![\"Rocky](\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/07\/Rocky-aur-Rani-kii-Prem-Kahani-review.jpg\")
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Lavish sprawling mansion, gorgeous palatial interiors, swanky SUVs, grand parties with fascinating dance floors, gigantic Durga Puja… Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani<\/em> is a magnificent spectacle of opulence, colour and music topped with dollops of emotion and tears. And yes, garnished with liberal doses of humour too. And lest we forget to mention\u2026 it is all about family \u2013 the good ol\u2019 Karan Johar recipe.<\/p>\n So what\u2019s new? Ummm, now that\u2019s a question. Well, in place of South India vs Punjab in Two States,<\/em> we now have Bengal vs Punjab. We have the Punjabi gabru jawan<\/em> \u201cRockky Randhawa\u201d (Ranveer Singh), the scion of the multi-crore sweetmeat giant Dhanalakshmi Sweets, with all his swag, 6-pack physique, protein shakes, outlandish shades, daringly unbuttoned shirt, eye-popping dance costumes, tomato-red Ferrari, and luxurious SUV with a number plate that says DDC 1. His pidgin English and lack of knowledge about the location of West Bengal is his Achilles heel. Rest he is the archetypal cool dude with a heart of gold.<\/p>\n Rocky meets the bheeshon mishti<\/em> Bengali belle Rani Chatterjee (Alia Bhatt), the fiery, irrepressible star anchor of ‘India Now’ who loves to grill netas<\/em> with laser-sharp questions about women\u2019s status in society. Rani is just as surprised as we are when she falls in love with Rocky who is everything her super-educated ex-s were not. Both are committed to their respective families and here in lies the paradox.<\/p>\n Rocky and Rani<\/p><\/div>\n In Rocky\u2019s matriarchal household, his grandmother Dhanalakshmi (Jaya Bachchan), calls the shots. She is grim, unsmiling and frowning, despotic in her decisions and rather insensitive to not allow her son, (named Tijori to invoke more wealth), to be close to his father. Her husband Kanwal (Dharmendra), who loved his Firaq and also his Jamini (Shabana Azmi), a fellow poetry enthusiast, is now strapped to a wheelchair and living in a world of his memories and music. The search for his illusive \u201cJamini\u201d brings Rocky and Rani together.<\/p>\n Rocky fears his grandma just as the rest of his kin does, including his father (Aamir Bashir), perpetually petrified mother Poonam (Kshitee Jog) and overweight sister Gayatri \u201cGolu\u201d (Anjali Anand), who ends up with embarrassing malapropisms in her nervousness. The stereotyped Punjabi household, where women (except the matriarch) don\u2019t have a voice, is back. They live in a palace that is the \u201cfirst copy of the White House\u201d from the outside. And it is supposed to be in the crowded West Delhi, the hub of mithaiwalas<\/em>. Statutory warning: Don\u2019t scratch your brains.<\/p>\n The Chatterjee household is the exact opposite of the Randhawa family. Here women are educated, liberal, bold and feminist. Jamini, who happens to be Rani\u2019s grandmother is a dignified and affectionate poetry lover (nothing surprising, she is a Bengali, na?), who had once loved and lost her Kanwal.<\/p>\n Rani\u2019s mother Anjali (Churni Ganguly) is a professor and thus must spout \u201cTharoor English\u201d. Her father Chandan (Tota Roy Chowdhury) is a Kathak exponent (Bengalis love the arts, remember?). A colleague Somen (Namit Das) loves her and hovers around for a date but is unable to speak his heart, tch tch<\/em> (he reminded me of the typical silent admirer of the heroine in our Hindi films of yesteryears).<\/p>\n The Randhawa women are always dressed in bright, colourful, silver or gold bordered salwar kameezs. The Chatterjee women flaunt their tangails, dhakais and chiffon saris. The costumes reflect the characters \u2013 that\u2019s a Manish Malhotra speciality.<\/p>\n Alia Bhatt and Shabana Azmi\u2019s heavily-accented Bengali sounds out of place to me as a Bengali. I am told by my Punjabi-speaking friends, Jaya Bachchan\u2019s Punjabi is just as much. Well, if Jaya had been Rani\u2019s grandmother, the Bengali at least could have been taken care of. But having said that, one must say, the two finest actresses of our times \u2013 Jaya and Shabana \u2013 do a great job with a role or look they\u2019ve never done before. I only wish Karan Johar had allowed Jaya Bachchan to at least smile a bit.<\/p>\n So, coming back to the story, Rocky and Rani swap places for three months, with Rocky moving into the Chatterjee home and Rani stepping into the Randhawa household to try and see if their families can overcome the cultural differences and accept them willingly \u2014 \u201cWe may hold the steering wheel but our families are the backseat drivers\u201d. This is where the narrative picks up. Done with the rom-com in the first half, the film now slips into social messaging.<\/p>\n Rani brings about a quiet revolution in the Randhawa family where women are subservient to the men and the matriarch. On the \u201cother side\u201d, Rocky tries to wade through a household where men are expected to make their own coffee and accept women\u2019s empowerment.<\/p>\n![\"Rocky](\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/07\/rocky-aur-rani-ki-prem-kahani.jpg\")