[DVD] Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008)

Double Dip

Shahrukh Khan's films before My Name is Khan which reunites him with Kajol, have introduced two new actresses to Bollywood. With Om Shanti Om, we got introduced to Deepika Padukone, and we know how well her career has progressed since then. Anushka Sharma's though seems to be a tad slower, though her second film Baadmash Company will be coming out soon, after Padukone's pairing opposite Akshay Kumar in Housefull. Well, better late than never, and hopefully it'll turn out to be something entertaining as well as this film under the Yash Raj banner. It's always easy to be watching a Bollywood film with the family because they are family friendly, and as proven, I was pretty confident my folks will enjoy the film, which they did.

You can read my review of the film here.

The Region Free two-disc edition of the film comes packaged with a lenticular cover that shows Shahrukh Khan as Surinder Sahni with Anushka Sharma as Taani in one view, and the other with her paired up with SRK's Raj persona. Presented in a pristine anamorphic widescreen format, Audio is available only in its original Hindi language track in either Dolby Digital 2.0 or 5.1 options. Subtitles are in English, Dutch, Arabic, Tamil and Telugu, and scene selection breaks the lengthy feature into 34 chapters.

Disc One contains the no extras other than a Forthcoming Attractions section that contains the trailer for New York, which also autoplays when the disc is popped into the player. Then there's the standard staple feature of Bollywood DVDs with a section that contains the Songs featured in the film.

If you were to ask which of the here is my favourite, I'll be hard pressed to give you an answer since I like all of them. Give them a listen and you'll see what I mean, and placed within the context of the film, pure magic. Only 5 songs for the film - Haule Haule, Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte (see if you can spot the female stars for each segment here, from Kajol to Rani Mukherjee), Dance Pe Chance, and the hauntingly beautiful Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai in two versions, each option allows you to sample the songs as they are, although once selected it'll autoplay into the next song. Subtitles are available as well.

Disc Two is the Special Features disc presented in 4:3 aspect ratio without subtitles, and contains a couple of content-rich extras, starting with the Making of the Film (44:47), which contains the standard talking head interviews with the producer Yash Chopra and the actors Shahrukh Khan and Anushka Sharma talking about their characters, and especially the latter on her selection and audition process, which comes complete with the audition footage. Presented in a mix of Hindi and English mostly, you'd also get to see the on-location, behind the scenes shoot.

The Making-Of also contains the behind the scenes look at the making of three musical pieces in the film - Haule Haule, Dance Pe Chance and Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte, where you're likely to appreciate such song-and-dance sequences even more when you discover the sheer amount of work and logistics that go on to make them work the way they do. Interviews are mostly with the different choreographers, music directors and costuming even, as they recount the various challenges to get the look and feel for each sequence right. from the long takes in Haule Haule to the casting of the various actresses in Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte.

The Deleted Scenes (6:14) presented do not contain any subtitles, though it's not that hard to understand what went on and why they were omitted from or shortened for the film. The scenes are Suri and Taani Arrive in Amritsar which will of course break the very silent nature the film opens in, Taani Prepares Breakfast for Suri that expands the first meal they share on the dining table and the first utterance of Sur's "A-1" rating which brings a smile to Taani's face, Bobby Gets Emotional which was something that can be done without, Taani Tells Suri That She Has Lied which I suppose deals with her marital status in the dance class not being an issue anymore (which was of course never discussed in the actual narrative), Taani Talks about her Dad to Raj, and Bobby's Sermon on Being Macho

SRK Unplugged (61:53) is all Shahrukh Khan talking about various topics about and outside the film, some snippets which you will have seen in the Making Of segment. SRK talks about the Actor-Director Relationship which covers his friendship with Aditya Chopra, An Actor Prepares talks about his approach to acting and the inspiration behind his two characters, about Imagination, discussing about newcomer Anushka Sharma as The Face that comes with words of encouragement, about Vinay Pathak as Bobby Macho, Cinematography, Vaibhavi and the Famous One Shot in Haule Haule, the Choreographer Shiamak Davar and low body fats associated with dancers, the Homage in the song Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte, working for Yash Raj films and his gratitude to Yash Chopra,

Unfortunately for the non-Hindi speaker, the feature Shahrukh Khan and Anushka Sharma in Conversation (42:53) is in a mix of English and Hindi, and in a very relaxed mood, both actors banter with each other as they relive the moments in their film, talking about a whole range of issues with SRK serving primarily as the interviewer, covering topics from acting to even singing and dancing impromptu during the session.

Rounding up the special features are the Theatrical Trailer (2:06) and Promos (6:16) utilizing clips fromt the songs Haule Haule, Dance Pe Chance, Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai, Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte, and 4 Dialogue Promos.