Rocky aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani is a Bollywood movie directed by Karan Johar and stars Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt. (Student of the Year, Darlings) The movie was released in 2023 and takes place between 2022-2023.
The movie starts off with Rocky Randhawa (Ranveer Singh), the son to the Dhrandawa Sweets Empire, discovering his grandfather's first love. After learning her name, he tracks her down and asks her granddaughter, Rani Chatterjee (Alia Bhatt), to help his grandfather see his first love again. Rani Chatterjee is a progressive feminist and works as a TV Anchor at India Now. Through this arrangement, Rocky and Rani start to fall in love with each other and plan to marry each other. In hopes of their families getting along, they both move into the others house and try to learn about the other.
Some things that I loved about this movie are the soundtrack and the outfits. The soundtrack is so fun to listen to. In the movie, they do have some old songs they play which are really fun to reminisce on. My favorites are Baat Ban Jaye, Dhindhora Baje Re, and Rani's Intro. I love the outfits in this movie, especially Rani's. Her style was very mature and it fit really well with her character, a woman who is independent and strong. I loved how she wore saris throughout the film. It felt like old Bollywood. I feel like sometimes they try too hard to be Western which makes movies nowadays look super cheap. Rani felt like a really good heroine to watch in 2023.
The writing is also so good and reminiscent of old Bollywood. It's so modern with the topics that we go through today, but still nostalgic because of the love story between Rocky and Rani and their grandparents who meet after decades. Some topics that get discussed are women's rights, marital and family problems, and toxic masculinity. This doesn't overtly force them down your throat.
I really love this movie. I'm so glad I watched this movie. It reminded me of old Bollywood rom-coms because of the writing, costumes, characters, soundtrack, and whole aesthetic. I just think the production of this whole movie was fantastic. Rocky aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani just became one of my new favorite Bollywood movies from the 2010's-2020's.
Rating: 10/10
