Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (transl. A Match Made By God), also known as RNBDJ, is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Aditya Chopra and produced by him and his father Yash Chopra under their banner of Yash Raj Films. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan as Surinder Sahni, a mild-mannered office employee who marries his deceased teacher's miserable daughter Taani Gupta, portrayed by Anushka Sharma in her debut. His friend Balwinder "Bobby" Khosla, played by Vinay Pathak, eventually transforms him into the fun-loving actor "Raj Kapoor" to win Taani's love. The film's soundtrack was composed by Salim–Sulaiman, and it became the first Bollywood soundtrack to reach the top 10 album sales on the iTunes Store.[5]
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi was released worldwide on 12 December 2008 and marked Chopra's return to direction after an 8-year hiatus, following his previous directorial venture, Mohabbatein (2000), which also starred Khan. The film was not heavily promoted pre-release by either Khan or YRF, mainly due to uncertainty and apprehensions regarding cinema-market conditions following the terror attacks in Mumbai.[6] Upon release, the film received positive reviews from critics and broke several box-office records. It was declared a year-end super-hit, and at the end of its theatrical run, it grossed over ₹1.57 billion (US$20 million) worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing Hindi film of the year overseas, as well as YRF and Khan's highest-grossing film at the time.[7]
The film's script was recognized by a number of critics and was invited to be included in the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, just a day after its release.[8] The script is accessible for research purposes only; students, filmmakers, writers, and actors are among the regular patrons.[9]
Plot
Surinder Sahni is a shy and mild-mannered office employee. He attends the wedding of Taani Gupta, the cheerful daughter of his former professor, Shirish Gupta, and falls in love with her at first sight. When Taani's fiancè is killed in a road accident, her father has a heart attack. On his deathbed, Gupta asks Surinder to marry Taani, fearing that she will be left alone in the world after his death.
After Gupta's death and the couple's surprise marriage, Surinder takes Taani home to his ancestral house in Amritsar, Punjab. Taani has now become withdrawn and depressed but Surinder treats her with respect and gives her space; the two stay in separate rooms. However, Surinder's office colleagues and his best friend Bobby invite themselves to his house for a party after learning about his marriage. Surinder feels awkward as he cannot make them meet a depressed Taani, but is surprised when she shows up.
Taani, who enjoys dance, learns of a dance competition in town and joins. Surinder asks his best friend Bobby, a hair salon owner, for grooming advice that could help him win Taani's love and bring her back to her old bubbly self. Bobby gives Surinder a complete makeover, including getting rid of his spectacles, giving him contact lenses, and shaving off his moustache.
To go with the makeover, Surinder changes his personality into the loud and fun-loving "Raj Kapoor" and joins Taani's competition. He is partnered with her and decides to play the "cool" Raj in public while returning home as the quiet Surinder, leading to comical situations as he tries to balance both roles. Taani is initially put off by Raj's abrasiveness but the two become friends as she helps him practice their dance routine. When Raj grandly confesses his love for her, Taani faces an emotional dilemma. Bobby advises Surinder to win her love as himself, not as Raj.
Surinder takes Taani to a trade fair, where he participates in a Sumo-wrestling competition to win airline tickets for Japan. Despite managing to defeat the wrestler, he is severely injured, angering Taani, who demands to know the reason behind his wild actions. She begs him to stop, as he has done enough for her. That night, an emotionally distressed Taani goes to meet Raj, who asks her to elope with him. Surinder, heartbroken, tells Bobby that he has decided to let Taani go so she can find some suitable "Raj" for herself.
The next day, Surinder takes Taani to the Golden Temple to pray for her final performance and her happiness. While there, Taani has a change of heart, believing that God has shown her a sign that her marriage with Surinder was divinely planned and inspired. For the first time, she reflects on him and recognizes the strength and integrity in his character. She tells Raj that she loves Surinder and cannot leave him as it is equivalent to leaving God. Surinder is happy to learn that Taani loves his true self.
At the competition, Taani is shocked to see Surinder joining her on stage as himself instead of Raj. During their performance, she slowly realizes that Raj was none other than Surinder the entire time. Afterward, the two tearfully confess their love for each other and end up winning the competition.
The end credits show the couple visiting Japan for their belated honeymoon.
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi tells a story from the point of view of an ordinary person and, most importantly, conveys a message that being 'ordinary' is cool. The filmmakers were confident that it would be able to strike a chord with millions because the film has ordinary people as its target audience:[10]
"As middle-class people, so many of us have a routine life. We wake up in the morning, get dressed, go to the office, come back, sometimes for a change we buy things to take home, watch TV, eat dinner and go to sleep. And then we repeat this day after day, week after week. Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi talks about one such man who lives a routine life. It is a simple film at heart."[10]
Casting and filming
In February 2008, Aditya Chopra announced that he will helm another film titled Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and that it will star his lucky mascot, Shah Rukh Khan. The female lead was to be a newcomer who would be chosen following a massive talent hunt for a young, demure woman with quintessential Punjabi features.[11] In May 2008, Yash Raj announced the casting of the 20-year-old model Anushka Sharma as the leading lady opposite Khan. Yash Chopra commented:
"We were looking first for someone who could truly embody the spirit of small-town Punjab. We know we have found her in Anushka. While she has no previous acting experience, we have seen that unique spark in her that makes us confident that she will be a standout even opposite Shah Rukh."[12]
Sharma was chosen over hundreds of girls for this role and was kept hidden from the media during the filming. When asked about that, Khan said: "The idea was not to keep her a secret; we wanted her work to speak for her. When new actors come into films, it is important for people to see their work and then question them. It becomes easier after the film releases."[13]Vinay Pathak was cast to play an important role in the film, making it his first commercial outing.[14]
Filming began in May 2008; Yash Chopra was present at the shoot.[15] A portion was shot with Khan at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab.[16] Khan had to lose the six-pack abs he developed for the song "Dard-E-Disco" from Om Shanti Om (2007) since he was playing the role of a very normal, regular person.[17]
Serbian pop singer Jelena Karleuša remade the song "Dance Pe Chance" as "Insomnia" in 2010. Bulgarian pop singer Ivana also made a copy of the same song as "Nedei".
The soundtrack of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi was released on 6 November 2008. It is the first Bollywood soundtrack to reach the top 10 album sales for the iTunes Store.[5] According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 19,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's second highest-selling.[21]
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi was released across 30 countries worldwide on 12 December 2008 on over 1,200 screens, including approximately 300 prints for the overseas market, making it the first time a Bollywood film was released on such a wide scale.[22] Before release, the film witnessed a large volume of advance bookings.[23] Aditya Chopra, who is known for maintaining secrecy over his films and not showing them to anyone until the day of release, made an exception and held a special screening on 23 November 2008 at Yash Raj Studios. The screening was attended by Khan and his family, Karan Johar, Yash Chopra, and debutante Sharma.[24]
There was a huge debate in the industry whether Aditya Chopra's decision to go ahead with the release of the film in the wake of the terror strikes in Mumbai was the right one. With the trauma of the terrorist attacks on Mumbai city on 26, 27, and 28 November still fresh, there was divided opinion on the release schedule. While some felt that Chopra should go ahead with the release because the public, tired and depressed after watching news of the attacks and the aftermath on television screens, would be waiting for a true entertainer to divert its mind, others thought he should postpone the film release as the audiences, not just in Mumbai but all over the country, were still not in a mood to visit theatres.[25]
Promotion
The first poster of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi was released in October in theatres and multiplexes across India, with full-page advertisements in national dailies. The first theatrical promo was released on 14 November, with Karan Johar's Dostana. Initially very little was known about the movie, and there were many theories floating around on the Internet about the story.[26][27] The first music promo of the song "Haule Haule" was released on 2 November 2008, across all leading television channels to coincide with Khan's 43rd birthday.[28] The song promo had received praise from the public.[29]
Home media
Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama gave the DVD of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi 3.5 out of 5 stars stating that it is a good choice if you "want to watch a clean family movie at home." The DVD includes the documentaries, The Making of the Film and The Making of the Songs ("Haule Haule", "Dance Pe Chance", "Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte"), as well as a number of deleted scenes and interviews.[30] The film, was released on Blu-ray a year after its theatrical release.
Reception
Critical reception
Upon release, the film received positive reviews. Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times calls Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi an "agreeably amusing comedy/romance/musical" noting that, "the magnetic Khan is a skilled enough comic actor with his physical transformation—like a Peter Sellers-ish recessive turning into a Jerry Lewis extrovert—that believing Taani wouldn't notice isn't difficult."[31] Rachel Saltz of The New York Times describes it as "soft, sweet and slow, in the words of one of its songs. It deftly blends comedy, the ruling tone of the new Bollywood, with melodrama, the ruling tone of the old."[32] Manish Gajjar of the BBC gave the film 4 out of 5 stars noting that, "Shah Rukh Khan makes you laugh and cry as the nerdy-looking, clumsy, bespectacled Surinder and all hip and happening Raj. A true professional in his own right, Khan breezes through his dialogues during the emotional and comic scenes."[33]Frank Lovece of Film Journal International argues that it is "smarter and more self-aware of its rom-com contrivances than most Hollywood movies" and notes that while "the movie's cleverness eventually devolves into a simplistic Harlequin-Romance-for-males wish-fulfillment about beauty and the geek, it's a very well-acted variation on a Hollywood staple."[34] Critic and author Maitland McDonagh of MissFlickChick.com stated that the film, "has been dismissed in some quarters as self-conscious and artificial, a coyly self-referential reworking of outdated movie tropes a la Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven, but it works for me in a way that most contemporary Hollywood romcoms don't."[35]
The film also received some negative reviews. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN was critical, giving it 2 out of 5 stars and stating that "Aditya Chopra's return to direction after 8 years is marked by a flawed script, which in turn spawns a disappointing film. Where's the smart dialogue and the spirited characters that defined his debut film, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge? There's no trace of either in this film...the problem then, at the root of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, is that much like those artificial sets in the film, the emotions too are contrived."[36] Derek Elley of Variety argues that the film has "a huge, hollow center that sinks the project early on...A paper-thin script drags itself to the finish line amid tiresome mugging by Khan, a huge credibility gap (she never recognises him without his spectacles and moustache?), and a blah score with only one showstopper (featuring 5 famous actresses)."[37]
A number of critics have further noted the similarities between this movie and superhero films. Khalid Mohamed, of the Hindustan Times, gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars stating that Surinder "is a soul brother to the mousy Clark Kent-cum-Superman" who "makes you laugh and sob alternately."[38] Mayank Shekhar from Mumbai Mirror gave the film three out of five stars and argues that "[The] same person, oppositely twinned, is usually the stuff of superhero films; the kinds of Clark Kent-Superman, Peter Parker-Spider-Man etc. You feel entirely lost in this fantasy flick because for the most part, it’s built around something so intimate and real. It’d be much easier to travel to foreign countries around far-fetched situations with fake heroes."[39] In addition, Sudish Kamath of The Hindu stated that while Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi could have been an interesting art film exploring the dynamics of an arranged marriage, the director instead "treats this character type like Sam Raimi would treat Spider-Man...Superhero 'Raj' slips into costume and out, complaining about how it gets uncomfortable around the crotch, to win over his Mary Jane with not much saving-the-world business to keep him busy. But while Spidey does it for a bigger reason than just MJ, Raj’s sole motivation is to stalk his wife and play out his fantasy as somebody else. His obsession with his alter-ego reaches new heights when he wants his wife to cheat on the real him—the goofy Surinder Sahni who starts off well."[40]
Box office
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi collected ₹420 million (US$5.3 million) in its opening week.[41] By its fourth week, it had earned ₹860 million (US$11 million), making it Shah Rukh Khan's fifth consecutive blockbuster in 3 years and Aditya Chopra's third blockbuster as a director.[42][43] The film grossed $8.43 million in the overseas market of which $2.09 million was contributed by the United States and $2.24 million from the UK, and was declared as a blockbuster overseas.[44]
At the end of its theatrical run, it grossed ₹1,578.9 million (US$20 million) worldwide, thus becoming Yash Raj Films' and Khan's highest-grossing film at the time of its release.[7] It was the second-highest-grossing film domestically and the highest-grossing in the overseas market that year.
