Movie Review: Rajja Rani

When the movie Rajja Rani was released a few months ago in theatres, it flopped. I wanted to watch it but some exams did not allow me to go to theatres. A few weeks ago, the movie was released on YouTube and became an instant hit. Looking at the comments and the way it was trending, people seemed to have liked the movie. The issues it has raised makes it nice but that could have been done better.

The Good:

The best thing the movie has shown is the problems of the Terai, keeping dowry and politics at the centre. Deepak Chhetri nails his performance as the Rani’s naive father.

Najir Hussein and Keki Adhikari deserve applause for their titular roles. Najir acts better as a villanious Raja in the second half of the movie.

The Bad:

Except for the part where the issue of dowry is raised, the movie loses control. There is way too much comedy in Raja’s part. It has been used to establish Raja as a person with political influence and as someone who breaks his promises often but it could have been done in other ways.

Language is another problem in the movie. I don’t know but it sounds like a mixture of Nepali, Hindi, Maithili and Bhojpuri. They could have stuck with one language. The movie was also released in Maithili. Is the language better in that version? I can’t be sure because it’s not been released online yet.

The ugly:

Ending of the movie is so bland that it ruined the entire movie for me. I don’t understand why they had to kill off Raja. He was not the problem but just a part of it.

There were so many ways the movie could have ended. One way could have been to just show the problems and leave the audience in tears. Another way could be to show Rani’s fight against Raja and society against the practice of dowry. Tit for tat isn’t something that works in real life, especially when someone is cunning and wicked.

Conclusion:

One last thing I want to say before I wrap up: I didn’t like the name of the movie. Rajja is not the hero. He does not care for his pregnant wife. He does not care for his friends. He is so evil that sticking his name with Rani makes no sense. Because it’s not a love story between the two, the name itself becomes unnatural for the script.