Raabta (film)

Raabta
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Dinesh Vijan
Produced by	Dinesh Vijan Homi Adajania Bhushan Kumar
Written by	Siddharth-Garima
Starring	Sushant Singh Rajput Kriti Sanon Jim Sarbh Varun Sharma
Narrated by	Irrfan
Music by	Songs: Pritam JAM8 Sohrabuddin Sourav Roy Background Score: Sachin-Jigar
Cinematography	Martin Preiss
Edited by	A. Sreekar Prasad Huzefa Lokhandwala
Production company	Maddock Films
Distributed by	T-Series
Release date	9 June 2017 (2017-06-09)
Running time	144 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹32-33 crore[1]
Box office	₹25.67 crore[2]

Raabta (English: Connection) is an Indian epic romantic adventure film directed and produced by Dinesh Vijan co-produced by Homi Adajania and Bhushan Kumar. The film stars Sushant Singh Rajput, Kriti Sanon and Jim Sarbh in the lead roles. It was released worldwide on 9 June 2017. The storyline of the film is notably similar to that of the 2009 Telugu film, Magadheera.

Plot

Shiv Kakkar (Sushant Singh Rajput) is a young man from Amritsar who gets a lucrative opportunity to work in Budapest for a job as a banker, and leaves with his friend, Radha (Varun Sharma). Shiv is shown to have been a fun-loving womanizer back home and continues this behaviour in Budapest. Saira Singh (Kriti Sanon), a young woman, is haunted by mysterious nightmares of drowning to death. She lives by herself in Budapest and works as a chocolatier. Shiv happens to stumble upon Sara's shop while on a date with a woman, but finds himself deeply attracted to Saira . Though she initially rejects his advances, she eventually succumbs and sleeps with Shiv, revealing the next day that she actually has a boyfriend and what happened with Shiv was a mistake. Unwilling to let go of their connection, Shiv interrupts Saira's date with her boyfriend Maanav Mehta (Vikas Verma) and shows her that she would rather be with him than with her boyfriend. Maanav angrily breaks up with her, and Shiv and Saira start spending time together, growing close. One night, they go to a club with Radha, where they happen to meet an eccentric psychic who knows about Saira's nightmares and tells her that the events of her previous life will repeat themselves, and only she can fix them. Saira tearfully reveals to Shiv that she has a fear of water because her parents drowned after a car accident when she was two years old.

While trying to test their love a final time, Shiv and Saira make a pact. Shiv flirts with multiple women, but Saira finds herself strongly drawn to a young businessman Zakir "Zak" Merchant (Jim Sarbh). Shiv reveals he has to leave for a business trip for a week and he and Saira decide to see how they feel after a week's separation. If they still feel strongly about each other, they will start considering marriage. During Shiv's absence, Saira gets to know Zakir better and confides in him about her nightmares. During one of their dinners, Zakir drugs Saira and kidnaps her.

Saira wakes up and finds herself trapped in Zakir's isolated mansion on an island off the coast. She demands that he let her go, but he refuses, saying that he spent his whole life looking for her. He explains that they were madly in love in a previous life, but were separated. He refuses to let this happen again. When she does not believe him, he shows her a collection of uncannily accurate paintings he made of her at various ages and says she will find the explanation for her nightmares. Thinking he is crazy, she attempts to escape but ends up falling into the ocean, which triggers her memories of her previous life.

Hundreds of years ago, Saira was the warrior princess Saiba. She was in love with Kaabir (later Zakir), a fellow warrior from her tribe. Their kingdom was threatened by the Muraakis, led by a wise, old Rajput ruler Muwwaqqil (Rajkummar Rao) . Kaabir is severely wounded by the fierce Rajput warrior Jilaan (later Shiv), who gives Kaabir an ultimatum to surrender. Saiba challenges Jilaan, and they find themselves attracted to each other. Saiba accepts defeat, surrendering the kingdom to the Muraakis and herself to Jilaan. Kaabir attempts to take Saiba back, but she reveals that she and Jilaan have fallen in love. On their wedding night, a comet falls and Mohak realizes that this will be a fateful night. Kaabir ambushes Jilaan and Saiba, and murders Jilaan by wounding him and having him thrown in the ocean. Saiba jumps into the ocean to save him, but to no avail. When she herself dies in the water, Kaabir slits his own throat, killing himself. Muwwaqqil forebodes that these events will repeat.

However, this time, when Shiv shows up to get Saira back, Saira, convinced that Shiv loves her, decides to fight back against Zakir . When their previous lives' events repeat - Zakir throwing Shiv into the ocean - Shiv drags Zakir down with him and Zakir dies. Saira jumps into the water and is able to save Shiv this time.

The film ends with Shiv humorously telling their children to not believe Saira if she tells them any far-fetched stories about reincarnation, implying that he is still oblivious to the events of their previous lives.

Cast

• Sushant Singh Rajput as Shiv Kakkar / Jilaan
• Varun Sharma as Radha
• Kriti Sanon as Saira Singh Bhatia / Saiba
• Vikas Verma as Maanav Mehta
• Jim Sarbh as Zakir Merchant / Kaabir
• Rajkummar Rao as Mohak
• Deepika Padukone as Special appearance in Raabta (Title Track)

Production

The film production began in 2015 and it was set to release in 2016. But the film was delayed for a year due to casting issues. In March 2016, a new release date of 9 June 2017 was announced.^[3] The film has been majorly shot in Budapest, Hungary and India. Title song Raabta was shot at Tata Castle in Tata, Hungary. The song Sadda Move was shot at Partition Muesum, Amritsar.^[4] Budget of the film is ₹59.07 Crores (₹590.7 Million).^[5] The total number of screen count in India was 1820 and 330 overseas.^[6]

Critical reception

Bollywood Hungama rated it 3.5/5.^[10] The Times of India rated it 3.5/5, writing "If sparks flew more organically, it would have been easier to make a connection with this epic tale of love."^[11] Koimoi rated it 2/5, writing "Raabta is a confused film that never establishes a firm balance between its crossover love stories." Shubhra Gupta from The Indian Express rated it 1.5/5, writing "Some questions arise after Raabta has been seen, chief amongst which is one that comes up every time Bollywood tries, and fails, to do a cracking romance. Why is Bollywood incapable of pulling off a full-length film with a pair of lovers connecting, pulling apart, coming together?"^[12] India Today rated it 1/5, calling it "A comet-crossed romance which never hits the target."^[13]

Critic Rajeev Masand gave the movie one out of five, stating, "This is a movie so singularly pointless, you have to wonder how the writers and the director tricked the financiers into thinking there was a story here worth telling, and why the actors preferred going to shoot every morning instead of sleeping longer hours. This is the kind of film that film critics must endure so you don’t have to. Even Denzel Washington couldn't save this film. I’m going with one out of five."^[14]

Soundtrack

The film's music was composed by Pritam, JAM8, Sohrabuddin and Sourav Roy while lyrics are penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya, Irshad Kamil and Kumaar. The first song of the film "Ik Vaari Aa" sung by Arijit Singh was released on 21 April 2017. The second track of the film "Raabta" (Title Track) is a remake from 2012 film Agent Vinod's "Raabta (Kehte Hain Khuda)" by Irshad Kamil, and by original makers Amitabh Bhattacharya and Pritam is sung Singh and Nikhita Gandhi and was released on 2 May 2017. The third song "Sadda Move" sung by Diljit Dosanjh and Pardeep Singh Sran and rapped by Raftaar was released on 9 May 2017. The fourth song titled "Lambiyaan Si Judaiyaan" sung by Singh, Shadab Faridi and Altamash Faridi was released on 18 May 2017. The fifth track of the film "Main Tera Boyfriend" from J Star's 2015 single "Na Na Na Na", originally written by Kumaar and composed by Sohrabuddin and Sourav Roy was recreated for this film and was released on 22 May 2017. The sixth and the last song titled "Darasal" voiced by Atif Aslam was released on 1 June 2017. Music director Pritam gave his credit to his launched band JAM8 due to creative differences with producers. He cleared that he wants to work as a solo composer by posting a status on Facebook. The soundtrack consists of 7 songs and was released on 3 June 2017.

Accolades

References

External links

• Raabta on IMDb