History
The eldest of four sisters and only brother, Lala Kedarnath (Akshay Kumar) runs a chaat-golgapa shop in Chandni Chowk, which was founded by his father. Lala promised his mother upon her death that he would marry her only after all four of his sisters were married. Lala works tirelessly to fulfill her promise. But the demand for the boys continues to grow every time. Still, he rises from his position and makes a dowry. During this, there are many hiccups in his personal life as well. He starts drifting away from his girlfriend Sapna (Bhumi Pednekar). Lala’s commitment to her sisters…is a big obstacle for her and Sapna’s love story to move forward. Meanwhile, eldest sister Gayatri’s (Sadia Khatib) marriage is confirmed. She gets happily married after giving a lot of dowry. Lala then wears slippers to the other three sisters’ wedding. But in the meantime, such incidents happen that shake him to the core. There is a change in his thinking about dowry. In such a situation what decision does Lala take for her sisters and Sapna.. The story revolves around this.
acting
Akshay Kumar as Lala Kedarnath has done a good job in some parts. His bond with his sisters is seen well in the emotional scenes. But somewhere you can see it from above, especially when he has long dialogues. There is nothing new in his character. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that there is no depth to any of the characters here. However, Bhumi Pednekar may be in a small role, but while she is on screen, she keeps her eyes riveted. Bhumi gave herself completely to her character. Meanwhile, Saadia Khatib, Sahajmin Kaur, Deepika Khanna, Smriti Srikanth are good in the role of the four sisters. I wish the director had sculpted his character a bit more.
directing
The reason for the objection is also that this movie was shot in 2022. There is no denying the fact that dowry is still practiced in many places in India, sometimes under the guise of ‘gifts’ and sometimes under compulsion. But the problem with Aanand L Rai’s Rakshabandhan is that to educate the audience about the evil of the dowry system, the film first glorifies it to a great extent. Don’t expect a film with such a weak script from a director like Aanand L Rai who has given films like Raanjhanaa, Tanu Weds Manu, Atrangi Re in the past. Here the film completely fails to deliver its final message. Somewhere girls were teased for their color, gait and weight, while somewhere they were described as a burden on a father-brother. In one scene, Akshay Kumar’s character Lala beats the boys of Kedarnath locality, saying that if a boy molests a girl, he will have to marry the same girl. The objection is not that the film has all these things.. The objection is that even till the end the director is not seen trying to prove these things wrong.
technical side
The script of the movie is written by Himanshu Sharma and Kanika Dhillon which is very weak. Whatever message the writers are trying to convey through the film regarding the dowry system, they fail miserably. From the very beginning, there has been a lot of talk about the film, that the film is only 1 hour and 50 minutes long. Editing of the film is done by Hemal Kothari who deserves credit for it. Because honestly, the creators didn’t have much to say in the story here. The film’s production design and KU Mohanan’s cinematography are good.
music
The film’s music was composed by Himesh Reshammiya and Ishaan Chhabra composed the original background score. Irshad Kamil has penned the lyrics. We wouldn’t be wrong if we say that the music is a strong point of the film. Songs bring emotion to the film and connect with the characters. ‘Dhaagon Se Bandhan’ sung by Shreya Ghoshal and Arijit Singh and ‘Bidaai’ sung by Romi manage to bring out the emotional side of the story to some extent.
Rating
Built on the relationship between brothers and sisters and showing the problem of the dowry system, this film is very careless in conveying its message. The writing of the film is very irresponsible, making all the characters and situations seem fake. 1 star for Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Rakshabandhan’ from Filmybeat.
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