‘East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.’ – Rudyard Kipling.

Hell bent on proving this famous line wrong is one of my favorite directors – The Irrepressible Karan Johar in this film. In one of his interviews with film critic Anupama Chopra he had claimed that Hindi Cinema audience has not seen a love story for a long-long time and his latest outings i.e. RARKPK was supposed to set that right.

The film is about:

Randhawa’s – a Toxic OTT Punjabi family that is run on the whims and fancies of their matriarch – Dhanlakshmi (Jaya Bachhan) who also runs their family business – Dhanlakshmi Sweets, her husband Kanwal (Dharmendra) who is too arty and sher-o-shayari types for her liking, her son Tijori (Aamir Bashir) bought her under strict supervision who is married to a docile domesticated wife Poonam (Kshitee Jog) and two children – Boy named Rocky (Ranveer Singh) and a girl named Gayatri (Anjali Anand) who is called Golu for her size (you know what I mean.)

Chatterjee’s – a far more liberal democratic family with Jamini (Shabana Azmi), her son Chandon (Tota Roy Chowdhury) a Kathak artist, his wife Anjali (Churni Ganguly) who is an Professor with a Shashi Tharoorian English and their daughter who is a TV Journalist  – RANI (Alia Bhatt).

The path of Randhawa’s and the Chatterjee’s cross to reignite the fire that was started in 1978 and whose embers still burn in the hearts of their grandparents – Kanwal and Jamini. The fireworks not only explode in the hearts of the octogenarians but also in the hearts and body of their grandchildren – ROCKY AND RANI !!

The film is all about a Loud mouthed, OTT, Toxic Punjabi family coming to terms with the snooty, cultured, intellectual Bengali counterparts for the sake of love. While they go about doing this there are lessons in fat shaming, arty type / English speaking snobs, the role of a woman and the passion to follow ones heart.

If you think this is too much packed in a run time of around 168 minutes then you are mistaken because despite all the above the movie seems a drag.

The movie for me personally belongs to only one person and that is the loud and the flashy – ROCKY RANDHAWA. He lights up the screen with his presence and the perfect portrayal of HIMBO (The male Bimbo). He is the one with the best lines, the best designer clothes (Flashy) and the best cars.

Another highlight is the love equation between Kanwal and Jamini played brilliantly by Dharmendra and Shabana Azmi and the use of the old classics to highlight their chemistry.

Alia Bhatt is dependable as usual and neither disappoints or surprise us with her performance. Her parents play the perfect Bengali couple but I felt the age gaps between the three generations was hard to decipher if one didn’t know their relationships, the same holds true for Randhawa’s as well.

What doesn’t work is the really sad music which is surprising for a Dharma Production, the background score that was too loud and jarring, the sets that seems to be borrowed from Sanjay Leela Bhansali film and last the most ridiculous of them all Jaya Bachhan as Dhanlakshmi. As the famous influencer account on Instagram Diet Sabya had said, ‘Jaya is Jayaing’ for the only expression she had thru the entire show was her pursued lips and grumpy face. It takes a lot to make an actress like Jaya Bachhan ham.

There were some genuine funny moments but they all get drowned in the melodrama and extra run time.

I know I am a minority who hasn’t liked this film for I know and expect something better from a film that is directed by Karan Johar.