Raksha Bandhan Review - An Emotional Story which turns into Social Documentary
The movie takes off quickly in the locales of chandni Chowk, where Lala Kedarnath (Akshay Kumar) owns a pushtaini gol gappa (panipuri) shop. He is popular, especially among the pregnant women who believe that after gulping down gol gappas from his shop, they will possibly give birth to a baby boy. Even in his personal life, he is surrounded by a gang of four sisters— sensible and responsible Gayatri (Sadia Khateeb), chubby Durga (Deepika Khanna), dusky Laxmi (Smrithi Srikanth), and tomboyish Saraswati (Sahejmeen Kaur) — and, of course, his girlfriend, Sapna (Bhumi Pednekar).
On his mother's deathbed, Lala promised her that he would wait to get married until he had successfully placed his sisters in suitable marriages. He makes every effort to marry off his sisters, but after carefully vetting all potential suitors, he is unsuccessful. Lala's dedication to his sisters often gets in the way of his relationship with Sapna.
Following Atrangi Re!, director Aanand L. Rai and author himanshu sharma worked together once more. This incredibly straightforward and sympathetic familial story was co-written by kanika Dhillon. The environment that Rai builds beautifully captures the love and support that siblings have for one another. Lala's sisters' banter and camaraderie make the first half easygoing, but the second half becomes more emotionally charged and becomes a societal criticism. As a result, the narrative becomes monotonous and repetitious in the later chapters, leaving you to wonder where it's all going. The text could have been more powerful, clear, and impactful.
The songs (by Himesh Reshammiya) are unremarkable but don't detract from the story. Rai makes up for it, as he does with the most of his stories, with an emotional conclusion and a few unexpected details. Additionally, he invests in his characters and gives them each a chance to succeed. The plot seems overly complicated in this case, and it occasionally contains devices that don't mesh well with the narrative. Through the story, they have tried to inject humour, but it frequently feels out of place.
In its effort to tell the lives of people from small-town India, "Raksha Bandhan" succeeds, especially in the first half. But the film's 110 minutes are largely taken up by a social criticism on dowry that begins as a narrative about a bandhan between siblings. Although you can't help but be moved by this intensely emotional drama, it could have been far more enjoyable to watch.