How ‘Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani’ Exudes Typical Grandiose of KJo’s Films While Subverting Societal Stereotypes

How ‘Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani’ Subverts Societal Stereotypes: The quintessential plot of KJo’s films is love stories. Bollywood has consumerized love and violence successfully for eons, and Karan Johar, like many other directors, does the same in his movies. However, his films stand apart in the way they always critique the prejudices endorsed by Indian society. From Patriarchy and homophobia to body shaming and cancel culture, his films have always mirrored these issues of the 21st century, offering steady solutions amidst the grandeur of their setting.

Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani revolves around two lovers, Rocky Randhawa, who is a gym freak and the sole heir of his family, hailing from a Punjabi business family, and Rani Chatterjee, a journalist hailing from a Bengali intellectual family. Rocky and Rani’s love story begin with their effort to reunite two long lost lovers of the 70s, i.e., Rocky’s amnesiac grandfather, aka ‘bade papa’ Kanwal Lund, and Rani’s grandmother, aka her ‘thakuma’ Jamini Chatterjee.

Though initially Rocky and Rani were poles apart, however, as it goes by the phrase, “Opposite poles attract each other,” they eventually fall in love with each other. Like all love stories in this film as well, it’s the different culture of the two families that comes in between Rocky and Rani’s love. The story typically reminds us of “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham,” “DDLJ,” and “Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna” and ends on a happy note leaving the audience content, but the way KJo presents this “old wine in a new bottle” is worth watching.

Societal Stereotypes Subverted in Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani

Patriarchy, Body Shaming, and Cancel Culture

Rocky Aur Rani  Ki Prem Kahani depicts the women of two households in sharp contrast with each other. Women of the Randhawa family are meek and subjugated by the matriarch of their home, Dhanlakshmi Randhawa, owner of Dhanlakshmi sweets(Rocky’s grandmother). This ironically again depicts that women, at times, can be more patriarchal than men. On the other hand, women of the Chatterjee family are independent and exercise their free will, living life on their own terms.

As the film narrative unfolds, Rocky and Rani plan to get married and decide to switch households for three months to fit themselves into the culture and milieu of their would-be in-laws.  This marks the initiation of a change in mindset within the members of both families. Only after Rani enters the Randhawa family she encourages the subdued women of the household to chase their dreams and raise their voices against the injustice inflicted upon them. Such as infusing courage inside Rocky’s mother, Punam, to pursue her career in singing and teaching Rocky’s sister to stand up for herself, achieve economic self-sufficiency by securing a job, embrace herself the way she is, and defend herself against the fat- shaming, making her realize that she isn’t “Golu” anymore but she is “Gayatri”.

Rocky’s arrival in the Chatterjee family teaches him to break free from his masculine conditioning. In contrast, he teaches them that in the era where we laugh upon and discard people who lack our yardstick of sophistication and knowledge in specific fields, it’s easier to cancel them out, but what’s difficult is taking the initiative to help them learn instead of shunning them away. There’s no shame in not knowing something, yet what’s shameful is belittling someone instead of enlightening them.

Depiction of Men

KJo’s portrayal of men has always been unique. KJo’s men dance and wear colors that are generally associated with feminity. In this film, Rocky’s father, Tijori Randhawa, is a staunch chauvinist echoing Yashvardhan Raichand of K3G, who wields authority over his family. On the other hand, Rani’s father, Chandon Chatterjee, is a professional Kathak dancer who moved to a new city, leaving his own state, just to support his working wife, a senior English professor. Men who dance are still labeled as effeminate and looked down on by our society. But KJo himself, who loves to dance, subverts this stereotype. Art has no gender, after all.

We eventually witness Rocky, too, attending Chandon’s dance lessons and dancing with Chandon on “Dola Re Dola” on the eve of Durga Puja, organized by the Chatterjee family. Pink is a color widely termed feminine. At the end of the film, we see Rocky wearing pink when after months, he finally reunites with the love of his life Rani, breaking the barriers of their misunderstanding. KJo thus celebrates men promoting that gender isn’t determined by biology. Still, by the conditions of our society, it’s high time everyone learns to break free from their preconceived notions of gender, thus promoting equality.

Marriage

KJo’s films always preach the fact that marriage isn’t a social contract but a union of two hearts where proper love and respect are two chief ingredients for any marriage to work.  His films often depict extramarital affairs between a male and female who aren’t happily married, finding love in each other’s company; for example, in “Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna”. In Rocky and Rani Ki Prem Kahani as well, we find the same kind of love blooming between Jamini and Kanwal, they were each other’s right person, but it was their wrong time that prevented them from being together when they fell in love with each other way back in 1978 in Shimla. However, they gradually reunited through the efforts of their grandchildren.

Kanwal being a poet or “shayar,” was never compatible with a materialistic Dhanlakshmi, while Jamini lived a life of sacrifice. Being a victim of domestic violence, they didn’t get much time to spend together because it was too late. KJo’s films thus emphasize the fact that it isn’t wrong to search for love outside marriage when one is unhappy, and if they find love, they should walk out of their marriage at the right time since, everyone deserves to be happy, and everyone has the right to choose their happiness over societal restrictions.

KJo’s Grandeur and Homage to Retro Bollywood Songs

Indians are inherently dramatic, and Bollywood songs play a huge role in this. Bollywood romantic tracks and dance numbers help us bask in our utopian world, where lovers dance amidst yellow fields, snowcapped mountains, and green meadows. Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani has specific sequences which take every Indian cinephile across all ages on a roller-coaster ride of emotions.

From the dance number on “Jhumka Gira re” to using “Meri Pyaari Bindu” as the background score, from clandestine meet-ups of lovers Kanwal and Jamini arranged by Rocky and Rani in the forts of Delhi and all of them romancing on “Abhi Naa Chhod Kar” to “Aaj Mausam Bada Beimaan Hai,”  from “Ek Pyaar Ka Nagma Hai” to Kanwal singing, “Chaudvin Ka Chand” remembering Jamini, Karan Johar beautifully pays his tribute to the roots of Indian Cinema. He brilliantly juxtaposes the old and new, thus showing his unwavering allegiance to the tradition.

KJo’s world is glossy, and the setting in which his films are shot is dazzling.  Depiction of alluring locations and costumes in KJo’s song sequences is an indispensable part of the narrative of his films. In Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani, the songs also enhance the audience’s cinematic experience. The song “Tum Kya Mile” bears a sharp resemblance to “Suraj Hua Maddham” from K3G and “Tumhi Dekho Na” from “Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna.” At the same time, “Dhindhora Baje Re” recreates the atmosphere of Bhansali’s “Dola Re Dola.” After ages, these songs of RARKPK remind us of old Bollywood blockbusters that still rule over our hearts. This indeed paves the way for the box office success of RARKPK.

KJo’s Representation of Bengali Culture

Being a bong girl, it was an absolute delight to witness one of the titular characters(Rani) of RARKPK hailing from a Bengali family. Rosogolla isn’t the only thing or dessert that defines Bengalis. There’s much more to our culture, such as the portrayal of Rabindranath Tagore in a particular scene and the singing of Rabindra Sangeet by Rocky and Jamini Chatterjee in another two scenes was heartwarming to watch. The conversation between Rani and her family members in fluent Bengali and the use of the saree, one of the chief signifiers of Bengali culture, proves  KJo’s accurate representation of Bengali culture.

Contemporary Relevance of KJo’s Films

Though KJo’s films are flamboyant and the initial films of his career weren’t socially critical, his filmography in the second half of his career deals with contemporary issues of modern society. In KJo’s films, women share an equal screen space with the male characters. From Anjali of “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai” to Anjali and Pooh from “K3G,” from Naina of “Kal Ho Na Ho” to Alizeh of “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” and Rani of “RARKPK,” all these women have a strong voice. He empowers women in all his films, thus catering to the issues of repressed women.

In the post-pandemic society, when Bollywood films are reduced to mere remakes and a medium of propaganda, thus repeatedly failing to produce any impact on the audience and therefore on the box office after Pathaan’s grand success, it’s KJo who once again delivers Bollywood from the drought. KJo’s return as a director on the big screens with RARKPK, consisting of a stellar cast who shine in the roles they enact, once again brings back the charm of old Bollywood films.

Being a filmy 90s kid, I mostly grew up watching KJo’s films, envisioning to be like Pooh someday. And there lies KJo’s specialty of turning a piece of fiction into truth, instilling hope in the audience that a parallel universe where everything ends on a happy note maybe have some traces of existence in reality, which makes him one of the finest storytellers of Hindi Cinema.