Story
The eldest of four sisters and the only brother, Lala Kedarnath (Akshay Kumar) runs a chaat-golgappa shop in Chandni Chowk, which was started by his father. Lala promised his mother on her death that he would marry her only after all his four sisters got married. Lala works tirelessly to fulfill his promise. But the demand of boys keeps increasing every time. Still, he rises from his position and does dowry. During this, there are many hiccups in his personal life as well. He starts getting away from his girlfriend Sapna (Bhumi Pednekar). Lala’s commitment to her sisters.. is a big hurdle for her and Sapna’s love story to move forward. Meanwhile, the marriage of the eldest sister Gayatri (Sadiya Khatib) is confirmed. She gets married happily after giving a lot of dowry. Then Lala wears slippers for the marriage of the other three sisters. But in the meantime some such incidents happen, which 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 for Sapna.. The story revolves around this.
acting
Akshay Kumar in the role of Lala Kedarnath has done a good job in some parts. His bonding with sisters is seen well in emotional scenes. But somewhere he is seen over the top, especially where he has long dialogues. There is nothing new in his character. It would not be wrong to say that there is no depth in any of the characters here. However, Bhumi Pednekar may be in a small role, but as long as she stays on the screen, she keeps her eyes glued. Bhumi has done full justice to her character. At the same time, Saadia Khatib, Sahajmin Kaur, Deepika Khanna, Smriti Shrikant are good in the role of the four sisters. I wish the director had sculpted his character a little more.
directing
The reason for the objection is also that this film has been made in the year 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 in order 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 is failing miserably in giving its last message. Somewhere girls have been taunted about their colour, gait, and weight, while somewhere they have been described as father-brother’s burden. In one scene, Akshay Kumar’s character Lala beats up 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 has not been seen trying to prove these things wrong.
technical side
The script of the film 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 are failing miserably. From the very beginning, it has been discussed a lot about the film that the film is just 1 hour 50 minutes. Editing of the film is done by Hemal Kothari, who deserves credit for it.. Because truth be told, the makers here didn’t have much to say in the story. The film’s production design and KU Mohanan’s cinematography are good.
music
The film’s music is composed by Himesh Reshammiya and Ishaan Chhabra composed the original background score. Irshad Kamil has written the lyrics. It would not be wrong to say that music is a strong side 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 manages to bring out the emotional side of the story to some extent.
rating
Made on the relationship of brothers and sisters and showing the issue of 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 appear to be false. 1 Star for Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Rakshabandhan’ from Filmybeat.
