There's a Simon and Garfunkel song that plays in my head as I watch Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi for what is perhaps the nth time. I'm not quite sure if Aditya Chopra has heard Bridge over troubled waters but watching this film on DVD takes me back to the song.
The S&G song is about giving your all to the one you love. What drew me first to the song was that this one wasn't half as bombastic as many of the western pop/folk numbers. And yet it manages to convey much when Garfunkel croons, "Like a bridge over troubled waters, I'll lay me down!"
Pardon the attempt at intellectualising a hardcore Bollywood film but it seems to me that had Surinder Sahani, the protagonist of this film known this song, he'd have probably associated with it the most.
The story of Suri and Taaniji is by now well known. Suri, the unassuming bloke from Punjab Power manages to do the unthinkable for the love of his life when he decides to give up everything he has just to see her happy.
By doing so he not only manages to get the girl but also makes us realise that you don't have to be extraordinary to make a difference in someone's life.
Shah Rukh Khan for perhaps the first time in his life plays a smaller-than-life character in this film. And Aditya Chopra who has given us Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge takes a step back and gives us a cute film that is on a much smaller scale, albeit with the country's biggest superstar.
Shah Rukh Khan speaks for over an hour non-stop with each take no less than 15 minutes long about the movie, his favourite character Suri and his co-stars.
Looking haggard, Shah Rukh also makes no qualms about his superstardom and yet confesses that after 60-odd films he has begun to lose his spontaneity. In the extensive (and somewhat long) monologue he also says that working with newcomers – over 20 of them in the last two years – has helped him reinvent.
This featurette is titled Srk unplugged and is an hour and two minutes long. (The back of the disc cover erroneously reads '01.02 minutes' though) By the end of 35 minutes though you begin to get tired of the guy and begin to wish someone had simply edited some parts of what he said. Yet you cannot get over the fact that Shah Rukh has barely faltered while speaking during the entire duration!
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The Making of featurette is quite interesting too, though not something you haven't seen if you've been following the film on the web or news channels. So you have the making of Haule Haule, a song we are told, is a three-take song. What they actually mean is that each of the stanzas is picturised in a single take, not a mean achievement by Bollywood standards.
You also have some ten minutes of deleted scenes, which offer nothing new and seemingly were knocked out for the sake of the length.
SRK and Anushka's conversation has also been extensively televised. Set in a silly white studio that is a much poorer cousin of Rendezvous with Simi Garewal, Shah Rukh manages to hold it together, chatting with the much-younger Anushka, pulling her leg and yet making her feel comfortable like a senior should.
Watch out for the part where Shah Rukh speaks of an alternative ending to the film that was shot but never shown. Good chances you will be giggling your head off.
The filming and editing of this DVD also could have been much better – especially the conversation between Shah Rukh and Anushka and music composers Salim-Sulieman's interview.
In the 150-odd minutes of the special feature DVD though there is no section of the bloopers, which are always a hit with the audiences. Also missing (predictably) is the director's commentry. What you do have is Shah Rukh Khan, more Shah Rukh Khan.
Verdict: Buy this DVD if you are a die-hard Shah Rukh Khan fan. Else, you could well go for the VCD instead.
Rating: 3/5
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi | YRF home Entertainment | Rs 399
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