Atrangi Re Movie Review Rating: 3.5/5
Filmmaker Aanand L Rai is known for showcasing various hues of love through his cinema. While his Tanu Weds Manu series centred on a highly opinionated and strong-headed girl navigating through her life before and after marriage, Raanjhanaa focused on how unrequited love can change a human being. In his latest directorial Atrangi Re, the filmmaker pieces together a story to bring a never-seen-before love triangle to the table. The film features Dhanush, Sara Ali Khan, and Akshay Kumar in pivotal roles and currently streams on Disney+ Hotstar. Let's find out if Atrangi Re deserves your watch or not!
Story: Upon his first visit in Bihar, Vishu (Dhanush) is kidnapped by a bunch of men and is forced to marry Rinku (Sara Ali Khan), a girl who is head over heels in love with magician Sajjad Ali Khan (Akshay Kumar) and has made several unsuccessful attempts to elope with him. The forced marriage leads to the calling off of Vishu's own engagement in Madurai. The newlyweds then head to Delhi and wait for Sajjad to come and take Rinku with him. Soon, Vishu realises he is in love with Rinku. As he expresses his feelings for her in his mother tongue, Sajjad happens to return magically, leaving him heartbroken. However, when Vishu comes to know about the real truth about Sajjad, he is stunned and hopes that he still stands a chance to win Rinku's heart over. Will he succeed? Will Rinku ever leave Sajjad and choose Vishu over him? To find out this and much more, watch the film.
Script, Screenplay & Dialogues: Filmmaker Aanand L Rai and his frequent collaborator screenwriter Himanshu Sharma have come up with a unique love story which has a mind-boggling twist to it. The first half of the film is good. There are some moments which stay with you, like the one where Vishu confesses his feelings for Rinku in Tamil. Dialogues are well-written. There are some dialogues in Tamil which many people will not be able to understand, but they say that emotions are universal, so one can make out what is happening in those scenes despite not knowing the language. The second half of the film is a tad repetitive and needed better editing. One major problem, however, with the story is that it treats an important issue like mental health rather superficially, without going too deep.
Performances & Direction: Power-packed performances from the lead cast are the major highlights of the film. After watching Dhanush in Atrangi Re, the audience would wish to see him more in Hindi films. Be it in comical scenes or scenes involving high voltage emoticons, Dhanush aces them all with ease and perfection. Sara Ali Khan also surprises with her performance. She picks up the local dialect and accent of Bihar quite well and looks her part throughout the film. Akshay Kumar adds star power to the film. He does a fine job as magician Sajjad Ali Khan.
As far as direction is concerned, Aanand L Rai creates his magic again in his own unique ways. He is probably one of the very few filmmakers from the current generation who still believes in telling pure, unadulterated love stories and Atrangi Re is another example of his penchant for such stories. He takes out the best from his actors. The filmmaker deserves credit for presenting Sara Ali Khan in a never-seen-before avatar.
Technical Aspects: The camera work of the film is outstanding. Cinematographer Pankaj Kumar successfully manages to capture the rustic beauty of Bihar, serenity of Madurai, and chaos of Delhi through his lenses. Editing by Heman Kothari is fine, but the second half of the film could have been trimmed better as the narrative gets repetitive more often than not. Production value is rich.
Final Verdict: Watch Atrangi Re for Dhanush and Sara Ali Khan's stellar performances and AR Rahman's soulful music which takes the film to another level altogether. Filmmaker Aanand L Rai has attempted to tell a love story differently, not taking the much trodden route, and his sincere efforts do need your applause. I am going with 3.5 stars.
Movie Credits:
Banner: Colour Yellow Productions, T-Series Films
Director: Aanand L Rai
Cast: Dhanush, Sara Ali Khan, Akshay Kumar, etc.
Runtime: 137 Minutes
Atrangi Re Trailer:
