Just when you thought that Bollywood had (slowly, but steadily) matured in its take on love, director Aanad L Rai quashes our faith with a shockingly outdated love story. Set on the rustic bylanes of Benaras, 'Raanjhanaa' is unimaginatively archaic and extremely convoluted that it gives love a bad name. Pitching an outdated love story that could've (probably) worked in the 90s, is a sure-shot hint at box-office disaster. Take our tip. Skip this one.

Raanjhanaa is a love story that has a Shakespearean touch and is mounted on a lavish scale. Set in Benaras, in a sense, the heart of India, the first half in the vibrant city where the Ganges flows, just sweeps you off your feet with its colour and feel. All of a sudden, Raanjhanaa seems like two different films. In the first half, it is an interesting, intense, introspective love story, where you empathise with the characters. In the second half, the love story gets diluted to make way for gobbledygook political ideology that is an irritant. Note: You may not like this film if you cannot digest brooding love stories.
Critic Score: 3.5/5

Raanjhanaa, scripted by Tanu Weds Manu writer Himanshu Sharma, is a love story with a huge difference that benefits no end from a clutch of exceptional performances. The film defies the expectations of the audience at several crucial junctures and holds out absolutely no apologies for springing abrupt surprises. If you are among those that helped Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani rake in all those crores at the box office, you owe it to yourself (and to the cause of popular Hindi cinema that entertains with more than just song and dance and star power) to vote for Raanjhanaa with your feet.
Critic Score: 3.5/5

Painted on a novel idea of unrequited love, packing it with a kinetic first half, the film’s buoyancy transforms into brittle in its second half. With a few mercurial performances from its supporting cast mostly Abhay Deol, it is the clumsy and lackadaisical show in the second half that makes the film plain facile. Had the film maintained its force, it could easily have been more spirited. However a sluggish screenplay and lurching script makes Raanjhanaa a half baked effort‬ and hence gets a 2.5/5 from me. It is exasperating to see how directors lack the perseverance to hold steady a film’s entertainment value till the end.
Critic Score: 2.5/5