What Is the Story About?
Rinku Sooryavanshi attempts to elope with her lover, Sajjad, for the 22nd time in her life, when aspiring doctor Venkatesh Vishwanath Iyer AKA “Vishu”, sees her for the first time. However, that will not be the last time he sees her. After catching her; tired of her antics, her family decides to get her married off to the first non-Bihari they meet. And unfortunately for Vishu, he is the one chosen by Rinku’s family. They are both drugged up and then forced to get married. They are then sent on a train to Delhi, where Vishu is currently studying medicine. The worst part, he is supposed to get engaged to his longtime girlfriend in two months. What will Vishu do now? How will he explain this situation? And what is Rinku going to do?
Performances?
While Atrangi Re has quite a lot going on, it primarily focuses on three actors (obviously) – Dhanush, Akshay Kumar and Sara Ali Khan. And all three actors are good – their performances being one of the few good things about this movie. Both Akshay Kumar and Sara Ali Khan have two roles in this film. Akshay Kumar plays Sajjad Ali Khan, but in two different timelines – one as the father of Sara Ali Khan’s character, Rinku and the other as her imaginary lover in present time. Sara Ali Khan plays two roles – one as Rinku and the other as Sajjad Ali Khan’s wife (whose name isn’t mentioned). Yet, no matter the role or how complex each character may be, all three actors are hampered by the screenplay – there is no doubt about that.
Analysis
So, the film goes like this. Like the entire film. So obviously – SPOILERS (We will be providing our commentary along the side as well):
A young woman, Rinku Sooryavanshi, attempts to elope with her lover, Sajjad Ali Khan, before she is caught by her family. This is the last straw for her grandmother and she decides to get Rinku married. Her family kidnaps Vishu, an aspiring doctor, drugs them both and forces them to get married. They are then sent on their way to Delhi. After their high goes down, they decide to go their separate ways – Rinku will meet Sajjad in a few days while Vishu will go to his engagement in a few days. She explains about her love for Sajjad to Vishu while they are en route to Delhi after which he begins to question his engagement since it feels more like an arranged marriage.
Rinku, instead of going her separate way after reaching Delhi, decides to stays in Vishu’s hostel room (which is actually three rooms with a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen attached with a balcony), after which she gets invited to Vishu’s engagement, by Vishu himself (yes, nothing can obviously go wrong here). Listening to his best friend, Madhusudhan’s (AKA “MS”) advice, he decides to not tell about the marriage to his to-be-fiancé, Mandy. However, Rinku starts to attract attention by dancing at the engagement and eventually Mandy’s cousin finds out about the marriage who promptly provides proof to Mandy herself. Engagement gets canceled, in a surprisingly mild manner, and they all return home. Surprisingly, neither Vishu’s parents care about the cancellation of the wedding nor do they want to talk to him about his new wife. They just let him go back to his University in Delhi with his wife – no questions asked.
In the span of around four-to-five days that Rinku and Vishu got married and then returned from the failed engagement to Delhi – Vishu fell in love with Rinku. Vishu confesses his feelings to Rinku and ten seconds later, guess what – Rinku finds out that her magician boyfriend, Sajjad, has returned. Losing hope, Vishu lets her go to be with the love of her life. However, Ashish finds out that Sajjad doesn’t exist and he is actually a figment of Rinku’s imagination. Which means Vishu has a chance to actually win her heart. And INTERMISSION.
Isn’t this enough? Sure the final part of this first half is interesting and does make us want to know more – but already you can see cracks in logic in this film:
Vishu inviting Rinku to his wedding is quite dumb. Rinku dancing like a crazy person at Vishu’s wedding is even dumber.
Vishu falls in love with Rinku after knowing her for about five days – max. Sure, she changed his life with a brilliant love story – but falling in love with her? A giant leap in logic (and a major plot hole).
Also, no Indian family is going to sit idly by when they find out that their child got married without them knowing. The fact that Vishu’s parents have nothing to say to either Vishu or Rinku is ridiculous and is probably the most unbelievable thing shown in this movie. Almost as ridiculous as Vishu’s hostel room. And believe us, Atrangi Re only gets more ridiculous. We are condensing the second half as it is not as “spectacular” after the first half cliffhanger.
Second Half Begins:
After finding out that Rinku might have psychological problems – a group of aspiring doctors (in this case final year medical students) decide to play along with this madness, just so that their friend, Vishu, can get her to fall in love with him. Well, since they haven’t technically graduated, they haven’t said (or sworn) the Hippocratic oath yet – so this is all fine apparently. Also, except for MS, we do not know any of Vishu’s other friends. Anyway, Vishu and MS somehow half-ass an excuse and get Rinku to take psychological meds (under the disguise that she is taking medicine against a virus called DAVID which is related to COVID) – so that it will help in getting rid of Sajjad. And it does work for a time. She falls in love with Vishu, but becomes torn in choosing between Sajjad and Vishu. Notice that no one has decided to help her by taking her to an actual therapist or psychiatrist or psychologist – someone who will actually be able to help her. Anyway, after Rinku decides to not to sign the divorce papers, Vishu gives her an ultimatum – she has to choose between him and Sajjad, within the next few hours.
Rinku then meets Sajjad and finally understands that Sajjad is actually her father. The love story that she recited to Vishu is actually the story of her father and mother. This would have been an incredible plot twist – had it not already been spoiled at the end of the first half. Eventually we find out what happened – Rinku’s family tried to kill Sajjad – and in the process, it also killed Rinku’s mother. Rinku finally let’s go and decides to go back to Vishu and they embrace. Roll credits.
Rinku’s family causes the death of Rinku’s mom and Sajjad; which begs the question – why did Rinku quietly go back with her family at the beginning of the film, when she attempts to run away at the railway station, at the very beginning scene of the film? Actually why did her evil family let her live all this while? Her 22 attempts at trying to escape make sense now and so do her psychological problems. But the plot holes are still immense. And that’s a major issue.
The cinematography and editing is good, while the direction is pretty decent as well. However, the screenplay ruins the whole thing. If there were a few changes to the screen play – like what if Vishu doesn’t immediately fall in love with Rinku? Rinku has expanded his mind and shown him the possibility of love – so he wants something like that for himself. However, when he finds out that Sajjad is a figment of her imagination – he decides to help with her psychological problem. And while curing her, they could have slowly fallen in love with each other, eventually. The love story is much more believable that way. Another change that the script writer could have done was what if Sajjad is Rinku’s father not revealed until the very end? While it wouldn’t have helped much, it would have made the film more mysterious and Rinku’s condition (as well as Sara Ali Khan’s acting) complex.
Overall, Atrangi Re is a one-time watch feature film, primarily for its unique romance premise. The non-linear storytelling is a nice addition to the film as well – so if you can handle the massive plot holes, the film might be worth a try. Or skip it if you want.
Other Artists?
There is really only one extra actor in this film and that actor is Ashish Verma, who plays the aforementioned MS, Vishu’s best friend. The actor doesn’t have much screen time and has nothing to do until the script demands it off him. He is a decent actor, but he doesn’t show much on screen in Atrangi Re.
Music and Other Departments?
The music is okay. The direction, cinematography and editing is pretty good however, and does a decent job in trying to cover a bad screen-play; which it could not. The set designs and location scouts have done some really good work, however.
Highlights?
Non-linear Plot
Unique Love Story Concept
Drawbacks?
Half-assed Screenplay
Multiple Plot Holes
Unimaginative Conclusion
Did I Enjoy It?
It was okay
Will You Recommend It?
Meh. If you like romance films, then this is a unique film to check out. Otherwise skip it
Atrangi Re Movie Review by Binged Bureau
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