hasn’t yet shown his face in Hindi movies again, everything from his dancing, smile, face to the deadpan way he delivers his dialogue is annoying.
The music of the movie is mediocre, with the songs almost hindering the process of the movie, as is often the case they have been inserted just for the sake of it. Apart from the hilarious bhangara number by Gulsan Grover I found myself forwarding through the rest. If you are after even better laughs in this seroius movie, make sure you watch the unintentionally funny song Love Boy kahate hai mujhe, Shadaar looks absolutely ridicules and the dancers are a joke and a half.
And as for Rani, well it was a job well done in the movie, though the fans of her beauty will be surprised to find her a lot less glam then KKHH and other movies. She as evidently gone through a change since RKAB, even her gorgeous hazel eyes are ordinary brown in this movie.
