Raanjhanaa
Raanjhanaa is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Aanand L. Rai and written by Himanshu Sharma. The film is produced by Krishika Lulla under the banner Eros International. It stars Dhanush, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Abhay Deol. It marks the Hindi film debut for Dhanush. The film was released on 21 June 2013 worldwide, while the dubbed Tamil version titled Ambikapathy was released a week later.
The background score and songs were composed by A. R. Rahman and the lyrics of the tracks were penned by Irshad Kamil. The film was successful at the Indian box office.
Plot
Kundan Shankar is the only son of Tamil Hindu Brahmin parents settled in Varanasi. Since his childhood, Kundan has had a strong and obsessive one-sided love for Zoya, a Muslim girl residing in the other neighborhood, whom he had seen praying namaaz in his teacher's house while he went to collect chanda or donation for Hindu festival, Dussehra. He always attempts to flirt or be around Zoya but gets slapped several times in the process. These acts of courtship from him were being done even without knowing Zoya's name. Zoya finally reveals her name after repeated asking and starts to like him a bit because of Kundan's consistency of affection and tells him to meet at a place. When they meet, she comes to know that Kundan is a Hindu brahmin and starts to avoid again because her family is orthodox, and she is sure that they won't agree for any intimate relationship like marriage. Her family comes to know that Zoya is liking some Hindu guy, and they decide to send Zoya to Aligarh for further studies. After Zoya moves to College for further studies forcefully, Kundan tries to impress Zoya's family members by assisting them with small-small home chores. Zoya gets into Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and regains her confidence and then falls for student leader, Akram Zaidi.After eight years, Zoya returns to Varanasi, barely recognizing Kundan when she meets him again. Kundan again attempts to ask Zoya for her love but she is reluctant, revealing that she is in love with Akram. She urges Kundan to convince her family about her marriage with Akram. Kundan eventually agrees and gets their wedding arranged, promising Zoya that he will also marry someone else and forget her. He proposes to his childhood friend Bindiya, who has had a crush on him since childhood.
On the day of Zoya's marriage, Kundan finds out that Akram is a Sikh, whose actual name is Jasjeet Singh Shergill. This enrages him, as Zoya had used their religious differences to convince him that their match was not possible. He crashes the wedding ceremony and reveals the truth to Zoya's parents. Kundan is later informed that Zoya tried to commit suicide, and Jasjeet was mercilessly beaten by Zoya's relatives. At the hospital, Jasjeet tells Kundan that Zoya convinced him to portray himself as Muslim to marry her, a plan he should not have agreed to. While with Jasjeet, Kundan forgets about his own marriage ceremony with Bindiya, taking place that day, and is too late when he returns. Hurt and angry, Kundan's family disowns him. Jasjeet's parents take him back to his village. Kundan tries to redeem himself by taking Zoya to Jasjeet's village. There, he is devastated to find that Jasjeet has succumbed to his injuries, finally understanding that his one-sided love has resulted in an innocent man's death.
Kundan becomes a homeless vagrant and begins visiting various religious places and volunteering in their activities so that he can atone for his sins. During one such visit, a man advises him to do the right thing rather than run away from his sins. Motivated, Kundan locates Zoya to her university, where she is spearheading the political party "All India Citizen Party", that had been created by Jasjeet. Kundan joins the nearby canteen and serves the party, while trying to get Zoya's attention. Over time, he becomes popular with the party due to his simple nature. They're also impressed when Kundan helps them in negotiating some tough situations by using his simplistic witty tricks. However, Zoya holds a grudge that the person who is responsible for Jasjeet's death is now taking his place. She tries to instigate party members against Kundan but Jasjeet's sister Rashmi tells Kundan to continue, as he is the best choice for fulfilling Jasjeet's vision.
Kundan, however, only wants Zoya to forgive him. The Chief Minister tells Zoya that she must get revenge on Kundan. To get back Jasjeet's position, she tells Zoya to let Kundan get injured as he delivers his campaign speech. Zoya is apparently brainwashed by this plan and as the Chief Minister desired, Kundan is hurt badly and sent to ICU, thus fulfilling Zoya's revenge.
At a press meet, the Chief Minister denies having any hand in the blast that hurt Kundan. However, Zoya steps forward and reveals that the plan was plotted by her and the Chief Minister and that she is prepared to go to prison for this. Zoya then finds out that Kundan was aware of the plot and still lets himself be injured. Shocked, she rushes to the hospital to be with him.
In a final voiceover, a dying Kundan wonders about letting go. He says he might have the desire to live again if Zoya called out to him, but then again, everything has become so tiring, he would rather let go and rest. He says that he can be born again and again in the same Varanasi, fall in love with a girl like Zoya again, and become a Raanjhanaa in her love. Then he slowly dies.
Cast
- Dhanush as Kundan Shankar
- Sonam Kapoor as Zoya Haider
- Abhay Deol as Akram Zaidi / Jasjeet Singh Shergill
- Swara Bhaskar as Bindiya Tripathi
- Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Murari Gupta
- Ishwak Singh as Shahid, groom for Zoya
- Shilpi Marwaha as Rashmi Shergill, Jasjeet's sister
- Suraj Singh as Anand
- Kumud Mishra as Inzamaam Qalab-E-Haider a.k.a. Guruji, Zoya's father
- Deepkia Amin as Zoya's mother
- Urmillla Sharma as Kundan's mother
- Vipin Sharma as Shivraman Shankar, Kundan's father
- Rahul Chauhan as Inspector Ashok Tripathi, Bindiya's father
- Reena Kumar as Bindiya's mother
- Tejpal Singh as Ishar Singh Shergill, Jasjeet and Rashmi's father
- Dimple as Jasjeet and Rashmi's mother
- Naman Jain as young Kundan Shankar
- Saniya Anklesaria as young Zoya Haider
- Payal Bhojwani as young Bindiya Tripathi
- Ansh as young Murari Gupta
- Sujata Kumar as Chief Minister
- Arvind Gaur as Guptaji
- Shailendra Singh as Guptaji's secretary
- Shivi as Shivi
- Amarnath Sharma as Junait
- Rahul Tanwar as Acchan
- Uptal Jha as police inspector
- Nisha Jindal as a student of JNU
- Manveer Choudhary as a student of JNU
- Ginny Singh as a JNU activist
Production
Development
In late 2011, Shahid Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha were signed as the lead pair for the film. Apparently, they dropped out of the project because of Prabhudeva's next R... Rajkumar. In late January 2012, actor Dhanush, making his Bollywood debut, signed onto the film for the character of Kundan. The actor reportedly underwent training for fluency in Hindi language to obtain the role. Actress Sonam Kapoor was signed on for the role of the female lead after March 2012. In April 2012, the actress and the director visited the JNU Campus of Delhi for the former to imbibe more for her role. Sonam Kapoor also attended acting workshops with prominent theatre director Arvind Gaur to learn the nuances of street theatre. The director chose to cast actors who could also play younger versions of themselves. In an interview the director stated the film was an intense love story, and its characters would travel to Delhi, Punjab and Chennai, and that actor Abhay Deol would be seen in a special appearance in the film. Urmila Sharma, well known for her Hindi TV serial roles was signed to play the character of Kundan's mother in the film. Initially, Aditi Rao Hydari was supposed to play the role of Kundan's childhood friend but she opted out due to lack of availability, being replaced by Swara Bhaskar.Characters
Actor Dhanush plays the character Kundan who has a deep passion for his city Banaras and Zoya. It depicts him a young boy and a teen who turns into a sensitive adult. Sonam Kapoor quoted her character as, "'Zoya' is childlike and unpredictable. She can be cold and at the same time, objective. She has every quality that makes her desirable to a man." In an interview, Kapoor revealed that for playing the role of a school girl in the film, she drew inspiration from the character Jaya Bachchan played in the 1971 film Guddi. Actor Abhay Deol as Akram plays a secure yet confident university student, socialist and a budding politician.Filming
After main casting announcements, filming was substantially delayed; the reason was speculated to be composer A. R. Rahman's music being denied outright by the film director. Filming officially began in Varanasi, India in early September 2012 and continued for 40 days in and around the city. As per reports, the leading duo were also seen playing the role of 17-year-old teenagers. In mid-September 2012, the schedule of filming was put on hold as actor Dhanush fell ill on the sets in Varanasi. While filming in October 2012, the actor injured his shoulder during the filming of an action sequence for his Tamil outing Maryan. The consequences led to the scheduled shooting of dance sequences to be postponed and were shot in Varanasi on 19 December 2012. On 4 November 2012, Sonam Kapoor and Abhay Deol shot the song "Tu Mun Shudi" at India Gate, Delhi, and their dialogue scenes were shot at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication campus in Delhi by early December 2012. Permission to shoot inside was denied to the director by the college authorities. So, the unit shot some scenes in Amity International School, Noida. To avoid footage leaks, over a hundred potential crew members were made present at the filming venue. Certain filming was also done in Gurgaon and Faridabad. The title track of the film was shot on 27 December 2012. The final schedule of filming began in Delhi on 7 January 2013. In March 2013, the film's crew shot several scenes at the Pataudi Palace in Haryana over two days.After the completion of writing work, Actress Sonam Kapoor required the dialogue in Devnagri, hence "Sanjay Bhardwaj" appointed to do the said job for her.
Soundtrack
The music and the background score for the film was composed by A. R. Rahman. The soundtrack's original version has lyrics penned by Irshad Kamil whereas the Tamil version by Vairamuthu. In an interview with Hindustan Times, Rahman stated that he had emphasised the folk-classical genre as the film brings out a fascination for Benaras through the music and hence, most of the songs are character-driven. In all, the soundtrack album has nine original tracks. The original version of the soundtrack was released on the co-branded record labels Sony Music and Eros Music on 27 May 2013 and the Tamil version on 17 June 2013. The soundtrack received positive critical reception on release.Marketing
On 10 May 2013, a grand event was held at a set resembling Varanasi at Film City in Goregaon, Mumbai. The lead actors made their entry riding a chariot and performed the title track of the film. The producer stated that the event was promoted in Banarasi style so as to represent the essence of the film and its setting. The film's music was promoted at the Radio Mirchi Studios in Mumbai on 27 May 2013. Dressed in typical South Indian attire, Dhanush and Sonam Kapoor promoted the Tamil version, Ambikapathy in Chennai. The leading duo also promoted the film in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Jaipur from mid-May to June 2013.Release
The first look of the characters in the film was revealed as a poster with no credits and film name on the day of Holi 2013. The first theatrical trailer was released on 24 April 2013. The Hindi version of the film released worldwide on 21 June 2013 with the estimated number of release screens being 1,000. The film opened to an occupancy of 50–55%, the highest compared to other Bollywood films that released on the same date.Critical reception
;IndiaThe film received mixed reviews from critics. Critic Komal Nahta responded positively and said, "On the whole, Raanjhanaa is an interesting, entertaining and a fairly different love story. It is like heady wine and its effect will only grow." Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN wrote, "For its immensely entertaining first half, a winning score by AR Rahman, but most of all for Dhanush, this is a film that's worth your time. I'm going with three out of five for Raanjhanaa. It's not perfect, but it'll do." Resham Sengar of Zee News gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and summarised "Raanjhanaa is a love story that does not fall within the confines of a clichéd Bollywood romance." Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3.5 out of 5 and stated, "On the whole, Raanjhanaa encompasses romance and myriad emotions most wonderfully, besides bravura performances and a popular musical score from the maestro." Adarsh also called it "a film that touches the core of your heart" and said it was "definitely worthy of a watch". At NDTV, Saibal Chatterjee gave it 3.5/5 and opined in the review, "The film defies the expectations of the audience at several crucial junctures and holds out absolutely no apologies for springing abrupt surprises. A love story with a huge difference that benefits no end from a clutch of exceptional performances." Sukanya Verma of Rediff Movies gave 3 out of 5 stars and claimed, "Raanjhanaa isn't easy viewing. Kundan and Zoya aren't easily likeable. They have flaws. They make mistakes. Blunders, really but Rai shows them for what they are; he never paints a pretty picture. And this brutal honesty coupled with a commanding Dhanush is what works." Meena Iyer of The Times of India claimed, "Raanjhanaa is a love story that has a Shakespearean touch and is mounted on a lavish scale". She noted, "You may not like this film if you cannot digest brooding love stories", and gave it 3.5 out of 5. Kaushik Rmesh of Planet Bollywood gave the film an 8 on 10 and summarised, "A realistic romance that brims with impressive elements, Raanjhanaa is surely a winner at the end and must be watched for its unconventional handling and freshness". Anupama Chopra of Hindustan Times gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and said, "The dialogues by Himanshu Sharma are the highlight of the film. The lines are pithy, earthy and wonderfully funny. Snaking his camera through the streets of Benares, director Aanand L Rai creates an intimate and lived milieu. AR Rahman’s music, especially the gorgeous Tum Tak, layers the narrative further."
Nabanita of One India gave the film 3.5 out of 5 and wrote, "Raanjhanaa works, and yes, the movie has maximum possibilities to strike the right chords amongst the audience, only and only because of Dhanush and his heart-touching performance." Rachit Gupta of Filmfare called the film a "great love story" and concluded, "Grab a ticket, clutch the hand of your loved one and go fall in love. This time with great cinema". Critics at Indicine gave a score of 65 out of 100 and summarised, "The intentions of Aanand L Rai seem genuine. He wants to show us the world where he grew up in, wants to romanticize the feeling of nostalgia and unrequited love." Tushar Joshi writes for DNA India, "Raanjhanaa works because of Dhanush's ability to make you believe in his love for Zoya. You might not agree with his approach, but deep down you cheer and root for him each time Zoya plants a slap on his face." At Deccan Chronicle, Khalid Mohamed mentioned, "Raanjhanaa: Playing ping pong with love", and gave it three stars out of five. India Today rated the film 3/5 and judged, "Raanjhanaa harks back to the way Bollywood used to make love stories once upon a time. With some imagination, the effect would have been nostalgic, too." Shubha Shetty Saha of Mid-Day assigned 3.5/5 to the film and praised actor Dhanush and stated, "And then the second half is when the pace dips, the sincerity of the storyline gets somewhat hazy and the film gets wee bit disappointing. An absolutely believable one-sided romance takes a slightly deceptive political drama twist and I am not sure if that is what you wanted it to be. It is unpredictable, yes, but not in a great, believable way." At Mumbai Mirror, Karan Anshuman pointed, "Raanjhanaa flows like good poetry. It is arguably the best love story of the year so far, the kind of film others in the genre should aspire.".
On the contrary to above, critic Mayank Shekhar wrote, "His character is supposed to be gifted with great inter-personal skills. It doesn't quite show." Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave it 2.5 out of 5 and mentioned, "Raanjhanaa is a film which is all of a piece in its engaging first half, and a good Bollywood launchpad for Dhanush. Makes me want to see what he will do in his second pass." At Emirates 24/7, Sneha May Francis said, "While music maestro AR Rahman tunes the track, and leaves us occasionally cheerful, the moments are far too few to erase the horrid after effects of this movie." Critic Manohar Basu at Koimoi stated, "However a sluggish screenplay and lurching script makes Raanjhanaa a half baked effort and hence gets a 3/5 from me." Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu concluded, "A dream debut for Dhanush even if the film gets stuck in its messy political subtext that kills the romance."
;Overseas
At The Hollywood Reporter, Lisa Tsering left the film unrated and asserted, "The fact that the film marks the Hindi-language debut of South Indian star and YouTube superstar Dhanush is bound to draw interest at the box office, though Rai's firm refusal to play by the rules of the typical Bollywood love story may make it hard to sustain momentum."
Controversy
The Central Board of Film Censors banned the film before its scheduled release in Pakistan. Chief executive officer of IMGC Global Entertainment Amjad Rasheed, the importer of Raanjhanaa, revealed that he received a letter from the CBFC with directives to shelve the film's release which stated that the film portrays an inapt image of a Muslim girl falling in love with a Hindu man and having an affair with him.Box office
Domestic
The first-day collection was estimated at. The film performed well at multiplexes outside the metros in places like Indore, Kanpur, Banaras, regions of CP Berar, Central India and states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan. On its opening day, it grossed more than 500,000 in the city of Lucknow itself. On Saturday, a day just after release, collections rose to. The film had a growth rate of 40–45%, making its total first weekend collection. Within a week of its release, its gross surpassed and Box Office India declared it a "Hit". After two weeks of release, the film had collected at the box office. Raanjhanaa also had the fourth-highest second week collections of the year 2013. It grossed Rs 75 million in its third week, taking its total domestic overall collections to and worldwide collections nearing to a remarkable mark and becoming the second highest-grosser of 2013 at the time of its release. The film ended its run with an estimated.Overseas
Raanjhanaa grossed around internationally on its first weekend. Its first weekend gross in the United Kingdom amounted to £72,000, while in North America it made $415,000. The film collected $145,000 in the UAE and $46,000 in Australia. Raanjhanaa also grossed $1.55 million in ten days. Further, the film receded its total collections and dropped around $1.8 million by 17 July 2013.Awards and nominations
| Distributor | Date announced | Category | Recipient | Result | |
BIG Star Entertainment Awards | 18 December 2013 | Most Entertaining Romantic Film | Anand L. Rai | rowspan="3" | |
BIG Star Entertainment Awards | 18 December 2013 | Most Entertaining Debut Actor - Male | Dhanush | - | |
BIG Star Entertainment Awards | 18 December 2013 | Most Entertaining Music | A. R. Rahman | - | |
Zee Cine Awards | 14 January 2014 | Best Actor in a Supporting Role– Female | Swara Bhaskar | rowspan="1" | |
Screen Awards | 14 January 2014 | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Swara Bhaskar | rowspan="1" | |
Screen Awards | 14 January 2014 | Best Actor | Dhanush | rowspan="16" | |
Screen Awards | 14 January 2014 | Best Actor | Dhanush | - | |
Screen Awards | 14 January 2014 | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub | - | |
Screen Awards | 14 January 2014 | Best Actor | Sonam Kapoor | - | |
Screen Awards | 14 January 2014 | Best Cinematography | Natarajan Subramaniam Vishal Sinha | - | |
Screen Awards | 14 January 2014 | Best Music | A. R. Rahman | - | |
Screen Awards | 14 January 2014 | Best Background Score | A. R. Rahman | - | |
Screen Awards | 14 January 2014 | Best Costume | Payal Saluja | - | |
Screen Awards | 14 January 2014 | Best Sound Design | Arun Nambiar | - | |
Screen Awards | 14 January 2014 | Production Design | Wasiq Khan | - | |
Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Award | 16 January 2014 | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Abhay Deol | - | |
Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Award | 16 January 2014 | Best Screenplay | Himanshu Sharma | - | |
Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Award | 16 January 2014 | Best Story | Himanshu Sharma | - | |
Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Award | 16 January 2014 | Best Dialogue | Himanshu Sharma | - | |
Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Award | 16 January 2014 | Best Music | A. R. Rahman | - | |
Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Award | 16 January 2014 | Best Performance in a Comic Role | Mohammed Zeeshan Ayubb Swara Bhaskar | - | |
ETC Bollywood Business Awards | 18 January 2014 | Highest Grossing Debut | Dhanush | rowspan="2" | |
Filmfare Awards | 20 January 2014 | Best Debut | Dhanush | - | |
Filmfare Awards | 20 January 2014 | Best Director | Anand L. Rai | rowspan="9" | |
Filmfare Awards | 20 January 2014 | Best Film | Anand L. Rai | - | |
Filmfare Awards | 20 January 2014 | Best Actor in a Leading Role | Sonam Kapoor | - | |
Filmfare Awards | 20 January 2014 | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Swara Bhaskar | - | |
Filmfare Awards | 20 January 2014 | Best Music | A. R. Rahman | - | |
Global Indian Music Awards | 20 January 2014 | Best Engineer | R. Nitish Kumar | - | |
Global Indian Music Awards | 20 January 2014 | Best Background Score | A. R. Rahman | - | |
Global Indian Music Awards | 20 January 2014 | Best Film Album | A. R. Rahman | - | |
Global Indian Music Awards | 20 January 2014 | Best Playback Singer | Shreya Ghoshal | - | |
26 April 2014 | Best Actress In A Supporting Role | Swara Bhaskar | rowspan="1" | ||
International Indian Film Academy Awards | 26 April 2014 | Male Debutant Star | Dhanush | rowspan="1" |