ATRANGI RE represents the true-blue Bollywood brigade which has zero understanding of mental health. It trivializes and mocks a mental health condition.
To the extent that in one scene, Sajjad, played by Akshay Kumar, uses the word "Pagli" for Sara's character (Rinku).
This crap is still being made in Bollywood in 2021 and sold on platforms like Disney plus Hotstar.
I so wish that the writer, director, and makers had done some research on the mental health issue; they didn't even have the courage to name it in the film. Or maybe, watch a few films based on mental health issues!
And yes, if all mental health issues could magically be solved on platform number 9, left wali bench, what would mental health professionals start doing - make films?
THE LOGLINE
Runaway Rinku gets forcefully married to an already engaged Vishu. The love triangle gets weirder when Rinku’s lover Sajjad shows up.
Of course, this logline on Disney+Hotstar is written with the intention to not give away the reveal. It sounds more like a typical love triangle, which Bollywood is so obsessed with.
I wonder what logline the writer used to pitch this idea.
Runaway Rinku gets forcefully married to an already entertaining Dhanush. The love triangle gets even more entertaining when Rinku’s love interest Akshay Kumar shows up.
STORY IDEA and SCRIPT
I was intrigued by the story idea and invested in the screenplay like a typical masala film fan, until the point of reveal in the canteen. I was almost feeling within me a sense of satisfaction that finally Himanshu Sharma and Anand L Rai have got their Raanjhana and Tanu Weds Manu magic back. Though they weren’t perfect scripts in themselves, they were entertainingly endearing with forgivable flaws.
I said, wow, finally a GOOD SCRIPT from Bollywood.
But… from the point of reveal onward, the script just keeps getting worse. Madhusudan (MS), played by Ashish Verma, is not only a terrible friend to have but also would make a very incompetent psychiatrist.
At the moment he discovered Rinku’s truth, firstly, he shouldn’t have abandoned her there, at the canteen. Secondly, if he ran to tell Vishu, he should have told him that Rinku needs therapy.
Instead, the writer takes this as an opportunity to create some absurd comical scene and tap into Dhanush’s spontaneous dancing talent. However endearing Dhanush’s dance is and a perfect point for the intermission, it simply doesn’t make sense that an educated Indian male in 2021 starts dancing in a railway public toilet on discovering “KOI NAHIN HAI”.
Only if Vishu could hear his own words submerged in the loud background music. KOI NAHIN HAI - it is something to worry about if you really love Rinku, not dance about!
The writer doesn’t stop the indulgence here, he continues to mock Rinku’s mental health situation with absurdity, scene after scene.
MS makes Rinku pop some random pills which are apparently taking care of her hallucinations (Sajjad), instantaneously. Either the writer doesn’t know, or completely ignores the fact in the name of 'cinematic liberty', that such medication can be prescribed only by a qualified practicing Psychiatrist, that too, only after clinical interviews and psychological assessment.
Instead, the writer taps into Akshay Kumar’s comical talents, at the cost of ignoring to address Rinku’s deteriorating mental health condition.
CHARACTER ARC
Rinku -
Behind the feisty, strong-headed, rustic exterior is hidden a vulnerable, troubled girl who has gone through the trauma of losing her parents. She has to go through the rigmarole of a mainstream Bollywood film (even if it is going to be viewed on ott) of singing songs, displaying all her acting talents, and by the end of the film resolve the conflict between her true love - Vishu, who exists in flesh and blood - and Sajjad. In doing so, she also has to be cured, purely through the sheer love of Vishu, and yes, platform no. 9 left wali bench!
Vishu -
He is a Tamilian. He is already engaged but has to realize his true love is Rinku... because she sings and dances Chaka chak. He is competing with Koi Nahin. It is an easy win. Not until he breaks glass bottles on his head to prove his love, instead of helping Rinku find a therapist.
Sajjad -
He is a magician who does a live performance of burning himself in front of a live audience. He has two looks - with CGI - without CGI.
By the end of the film, he has to accept that he is too old to play male leads with younger actresses.
MS -
He is stupid and will stay stupid.
Secondary characters -
Don't matter in an Akshay Kumar - Dhanush starrer!
THE PLOT-HOLES
WHY?
Rinku’s Grandmother has an issue with Sajjad to to the extent of personally killing him but herself says the line - "Koi Bhi Jaat Ka ho bass Bihar ke Bahar ka ho."
WHY?
The grandmother and other family members wait for such a long duration to get rid of Sajjad?
WHY?
In the first place, Vishu takes Rinku to his own engagement?
To sing Chaka Chak and flirt with his legally wedded wife right in front of the lady who he is supposed to get engaged to!
WHY?
Can’t Vishu just explain the situation to his girlfriend?
WHY?
Is Vishu allowed to keep a girl in the boys' hostel for so many days? Because he is a senior?
Vishu himself has announced a couple of times that his girlfriend’s father is his dean and he would not let him pass. But somehow, even after knowing that Vishu has ditched his daughter, the Dean doesn’t seem to be doing anything. Simply on the grounds of keeping a girl requiring therapeutic intervention, he could have got even with Vishu.
But Vishu is not Vishu, he is Dhanush, and he has looked him into his eyes and said, “Leave her hand. She will leave. We were forced to get married, but she is my wife.”
WHY?
Sajjad speaks in a peculiar manner at discretion. Like one of his dialogues "The Ramayan has just begun."
WHY?
And how MS comes to the conclusion that Rinku has been living with the unnamed condition since the past twenty years, when actually she is only 24 currently. And when she saw her parents being burnt alive, she definitely wasn’t 4 .
WHY?
Bollywood still cannot make an out-and-out woman-centric film.
Rinku’s introduction scene, where she runs in pouring rain, shouts back fearlessly at a barking dog, throws soda bottles, is so wonderfully written and executed. I was so invested in Rinku’s character - her vulnerability, the duality of her mind, her helplessness, and her conflict, which could have been so wonderfully woven into the second half; unfortunately, a Bollywood masala entertainer is incomplete without a MALE LEAD, and here we have two - eating away into Rinku’s character arc and her dialogues too. In the first half, Rinku’s dialogues and dialect both are wonderfully written, but the later half completely neglected. Reason, same!
WHY?
Writers can get away with a scene where conditions like OCD, Alzheimer’s, Bipolar, and Schizophrenia can be made fun of?
WORST SCENE
The Taj Mahal Scene -
Random people visiting the Taj Mahal agree to be a party to the nonsensical misadventure, and MS finds a steel glass to give water to Rinku with the medicine which again works instantaneously? UNFORGIVABLE.
ON THE SCRIPTOMETER
ATRANGI RE is a BAD SCRIPT which could have been a GOOD SCRIPT but gets worse by the minute.
With Mental Health awareness in India already being at a low point, filmmakers and especially writers need to be wary of such irresponsible writing. If they can’t add to the awareness, they definitely shouldn’t create wrong notions about it. And for sure, not make a mockery of it.
NOZZER PARDIWALA
*Since I review the film from the perspective of the SCRIPT alone, I may not comment on the acting, music, and other aspects of the film, however exceptional they may be. Lyrics by Irshad Kamil are appreciable.
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