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Tl-IE PAIN OF UNREQUITED LOVE

Raanjhanaa

STARRING : Dhanush, Son am Kapoor, Abhay Deal, Swara Bhaskar, Mohammed Zeeshan

DIR ECTOR: Anand L. Rai

This hugely enriching film about the pain of love has four heroes: Dhanush, Sonam Kapoor, A R. Rahman's music and the city of Varanasi. Not necessarily in that order.

He loves her to death Cross his heart and hope to die. And it's their wedding day But they're not getting marri ed to one another As he returns exhausted from messing up her marriage to another man, the slumbering band-baaja wallahs at his own wedding hasten awake and begin playing a wedding song wearily

It's a brilliant moment defining the contradictions and savage ironi es of romantic associations

Sometimes it's not so cool to fall in love

This non-derivative take on unrequited love set amidst the bustl ing r i ver- bank politics of Varanasi, tells us that love can kill your spirit, soul, self esteem and finally, your physical presence as well.

Raanjhanaa is an opu l ent, epic, seductive, raging and rippling ode to love The script by Himanshu Sharma, journeys from lover- boy Kundan's childhood when he first sees his object of adoration doing her namaaz, and follows him to adulthood, much in the same way as he follows Zaya around

In seductive spirals of song-filled rhapso d y, we see Kundan pursu i ng his lady- love through the robust gal/is and mohallahs of Varanasi. It's a beautifully charted journey, made vastly enjoyable by the director's confident and unhurried control over his lover's uncontrollable passion It's as though Rai knows that the heart is more prone to betrayal than redemption

She slaps him?That's fine He l oves her all the more for it She turns his proposal down? That's okay He'll do it again and again It's the protagonist's single -mindedness that navigates this enchanting love story through a series of circumstances that make Kundan look as brazen as they make destiny look cruel.

Throughout Ku ndan's self-destructive odyssey into the heart's darkest regions, we are made pri vy into his agony and ecstasy

We know exactly how his heart beats Maybe partly because it beats to the sound of A R. Rahman 's evocative songs We see Zoya just the way Kundan does: ta ll , creamycomplexioned, warm, seductive and unattainable Dhanush , as the worsh ipping loverboy, lets his face become the map of his heart So transparent are his fee l ings for t h e g irl that every k ind word or gesture from her brings a response of teary gratitude in his eyes

The characters dither, stray, falter and lose focus. The narrative never does Every performer, including bit- player Rahul Shankliya who the for l orn hero encounters at the river ghat, seems to have come into the picture knowing not only his o r her own lines, but everyone else's as we l l.

There is an air of unrehearsed preparedness in the way the actors pitch their characters. Dhanush's performance wou l d go down in cinematic h i story as one of the most consistent and compelling portrayals of single- minded ardour.

As for Sonam Kapoor, she is a

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