SRK Movie My Take - Don The Chase Begins Again 'review' (Part 2)

Part 1

You don't think I've finished spazzing about Don B, do you? 80% of this movie was shot in my country. Of course I'm going to boogie all over it like a crazed fangirl.

Also, I've made it a point that when I do a 'review' of any of his movies, I'll do it while going through the scenes in real time. That's the only way I think I can do justice to them. I'm telling you very pointedly though that every 'review' I do is heavily SRK-centric so if you can't stand a large dose of SRK lurve, keep away. Don't say you haven't been warned.

For people who are not familiar with my 'review' style, it's just a technical term I adopt to mask my obsession to babble/spazz about Shah Rukh and any interesting project he gets his beautiful claws on. It doesn't have a particular format.

So for any of you who thinks I should have written it in a specific format to fit it into a review category, I want to make a word play of what Shah Rukh has said regarding this sort of issue, "If you have a problem then you make your own review and write it the way you want." (hehe)

Let me begin where it all started this time. In romantic Paris:

• For a cool killer, Don B has a pretty boring ringtone.
• I love the fact that the transaction was done in the same building as a ballet school. What irony...
• As Don B is being frisked, he makes this annoyed smiling face. That reminds me of how Shah Rukh said he didn't like being frisked at US airports just because his name is Khan. I guess he was drawing from some surplus emotions in his real life experiences for that scene
  
• I love the way he says "Keep it". In fact, I love the way Don B says pretty much all of his lines. I really miss his dialogue delivery when Vijay comes into the picture. I'm like.. give me my Don back!!! It doesn't matter that Vijay was also played by Shah Rukh. The two characters are poles apart that the only reason why I wasn't so blah about Vijay is because I knew from the beginning that it's Don B all along (thanks to wiki spoilers). So watching Don B plays Vijay to fool everyone, from the police officers to his mafia buddies, has its droll moments.. :P
  
• Don B is so polite, hai na? His insistence for every request to be followed by "..., please," tickles my easily amused bones. I did say in Part 1 that I love Shah Rukh's characterization of Don B. Despite him saying he knows nothing about characterization, his recent movies have characters with quite a few distinct traits that you can recall easily. According to me, if the audience can immediately remember some quirks a character has, then the actor has assayed the role quite well. And Don B brims with memorable quirks
  
• The... "Do you know that there are 36 points on the human body, if struck right, could prove fatal" ...is so random! LOL. But it's fortunate that I'm a kung fu buff, so I do get the reference to the human body pressure points. This type of thing was also highlighted in 'Kill Bill' and discussed quite involvedly in a lot of sites, for example this one where some creeps actually practiced it on their friends, or maybe it's all exaggeration. I think this reference comes out in Farhan's Don because their fight choreographer practices shaolin kung fu
  
• I love the first fight scene like OMG! I wish it goes on longer, like in Hong Kong kung fu movies. I love Don B's moves, especially when he breaks the guy's vertebrae. The crunchy sound is so fulfilling. A question though... if someone is blown up, won't his blood, meat and bones be sprayed in all directions along with everything else around him? The glass shards look too white and clean IMO. But that's just gory details I like to notice, so don't mind me
  
• Okay, so the defining moment for me is when Don B shoots the guy in the head. It was like.. wham! Instant love.

I would like to know how Vardhaan infiltrates the (Malaysian? Indian?) police force and how long has he been holing himself in there? Anyway... back to Don B and his golf missiles.

• You know, I feel like memorizing the entire dialogue of that beach-golf scene and deliver it exactly the way Shah Rukh did it. It's just so... delicious! I think this is my most favourite murder scene ever in a movie. Cool, humorous, and unrepenting. "Terrible shoes!" LOL. I just love that one. And I repeat, I like it that Anita laughs at what Don B says about the murder as if it's the most amusing thing in the world. I want her in the sequel, Farhan!
• I want Priyanka to beat up some practice partners in the dojo... or at least make mincemeat out of a Wing Chun wooden dummy... not just showing off some unconvincing moves all by her own boring self
  
• The Ramesh murder scene draws a clear line between a bad guy and an evil entity. Don B is the latter. He's like our Dr. Lecter when he's conversing with the poor guy, the difference is he doesn't pounce on Ramesh and tear the guy's ear off. This kind of acting is what makes so many fans (and media type too) clamor after SRK to take up villainous roles. No one in Bollywood does a psycho quite like him. Don B is not a typical psycho, of course, but by planning a murder so breezily, carrying it out with such aplomb and not showing remorse afterwards, he does fit the bill of a psycho killer. The difference is, he gets monetary benefit when he kills... something typical psycho killers, who usually kill for self-fulfillment, don't care about and may not even understand
  
• "I'm trying to quit. It kills you..." LOL. Shah Rukh has delivered anti-smoking lines like this in some other movie too, I forgot which one. It amuses me when a smoker gives anti-smoking campaigns, and it amuses me more that anti-smoking societies are always after Shah Rukh to kick the butt. You people don't really care about his health, do you? And if he truly quits, you will lose a celebrity who can give you a free piggyback ride on your road to extreme publicity. Are you sure that's what you want? Hmmph. Sarcasm aside, smoking is fatal for your health, Shah Rukh. I want you to outlast me, or at least die from overwork... not lung cancer
  
• "No, it's mine." ..okay, I know this was lifted from Don A but I prefer the way Shah Rukh delivered it. This is completely my unbiased opinion (lol)
• I have an issue with the whole earth-gold tone of the hotel, their outfit... even their make-up... for the Kamini-Don B scene. The two seem to be buried underneath too much heavy colour. I dunno, maybe it's just me. Also, I don't get what the fascination with Don B's tie being worn inside his shirt is about. But hey, what do I know about fashion?
• Every gesture Don B makes fascinate me. Even the... *who were you calling when you're inside?* ...sign language mesmerizes me to oblivion. Hey, I did warn you that this 'review' is going to be very heavily SRK-centric, didn't I? ;P

Yeh Mera Dil and the death of Kamini

Is that a batik shirt he's wearing? o wow o wow o wow o wow o wow...

The only move I don't understand in the whole choreography is Kareena slithering and stalking about on the ugly brown carpet. I was like.. whaaa? It could have been a big brass bed and I still would have cringed. It's just the way it's done. It degrades her sexy Earth Goddess image and ruins the effect of the scrumptious dress. The rest of the choreography is good and Shah Rukh was of course perfect in the song. Yes, yes... again it's my completely unbiased opinion.

I do think despite his insistence that he doesn't like doing romantic movies and that he doesn't understand romance... he instinctively knows what his female audience likes to see on the hero's face and eyes or how the hero behaves with his heroine. Even in a song that lasts a few minutes he can shine when he has a woman (or several women) draped all over his body. It's what makes him a very effective romantic lead. I'm sorry Shah Rukh, but your romantic image will be stuck in our psyche forever. You'll never be able to overshadow it with any comic, dramatic, macho or psycho portrayal any time soon, or maybe ever.

It's my belief Don B knows the entire time that Kamini is a police informer and a bunch of police officers are about to descend onto his lair. And yet, he's so supremely confident of his ability to get away from the seemingly impossible situation that he humours her amorous advances. I dunno about Don A, who looks as if he's not interested in the opposite sex even when it's in the form of luscious Helen, but Don B is oh-so-ready to get down to business with his lady of the night while waiting for the boys in uniform.

Don B is portrayed here (and throughout his Don scenes and some of Vijay's too) by Shah Rukh to be always edgy, a parting of ways from the cool, expressionless and almost-unresponsive Don A who seems to have it all under control. I prefer how Shah Rukh played it (of course, of course hehe). Don B is a megalomaniac, and megalomaniacs never forget for a second that the world revolves around them... while Don A is a workaholic mafia hitman and he never forgets that his work is never done. That's the difference between them, or at least, that's how I perceived it.

"Selamat malam, gentlemen."

Man, I just can't seem to get over that. And I like the creepy lift door that can't close because of the body stopper. So Asian-horror-film like. Nice one. Whose idea was that?

Don B's mysterious disc

Shah Rukh and his laptop... (lol)

Will someone finally tell me what the bloody hell kind of information is in that disc? Why does Don B make it and almost sacrifice his life to get it (when he was being Vijay), then turn around and tell Anita that it's not important??

I love how he delivers these lines:

• "Ya hamare kam ki... *eyes yummy Priyanka body* ...hai?"
• "Waja?"
• "Mujhe junglee bilia boht pasand hai"
• "She tried to kill me~~~"

Can I say that I absolutely adore the posture Don B adopts when he delivers that... "The biggest mistake Don's enemies can make is to make an enemy of Don" ...line? Every word was lovingly spoken. It's so obvious from the way Shah Rukh treated some lines that he's absolutely crazy over them. I bet he and Farhan went completely ballistic when they were discussing the dialogues and scenes Farhan lifted and modified from the old Don movie.

It's rare for an actor to be able to assay one of his favourite roles by someone he's idolized since childhood, so Shah Rukh is fortunate in that respect. But don't think for a second that he's gonna let us keep comparing between Don A and Don B. The sequel is where he's gonna make us forget that the old movie has even existed. He's gonna 'own' Don and the younger generation will equate Don with Shah Rukh, not Amitabh. That's what he did with Devdas (opinions from SRK-haters and tabloid media type notwithstanding).

What I don't understand annoys the heck out of me

"Nobody says please anymore" ..awww, poor Don LOL.

This whole scene is entirely incomprehensible to me. Even the old movie with its penchant for telling us every itty bitty thing that's going on doesn't give me a clue as to why Don is betrayed or why Don expects to be betrayed. I mean, he wires the whole case with explosives so he must have thought something fishy is going on. But he goes there anyway with a bag full of rupees that he wants to blow up.

Oh, that's another thing I don't get. Is it real money, or does Don come to the meeting with fake money? Frankly, I don't understand a greedy guy (which Don B is) who blows up money. So if it's fake money, what is Don B doing there? That can't be a real transaction, can it? Don B's the type who's absolutely possessive of his reputation. He would not have botched up a deal by conning his clients. I don't like the idea that Don B gets severely injured due to his inability to predict the situation correctly. That sort of incompetence should be reserved for government officials, not crime lords. It doesn't go with the image~~~

Oh, did you know that Shah Rukh did the stunts himself? Yep, including the driving-through-the -great-balls-of-fire sequence. Too bad the camera got burnt to rubble and they lost the footage, otherwise we'd be able to see some cool SRK-in-flames stuff. I'm not sure if he did the whole chase scene though but he did get behind the wheel for some action. His affinity with action stunts scares me (coz I'm a coward when it comes to the people I love. It's okay when I'm the one in the driver's seat though). Please take care of yourself, okay Datuk?

I love the car-chasing part though. Chase scenes usually juggle a lot of logistics issues so I'm always in awe of car/motorcycle chase sequences.

To be continued in Part 3...

SRK Movie My Take - Don The Chase Begins Again

Caution: Please watch the movie before you read this. I'm revealing plots all over the place.

In a way, Farhan and Shah Rukh have attained one of their objectives in remaking the classic because someone like me who didn't even know the existence of Amitji's Don has bought the CD just so I can compare SRK's version to the original. I watched SRK's Don first so I didn't have a problem with the way he portrayed Don since I was not affected by the impression Amitji made like a lot of the critics were whose reviews I read.

Don't kick the Complaint Box

Note: Pls don't mind my complaints. I have a lot of complaints about the Spiderman, X-Men, and James Bond franchises too. It doesn't mean that I like the movies any less.

I'm afraid I have to turn into a wannabe critic for this movie because other than Shah Rukh, I was not impressed with any of the other characters. And after watching Zeenat Aman's Roma, I became quite disappointed with the way Priyanka has carried this role. Isha Koppikar was the only one who managed to catch my fancy. I like her intensity and the way she laughs at the end of the golf-by-the-beach scene. It compliments Don's otherwise ridiculous line asking Narang to check the shoes of the people he wants to recruit. Priyanka played it too cool and her Roma looks rather self-conscious, unsure of herself, and as if she had suffered so much and in such pain. Roma's supposed to be a tough, passionate girl who gets into the business of organized crime to carry out her revenge. Her entire focus should have been on Don and her revenge, not on herself.

I think what I really dislike about Farhan's screenplay would be the way he jumps from scene to scene expecting the audience to know what the characters have tried or are trying to do. These are usually scenes lifted from the original (where every move the character is going to do is explained clearly), esp when Vijay comes into the picture. He should know that since he's targeting the young generation who's never watched the old Don and would be bored to tears or yawn every 2 seconds (like I did, sorry) at the 70s version of what a cool and stylish criminal outfit should be, he should still provide a bit of the background. I really didn't appreciate that the jump from the bumbling, never-drive-a-car-in-his-life Vijay to the skilled-with-a-gun, speed-freak Vijay/Don was explained by a single line he said to DeSilva: "You taught me well." I was like... Farhan, you've got to be kidding me, man.

Can I say this? The main police officer dudes are so wooden! They have only one expression stuck on their faces the entire duration of the movie, be it Boman Irani or Om Puri. I'm like... guys, I know you're playing civil servants who are nearing the age of retirement, but can't you at least make us believe you're excited that an infamous criminal is within your grasp? And what's with all the pouches? Did the casting director want us to believe that these beer-bellied old men who can't even walk a mile without wheezing, let alone run after crooks, are the best people Malaysia and India can provide to catch someone as dangerous as Don?

This complaint is inconsequential but I have to write it anyway... Don as Don has too little screen time! Don as Vijay is like a tiger that has one of his legs strapped. I could read the restraint in his face every time he wants to pounce Roma, whether to kill her or mess around with her... I dunno XD

What I love about Farhan's Don

The gadgets! O yes.

I love how the watch is connected to the bomb. That was awesomely done. Although I could do with a few more... like micro-bugs or some rather violent computer virus attacks (and where's the GPS Navigation System?? That should provide some nice tracking sequence... huh), the understanding of high-tech gadgetry in this movie is quite good although I do think they should have put some interesting gadgets in his car too. Don would be someone who'd equip his car with KITT-type techno frills, ehem ehem. For Don 2, I would like them to incorporate a coupla gadgets that're yet to be available on the market but could have already been made and sold to the very rich as I'm typing this. You know, sci-fi stuff. Like... I dunno... satellite video-conferencing via mobile phones? Oh, oh... a touch-sensitive, interactive holographic projection of building blueprints or location maps with online connectivity!

I also love the martial arts choreography. The fact that they used a shaolin monk to design the fight scenes is an inspired move. Don has a very nice opening scene. I like the way Shah Rukh fights in Don. The precise, fast and technical moves suit him. It's much better than those choreography he's subjected to in his previous action movies where all he had to do was swing his fists and legs about. Taking a detour to prove a point, I like his sword fight scenes (this one, and this one) in Asoka. If he still wants to do action movies (is Ra-1 an action movie?), this type of choreography is the way for him to go.

I like it everytime Don kills people. My most favourite is that golf missile scene. He's so cheerful before and after he swings that club ("Narang~ This is a good shot!" LOL). I also like the method he uses to murder Ramesh and I argued with my sister that he must have used a small dose of a type of anesthetic that won't be detectable on post mortem. The cause of death would be drowning, rather than being poisoned. IMO, he should have killed a couple more characters, you know... those annoying ones like DeSilva's useless assistant and the incompetent Narang. Farhan should take Hong Kong triad movies as the inspiration for his 2nd Don. The Hong Kong writers are masters at scripting organized crime stories.

Brief comparison with the original

To save my poor fingers, let me call Amitji's Don as Don A and Shah Rukh's Don as Don B.

Don A:

To me, Don A is quite a boring character. He's like a workaholic type who goes ploddingly about trying to get his jobs done... totally devoid of a sense of humour or interesting quirks that can make me go, "hey, that's cool". I don't remember any particular lines or moves he does that made an impact on me. Well, except when he dies while holding that gun... I thought that was nicely done. Vijay is the more interesting character, although it did get quite disconcerting when I couldn't connect the carefree, likely uneducated, kain pelekat-wearing Vijay with the formal-looking, smooth-talking, vest-wearing Vijay. I like the dance scene with Roma where he starts to dance like Vijay, then looks around, and corrects himself XD. And I have to say this, I like all the original picturization of the songs much better (sorry Farah Khan, Saroj Khan, Ganesh Hegde and Rajeev Surti). I don't like the smooth transition from a street performer to a criminal mastermind that Amitji shows right from the start though. I want him to have some vulnerable/funny moments where we're shown that Vijay is feeling out of sort in Don's setting. He looks entirely too at home with his mafia buddies.

I find that the characters talk too much. The only one who has such short lines and a shorter script is Don himself coz he dies at the beginning. But oh God, the rest of them just yap and yap and yap. The scriptwriters were really having a field day with this one. Or maybe that's just how movies were made in the old days. The supporting characters explain to us about anything and everything that's happening in the movie. The only script I can appreciate is Zeenat Aman's. Hers only says what's needed and no more. I like a girl who doesn't feel the need to nag or whine about her sad fate to all and sundry every 2 seconds. However, I do find that Don A is more real in terms of the way the story goes in the setting that it's found itself in. Except for the momentary lapses, like the one where Don seems to have jumped up a 20-storey building to stop Roma from running away after she's cut his rope, I find that I don't have to leave too many brain cells at the door to accept the movie.

Don B:

The same cannot be said about this one, I'm afraid. IMO, some of the scenes are a bit overdone esp the one where Don/Vijay is kidnapped by his gang. Don't tell me you couldn't devise an easier and less detectable way of taking Don away than a high-profile chase that ends with a chopper carrying off a bloody ambulance in broad daylight. Where do you land? How do you avoid police detection? Don is an international criminal and Interpol is involved, so his every movement is probably being monitored via satellite. There's no way the ambulance won't be tracked down in real time. In fact, it could have been bugged before it's left the hospital.

Can I say that I don't like the entire arc of Jasjit's background story? I think his history could have been spelt out in a coupla scenes tops, no need to go all out with the family stuff and the robbery stuff and the oh... entire bleeding sequence. I generally skip this bit whenever I watch my DVD. I don't mind the story after Jasjit exits the prison coz it's needed by the storyline. Farhan, IMO, wasted so many film reels just to build up a story of a guy who's not the 2nd hero or the main villain. If he doesn't appear in Don 2, I'd probably go... so why the bloody hell should I care so much about this bleeding useless git that I had to spend nearly an hour of my life being subjected to the filmakers' explanation of how he got his prison record??

The scene in the airplane also gets on my nerves. Mostly coz the policeman was portrayed as a moron who can't even keep a door shut. Leaving your cell coz you want to pee is like OMG the cheapest trick in the universe and they should have provided a toilet INSIDE the bleeding jail instead of allowing the prisoners to go outside, opening their cuffs in the bargain. What if 3 of them are all desperate to go at the same time, huh?? These are not your average 7-11 robbers. I want to scream in frustration during that scene... seriously. The parachute sequence calmed me down though. I dunno why some people pooh-poohed it, but I thought it's cool. The compositing is well done and the actions are believable. Please don't compare it to what it could have been in a standard Hollywood fare. They have a bigger budget and can afford better VFX facilities.

I don't like the Don-as-Vijay character because I fell in love with the evil Don B from the first boom. I wanted to see more of him. I do regret knowing that it's Vijay, and not Don, who dies at the hospital before I even watched the movie but even then, watching the flashback still made me go, "No! How could the good guy die!" Needless to say, I was traumatized for a few days afterwards. Yeah, I'm so melodramatic. Having said that, I like watching Shah Rukh playing Don playing Vijay. It makes the suave 'Vijay' more believable when you knew that it's actually the evil guy playing the part. Don B does surface a few times when he's angry at something or when he suddenly displays skills that Vijay shouldn't have known. I bet Don B the international criminal has done an awful lot of acting stint to fool the police in the course of his career, but it's probably the first time he's tried to act the part of a double who's trying very hard to be convincing as Don... which is himself. It's so confounding that it must have amused him so much every time he looks at the poor fools who believe in his Vijay or his Vijay-turns-Don avatar. I imagine Don B snickering in front of the mirror in his bathroom while he's practicing some of his moves.

Despite some moments when I went... Shah Bhai, don't look that intense lah... I like the characterization of Don B. Shah Rukh has instilled some character traits in him that can easily be recalled. The curtsy he does for the ballerina, the cheerful way he exclaims, "Narang!" while putting up a dainty palm to greet his subordinate, the "I've also always liked me" and "oh I am the king!" lines, the way smoke chimneys out of his mouth, the dressing style, the way he stalks smoothly towards people (Shah Rukh said in an interview that it's his take on how a man woud have walked had he been a female model walking the ramp XD), and the cartoon freak who can switch off his laugh in a blink, look ahead with a blank expression and spout, "Poor Ramesh" as the only indication that the poor guy is gonna be murdered later. Whether he annoys you, gets on your nerves, makes you want to throw pointy things or flying kisses at your TV monitor or 70mm film screen ...Don B in unforgettable.

Which is why I'm overjoyed that there's gonna be Don 2 from Farhan's stable next year. All you people who didn't like the first movie and have been whining at how much you hate it and how much you don't care about having a sequel made after it, you can all keep away from the cinema hall come next year. But you'll be missing out on a VERY BIG movie coz with the actual Don (no more soft-hearted Vijay in the picture yeay!) running amok in Germany and God knows what other countries, I think the movie's gonna be the awesomest movie of the decade. I do hope they're not gonna pull some 'good always triumphs over evil' corny script on us or try to appeal to our conscience that we should accept the possibility of a repenting evil guy (eeek! Don't turn the Don into a wannabe priest fella, please!). Will Shah Rukh do another Baazigar-type death scene? I hope the lines are not as long though. I get nervous and edgy when a character I like takes too much time to die.

One thing I would like explained in the sequel is what Don B means when he says that the disc everyone is chasing after is actually not that important. I've been mulling over some possibilities, but I would like to know the 'real' reason from the writers themselves.

Next

SRK Movie My Take - Rab Ne Bana Jodi

Caution: Please watch the movie before you read this. I'm revealing all the good moments (the ones I really like) all over the place.

I watched this movie as a Shah Rukh Khan's fan who's always looking forward to being entertained with good stories presented in his trademark engaging way. I didn't watch it like a critic. I've never found anything wrong in the way he portrays his characters. I may like some more than the others, but the reasons have always been character tributes, not his acting chop. So don't expect to find biting comments about his movies or his acting in my blog. You can have a bellyfull of that kind of treatment from critics and wannabe-critics elsewhere.

Also, all the noted dialogues are written according to the English translation coz I dunno Hindi so I'm afraid to write it in case I misspell any word.

First Impression on SRK
When he disembarks from the train, my thought was: "Hey, this is not Shah Rukh Khan!" LOL

You know the gag spectacles people usually buy at gag shops... the one with big-sized rims, a big nose and a mustache? Shah Rukh looks like he's wearing that as Suri. I thought, if I were to pass by this guy on the street I would not have even looked at him once, never mind twice. If ever Shah Rukh felt the need to disguise himself when he goes out, he should go with this 'common man' mask instead of dark glasses. I can bet no one would realise who he is.

Anushka is a goddess in her wedding attire.

Anushka's lovely moments
Every time she appears onscreen XD. To pick just a few:

• When she's shouting to her friend not to touch her wedding dress
• When she's shouting to her father to go for the mehndi himself
• When she says, "Are? Kya nehi nehi?" to Suri on their first meeting
• When Raj is playing around during their first dancing session at the hall. Anushka's face looks like Taani can't make up her mind whether to kick his ass for being insolent or laugh
• "Aap ko biryani acchi nehi lagi?", "You never know. Wait and watch~" ...o man, so beautiful
• Taani looks the most modern and enchanting while she's spouting all that gaali in the Dhoom 3 scene
• Okay, forget it... I can't choose. I love all her scenes!
  

Suri's lovely moments

• Whenever he looks at Taani, before and after their marriage. He conveys such awkwardness, shyness and longing in those brief glances. Especially when Taani appears in front of his officemates in the house-warming party and in the 'first breakfast Taani made for him' scene. There's such gratitude and disbelief, probably at how lovely she looks (even I gape at her in that brilliant yellow dress, running her hand through her wet hair)
  
• Suri and his yellow tiffin casing... "yellow is my favourite colar" ...LOL! Even the Hyundai (the car brand Shah Rukh endorses ting tong) is yellow
  
• Before the start of Haule Haule when he flicks his head back
• Cute phrases: "Mention not", "Mooch nehi katte ni hai", "Hoit!", "Oyee!", "Siappa", "Punjab Pawar lighting up your life, Surinder Sahni this side ji",
  
• Suri's naive reactions: "You will slap my wife??", "Sorry Bobby, is that part (macho) very expensive?"
• Every time Taani comes to his room unannounced, Suri drops something he's been working on XD
• My wish for the 'my favourite uncle' moment was granted! It's that scene when Suri takes off his fake mustache while still wearing his spectacles. I went, "Hey! It's Uncle!" LOL
• Suri dances before his bath and at the dinner table during the 'Dance Pe Chance' video
• The way he looks when Taani says she's cooked him biryani and while she's filling up his plate (shock! horror! ohnoes, stop it! stop it! no more! I'm going to die, huh?), then loudly going "Arrrrghhhhh," while lying on his bed, unable to go to sleep LOL
  

Raj's lovely moments

• Every time Suri's demeanour peeks out during the first night at the dance hall, esp when Raj tries to explain that "it was a mistake" as the guy inspects his 21 green card
  
• Every time he flirts with Taani, esp the "Flirting would be if I were to tell you that I have never seen a girl more beautiful than you and when you dance all sweaty, the way your hair swings left, right, left, right made my heart skip a beat..." dialogue. I was like, "Suri! Where did you get that vocabulary??" XD
• During the bike ride in the rain, esp when he says, "Bataa du?" (I like the fact that there's quite a lot of rain when it's Raj's turn)
• Cute phrases: "Oh dearrr, never fearrr, Raj is herrre", "Areppaaa", "Now you'rrre not saying anything", "Okay, John Ibrahim!", "Full verzhon, please?", "Thank you Madonna madam!", "Correct?', "Kuch kam karu! Karu, karu, karu!", "Aap here... what? why? how come?", "Tu God's ki gift hai ji", "Same, same?", "The sky fell, yes. Let's hang together", "By the by", "Oh, present ji", "Everything is same.. to same ji", "Oh good night Taani partner. Happy monsoon~~"
  
• Every time he takes off his dark glasses and looks at Taani. So intense are his stares, it makes me wonder how much Suri's spectacles power is and whether, however much he squints, Raj only sees a blur whenever he looks at her from a distance
  
• His expression, inflection and o yumm body language when he says, "O man, I'll die of happiness!", "Price ka mile gaaa?", "Koi bi?", "I'll pick you up tomorrow 9am, Amritsar time ji."
  
• Prancing down the stairs of the mandhir in that tight kapre during the 'Tujh Mein Rab Dekhta Hai' song
  

Nice acting

• Taani's eyes as she says, "I'll do as you wish, father" on his deathbed
• Suri's eyes when Taani says she has to kill her old self and create a new Taani, and Anushka's acting skill during this scene
  
• The whole characterization of Suri: the way he walks and talks, his body posture, his voice, the way he looks at others through his spectacles (he never takes them off, just like Clark Kent hehe)
• Shah Rukh's inflection when he says, "But I love her just the way she is" in the confession scene at his friend's salon
• The change in expression between '...apka hero' and 'ji'. Also, when he says, "I aaaaamm..." during Raj's first meeting with Taani. Actually, I love the whole host of expressions Shah Rukh displays during that scene. It's Suri being worried that his wife will recognize him and trying to act like this hero 'Raj' that he's created at the spur of the moment.
• When Raj talks to the mannequin/Suri, esp when Raj reverts to Suri at the end of the monologue. This is one of the scenes I rewind the most. That single tear at the end is so easy to miss.
• Raj's morphing into Suri in the changing room during and after Taani's answer that "The only thing a girl desires is that someone loves her like no one has ever been loved before. There is nothing else a girl wants from life."
• Anushka's expressions during the 'I Love You' scene. I feel as if I could stare at her forever
• Raj's expression after Taani says, "Nothing remains the same after that," is Suri thinking, "Hoshit, I made a big mistake, didn't I?". Very profound
• After Raj declares his love for Taani, there's a hardened quality in Suri's eyes whenever he gazes upon Taani, with every look screaming betrayal. This look starts surfacing in the salon: the scene when Suri combs his hair
• Suri's rigidly angry posture in the rain when Raju calls to tell him that his wife is at the garage asking after Raj, and the softening of his expressions when later he enters the garage and finds how wretched Taani looks sitting by herself waiting for him to come
• Anushka's expression and body movements during their entire dance in the Dancing Jodi Grand Finale competition
  

My favourite scenes
Everytime Shah Rukh appears onscreen LOL. Okay, okay.. that's too general.

• When Suri clears his cupboard. Also, later as he looks around the attic, goes, "maih" and proceeds to bounce lightly with a broom in his hand to clean the cobwebs
  
• Shah Rukh Khan is washing the dishes! Mukyaaaaaa!
• Best Scene of Filmfare 2008 is my favourite scene too
• Everytime Suri is at the office: sitting so primly at his seat, answering telephone, interacting with his officemates, carrying that tiffin box to his desk like it's some kind of offering to God, etc.
• Drunken revelry with his best friend, Balwinder aka Bobby Khosla, to the tune of 'Tere Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi'
  
• The shorning of half a mustache: "Haule, haule, haule, haule, haule, haule, hoit!" (somehow, in the dark ...Suri's sillouette reminds me strongly of Shah Rukh as 'Babloo' in Duplicate)
• Every time Raj adjusts his tight jeans XD
• The gol guppa competition. Esp when both Taani and Raj have tears streaking down their sweaty faces, after they've eaten God knows how many plates of that food, yet they still bravely shove it in one by one. And afterwards, Suri shoveling the biryani courageously while saying "A-One ...A-One ji" after every mouthful.
• The 'oye macho' scene + the 'macho' song when Raj enters the dance hall
  

Uncomfortable moments for me

• The most uncomfortable moment for me has to be everytime Suri prays at the Golden Temple because he does the 'sujud'. It makes me wonder how Shah Rukh justified those scenes while he was acting
• There's too much mentioning of 'God' in this movie. What was happening in Aditya's life when he penned this story?
• That short dialogue-less scene at the temple before 'Dance Pe Chance'. Either Aditya was too sure that Shah Rukh would manage to convey the right message to us or he didn't want to bother. But I thought that's a very important scene and he should have inserted more clues into it in case some people don't get what it's about
• No one in the film tries to explain how a normal desk-job guy who never seems to get up from his seat, much less has weight-lifting included in his daily regiment, can have a nice sculpted body. Or does the casting staff think that Raj's body is like that of any normal guy's in Amritsar? I have to go to this Amritsar place and check out the male population there before I complain any further
• What does the writing Taani sees on the banner mean in the scene before she and Raj get showered with rose petals?
• That dancing and singing is allowed in the masjid. It's made me realize my ignorance on how Islam is practiced in other parts of the world
  

Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte
Feels like commenting about this song...

• Kajol looks so fresh and distinct in the sea of black and white, Bipasha so wooden and awkward with Shah Rukh, Lara so forgettable that I couldn't distinguish her from the back-up dancers even though her costume is outstanding (it looks like the set in Om Shanti Om. Even the costumes are similar. I wish they got Deepika for this one instead. That would have been quite a trip down memory lane), Preity so vivacious, and ...I run out of words to describe Rani. She's as beautifully vivid as she was in KKHH. In fact, some of her moves remind me of the 'Koi Mil Gaya' song. I can't believe she's 10 years older now, she is still just as youthful, energetic and riveting.
• I managed to guess correctly 4 out of 5 avatars that Shah Rukh did, which means his talent for mimicry is quite formidable (remember, I'm not an Indian Hindi movie goer. I hardly get to watch old Hindi movies on TV and I don't buy other DVDs aside from SRK's). My miss was Rajesh Khanna. But that's probably coz I've only watched a couple of his movies and they are of the tear-jerker variety. I have never seen Rajesh Khanna dance wearing bright clothes XD". But Raj (the Charlie Chaplin look), Shammi (Junglee and Yahoo, the way he throws his arms and hair about) and Rishi Kapoor (the long scarf) are pretty identifiable from the word go. And Shah Rukh got Dev Anand's mannerisms nailed. I bet he's one of the actors Shah Rukh always tried to imitate while acting in his bathroom when he was a kid
  

And the award goes to...

• Funniest Scene: thumbdrive-stuck-in-laptop scene LOL. The way Shah Rukh executed that scene is such a riot!
  
• Sexiest scene: when Raj gets out of the cab and pays the fare while wearing Suri's spectacles and then walking like Suri. Even though Raj is always in tight t-shirts and jeans, the only time I think, "OMG, he's so sexy!!!" is during this scene
• Most Adorable Way of Saying Embarrassing Things to Your Lady Love: Raj in the 'motion ni loose hai' dialogue LOL
• Best dialogue: "Bobby my friend, to make Taani laugh, to keep her happy, Suri can do comedy, Suri can dance, Suri can change himself completely and become Raj. But to win her love, Suri won't change. She will have to love this Suri I work for Punjab Pawar for who he is. And she will have to understand Suri's love soft, sweet, slow. Otherwise we are travelling the love lane, down the road we will meet again."
• Best Mood Twister in a Scene: the sumo wrestling scene. It could have been a funny scene but the way Shah Rukh played it made me cry and laugh at the same time throughout it. The music score amazingly captures the varying mood range of the characters
• Best Villain: Taani when she, leaving the movie theater and her husband behind without a word, went to find Raj at Raju Garage
• Most Lovable Look while Posing a Ridiculous Question: Suri when he asks Taani whether God will be angry at him for loving her more than Himself
• Most Loaded Sexual-Tension Look: Suri during the Dancing Jodi Grand Finale
  
• Most Favourite Scene: the 'run away with me' scene, hands down
  

Rambling about the movie in general
Suri's my favourite character, but I also love Raj a lot. Shah Rukh has created a mix persona of jester, wannabe hero, awkward + extravagant guy with a good heart in Raj. I see moments of Suri in Raj, but I can't see Raj in Suri at all. In fact, there are several scenes with Raj that made me go, "Suri, why are you doing this?" or "Uh oh, it's Suri applying his naive logic/reasoning again". The way Shah Rukh plays both characters is genius. The only apparent time that Suri acts like Raj is when he asks Bobby, "Have you ever tasted the first raindrops? They taste heavenly."

My verdict? As far as comparison goes, to me, it's way better than DDLJ. The first time I watched DDLJ was in 1997 back when I was in the UK. People made such a fuss about the film so I looked it up. I wasn't very impressed with it, but maybe that was because I couldn't identify with whatever it is it tries to convey. But with RNBDJ, due to some real life experiences, I can identify with its issues and maybe that's why I enjoyed it better. Shah Rukh was right, it's quite a modern take on marriage. While not always concurring with Suri's decisions, I understand everything he tries to do for Taani. If my Suri were to love me as recklessly, what would have been my reaction? Would I be like Taani and ask him to stop?

Can I say this? Shah Rukh looks really nice with a mustache hehe. Even though it makes him look older than his age, it also makes him look more beautiful... to me, at least.

I can see how Shah Rukh was having fun with Raj. I love Raj, he amuses me to no end. Every time Shah Rukh plays a dorky character, it reminds me of Babloo. Maybe because that's his first really dorky character I've come across. He let go quite a lot as Raj. The gol guppa competition reminds me of how Shah Rukh said he doesn't like people to see him eat. Raj eats very sloppily in that scene. And of all the places Raj can go with his lady love, he takes her on a tour to places of worship LOL. What a difficult guy to pin down. No wonder Taani was smitten. I think Shah Rukh didn't want to fight public opinion and so agreed readily when people say Raj was played over-the-top etc. But IMO, the way he plays it is the only logical way to play Suri's Raj.

See, Raj will make sense if we think that Suri's modeled him after his best friend. Booby Khosla is flamboyant, very confident with himself (colourful hair and loud dress sense in the small town of Amritsar? He's definitely a confident guy) and overtly macho. It's a unisex salon so I think he's popular with the ladies too, although it was not shown in the movie. The only real person Suri can base his super hero Raj on is Bobby and because exaggerative gestures are out of character for Suri since his movements are particularly minimal , Suri's imitation of Bobby becomes jerky and discontinuous. Which probably translates to the audience as hamming.

Hasn't anyone ever wondered how come the best friend of the most boring guy in Punjab Pawar is an extrovert like Bobby? Aditya didn't explain clearly the equation between the two, deciding to focus on the woman-man relationship instead. I wish Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi has a sequel. There're a lot of things that can be done with these three interesting characters yet. Oh, by the way... that the story stays interesting from start to finish for billions of people all over the world with just three big characters (with one played by a newcomer) driving it forward speaks for the brilliance of Aditya's writing. If the screenplay had sucked, not even Shah Rukh could have saved it. It's also a testament to that popular saying, "Only sex or Shah Rukh sells" Heck, for a movie that stars the King of Romance, it doesn't have even a peck on the cheek (or did I miss it somewhere??) and it sold like hotcakes when it was released.

Some people say that Suri deliberately pushes Taani towards Raj in order to test her love for him by becoming more stoic, case in point is when he requests her to close the window coz the floor will get spoilt by rainwater. I don't think Suri does any such thing, he's just being his normal regular homely self. That's his ancestral home... of course he doesn't want to see the floor ruined. Suri's request is a reflex due to his practical nature. IMO, the only time he tests Taani is when he asks her about Raj.

And about Taani not recognizing her husband? I agree with the opinion that we see what we want to see. What we don't want to see, our brain will make up its own explanation to justify it so as not to disturb our sensibilities. Or else, why wouldn't Lois Lane notice that Clark Kent and Superman are the same person? The power to create false imageries to replace the truth in order to preserve our sanity is a very human defense mechanism... just like forgetfulness is.

Surprisingly, the humblest and most profoundly beautiful gestures in this film are made by the happy-go-lucky avatar, Raj:

• Blackout-ing the whole Amritsar for a few seconds in order to light it up again with 'I love you' written across the black expanse. I find it lovely that one side of the V is made up of roadside lamps
• Giving up the dance classes he is looking forward to participating with Taani in order to give her a shot at winning the competition
• Taking her on a tour to the places of worship and staging all sorts of lovely receptions to welcome her: the rose petal shower, the giant picture puzzle, the child dancers, and finally the most astonishingly extravagant love declaration a woman has ever been treated to
  
• Telling her that he thinks what she wants to wish in the first rain is to stop her heart from hurting
  
• Asking her, quite sensitively done actually, what is it that a girl wants most in the world
• Making her smile and laugh all the time. He never gives her a chance to stare into nothing or sulk at all during their interactions
• Trying to serve hot tea while the reality of Taani, his (Suri's) wife, choosing another man is staring him in the face
  
• Asking her to run away with him, knowing fully well that if she were to accept, he'd have to erase his real self (Suri) and become Raj for the rest of his life. Of all the movies I have watched in my life, I think this is the ultimate 'sacrifice yourself at the altar of love' scene for me. Nothing can top this, ever
• Being endearingly overwhelmed by Taani's refusal to leave with him after the competition even though the reason Taani doesn't want to leave Suri is most probably due to gratitude and wifely obligation, not love

What I have to say at the end of the movie to Shah Rukh and Aditya is: Make another movie together! And also, there's nothing 'common' about Suri except his looks. I doubt any woman in the world has been romanced by a common man even 1/10 of the ways Taani has been in RNBDJ.

My request? To any kind soul, translate the ending credits and upload it to youtube, please? Thank you in advance.