Atrangi Re Review: Sara Ali Khan-Dhanush starrer romantic drama transcends all boundaries

Sara Ali Khan's most recent project, Atrangi Re has been the talk of the town ever since it was first announced. The film created a buzz when its unique cast was announced, which consists of Dhanush and Akshay Kumar alongside Sara Ali Khan. The film was helmed by Aanand L Rai and will get its digital release on December 24 via Disney+Hotstar.

Atrangi Re Review

Plot:

Without giving away any spoilers about the film, here's what the movie is all about. Atrangi Re revolves around the life of Sara Ali Khan's Rinku, who is an independent and fierce young woman. She does not care about anyone's judgment and follows her heart, which leads her to fall in love with a magician, Sajjad, played by Akshay Kumar. Rinku is an orphan child in Bihar, whose parents passed away at a young age, and is looked after by her grandmother and extended family. She often flees from her home to spend time with Sajjad, and her family grows intolerant of her behaviour and decides to get her married to someone from outside the city. This is when the family lays eyes on Dhanush's character, Vishu, a medical student from south India, who is gearing up to get engaged in two days to Mandy. However, Rinku's family gets the two married to each other forcefully. On their way to Delhi as a newly married couple, they decide to reach their destination and part ways on arrival, as they both have other love interests. The film is all about what happens once they reach Delhi and Rinku finds herself in a dilemma of being in love with two men.

What worked well for the audience?

Aanand L Rai's direction and Himanshu Sharma's writing exceed the audience's expectations of the film. Each character is written with deep thought and the trio executes their roles to perfection. Sara Ali Khan transports the audience with her performance and makes them feel as if they were in her shoes every step of the way. She manages to build a connection with viewers and helps them feel what she is going through, which gives the audience a holistic experience. As language plays an important role in the film, with Rinku and Visu being from two opposite sides of the country, Sara manages to pick up and deliver the Bihari dialect to perfection. The film also has a lot of depth as in the first half, the audience sees Sajjad through the eyed of Rinku, but soon begins to look at him through the eyes of a third person.

Although Sara did a fantastic job, Dhanush also stole the show in Atrangi Re. Right from his humour to his emotional dialogues, the audience feels every word that he speaks. His character is special because he has several dialogues in Tamil, and even for viewers who do not understand the language, his body language and expressions convey the message, making it even more meaningful.

Atrangi Re is an extremely unique film and brings an all-new concept to the genre of romantic dramas. The film is not an ordinary boy meets girl flick, where the two fall in love and live happily ever after. It has a unique take on love and subtly sees each character through drastic transformations. Although Visu and Rinku have been married by force, Visu takes it upon himself to always stand by her regardless of the situation. This comes as a surprise to an otherwise independent Rinku, who finally witnesses someone take her side and support her. It's the smallest of instances like this that help the audience see the gradual progression in the relationship and characters on screen. Even at their most awkward moments after their marriage, Visu and Rinku manage to make the audience fall in love with them and engage with them.

Music plays an important role in Atrangi Re, and apart from just being included in the film for the purpose of entertaining the audience, it also lends to the plot. Each song in the film tells a story, right from simple background scores to songs like Love Me Little Little and Garda Udda Diya. The movie is a refreshing take on romance in the film industry and will be sure to leave viewers in awe.

What didn't work for the audience?

The film harbours a few stereotypes through Dhanush's character. There is a scene in the movie in which the actor is speaking in Tamil, and as Sara Ali Khan cannot understand him, she says, "Gaali mat do" (Don't abuse). This may have been added to the script to deliver a laugh to the audience, but seems rather stereotypical. However, there are several scenes in which Dhanush speaks in Tamil, and although his acting chops go beyond delivering dialogues, several audience members may not be able to understand what he is trying to convey. This is because most of his Tamil dialogues are at critical parts in the film and require the audience to know what he talking about. This tends to cause a brief moment of being disconnected from the film, as the audience has no clue what the actor is saying. The film also has a scene that contains a depiction of self-harm, which some audience members may find triggering. Some scenes from the film may also seem over-the-top and extremely unrealistic, which may make the audience disconnect from the plot. Although the film had several pros, it often feels like the plot is being dragged on, especially in the second half of the Sara Ali Khan-starrer.

Final thoughts:

The film goes far beyond the storyline the audience was expecting through the trailer and delivers on authenticity and uniqueness. The film has the audience guessing what fate has in store for each character till the very end and does so beautifully. It also has several flashbacks, which may seem confusing, but are seamlessly delivered to perfection. The film will be sure to have the audience in tears with a smile on their faces at the same time.

Reviewer Rating: 4/5

Image: Instagram/@saraalikhan95