Director: Aanand L Rai

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Dhanush, Sara Ali Khan

Bollywood Bubble Rating: 3.5 stars

Atrangi Re in the literal sense means being different, being unique, being yourself! When I first heard the title, I wondered what is this unique director Aanand L Rai is talking about in the movie. Never had I thought what it meant when I watched the movie. Even as it became predictable after a certain twist, the ocean of emotions portrayed kept the boat sailing with a few high tides which did not disrupt the sail.

Rinku (Sara Ali Khan) is in love with Saddaq (Akshay Kumar), a magician who is a globe trotter and visits her as and when calls for him. He doesn’t ask anything in return in that relationship is what we are told. To Rinku, he is her safe place, her forever. In a twist of fate, Rinku is forced to marry a medical student, Vishu (Dhanush) who is already promised to be married to someone else. What begins as a marriage of convenience for the two, slowly takes an interesting turn. Rinku’s spontaneity and candidness makes way into Vishu’s heart as he starts to love her ‘koncham koncham’ (little little). While a new love story brews in the alleys of a medical school, Saddaq returns, further complicating the story. Rinku is then torn between wanting both of them. In fact, in one of the scenes she even asks, “Can’t I be the only woman in India who gets to keep both men in her life?” The idea might be laughable at the moment but it speaks volumes regarding the denoms Rinku has been fighting internally.

While the story essentially is about Rinku and her Atrangi love story, for me it is Vishu (Dhanush)‘s emotional graph that drives the overall film. He is the anchor to the otherwise predictable story. His emotional tides is what keeps the film engaging. Vishu is the kind of guy who endures and loves with all hearts. He is the quintessential local romeo who goes out of his way in love. When angry he smoothly switches to his mother tongue Tamil without sometimes realising it. That is what brings out the innocence in Vishu. Rinku, on the other hand, is complicated. Despite being unabashedly honest in most parts, she is, like Saddaq puts in one scene, non-courageous. Saddaq, on the other hand, is a parallel track with a mystic twist. However, when I don’t know if Akshay Kumar was absolutely needed to pull off Saddaq.

 

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The screenplay of the movie could definitely have been better as the intermission almost opens all the cards with no mystery left to unfold. The music by AR Rahman is magical and brings out the desired effect.

Dhanush is truly ‘chaka chaka’ as Vishu. There are scenes where he absolutely outshines everyone else. There is a scene where he goes from an emotional rant to acting happy and courageous right after a confession and the impact is solid. It’s not all serious, even in scenes that demand Vishu to be naive and comical, Dhanush is splendid.

Sara Ali Khan, on the other hand, has definitely tried hard as Rinku. She is believable as Rinku and pulls off the act smoothly. Although in scenes which involve her crying profusely, I still felt a slight hangover of Love Aaj Kal there. Pardon me there, but I feel like the slight quivering of lips as she cries felt like she was trying too hard to get that emotion out. I wish it came more organically.

 

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Akshay Kumar obviously had a little screen time which he did complete justice too. However, there was nothing noteworthy that stood him out as Saddaq.

Director Aanand L Rai needs a special mention for being able to pull off such a complicated story by putting its heart in the right place.

Watch Atrangi Re for the brilliant performance of the cast, especially Dhanush.

Also Read: Dhanush announces first Telugu film titled Sir, watch the motion poster

Bhavna Agarwal

Assistant Editor at Bollywood Bubble. An ambivert who is currently high on K-dramas and K-Pop. A forever Bollywood fan, who continues to gush over solid stories and characters. Hit me up for a fine conversation over chai.

You can also reach me on – https://twitter.com/filmybugB