Raabta (film)

Raabta (transl. Connection) is a 2017 Indian

The film had faced controversy from producer Allu Aravind of Geetha Arts, who claimed that the film's storyline and characters strongly resembled those of the studio's 2009 film Magadheera.^[1] It received negative reviews from critics and was a commercial failure grossing ₹39 crore at the worldwide box office.^[2]

Plot

Shiv Kakkar is a banker from Amritsar who gets a lucrative opportunity to work in Budapest along with his childhood friend, Radha. He is a fun-loving playboy back home and continues this behaviour in Budapest. Saira Singh is a young woman haunted by mysterious nightmares of drowning to death. She lives by herself in Budapest and works as a chocolatier. Shiv happens to stumble upon Saira's shop while on a date with a woman, but finds himself deeply attracted to Saira. Shocked by the weird connection she feels with Shiv, Saira initially rejects his advances, but eventually succumbs. The next day, Saira reveals that she has never felt such a connection before but is in a mess as she has a boyfriend. Unwilling to let go of their connection, Shiv interrupts Saira's date with her boyfriend Manav and shows her that she would rather be with him than with her boyfriend. Manav breaks up with her, and Shiv and Sairah start spending time together, growing close. One night, they go to a club where 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.

Shiv reveals to Saira that he has to leave for a business trip for a week. They decide to see how they feel after a week's separation. During Shiv's absence, Saira gets to know Zakir 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 him to let her go, but he refuses, saying that he spent his whole life looking for her. He explains that he was madly in love with her in a previous life, but his love remained unrequited. He refuses to let go of her 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 the memories of her previous life.

Eight hundred years ago, Saira was warrior princess, Saiba. She had a childhood best friend, Qaabir (present day Zakir), a fellow warrior from her tribe who was in love with her. Their kingdom was threatened by the Muraakis, led by a wise, old Rajput ruler Muwwaqqil. Qaabir is severely wounded by the fierce warrior Jilaan (present day Shiv), who gives Qaabir 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. Qaabir attempts to take Saiba back, but she reveals that she and Jilaan are in love. On their wedding night, a comet falls, and Muwwaqqil realizes that this will be a fateful night. Qaabir ambushes Jilaan and Saiba, and murders Jilaan by wounding him and throws him in the ocean. Saiba jumps into the ocean to save him, but to no avail. Heartbroken on seeing Jilaan die, Saiba decides to drown too. On seeing Saiba dead, Qaabir slits his own throat, killing himself. Muwwaqqil forebodes that these events will repeat.

This time around, Saira decides to save Shiv by getting married to Zakir, and thus sparing the killing of Shiv. But when Shiv shows up, Saira decides to fight back against Zakir. Even though Saira knows what happened in their previous lives, Shiv doesnt remember any of those, he says that he whole heartedly loves Saira and would believe her unconditionally. Shiv and Saira escape from Zakir, but he catches up to them. While 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. They are then rescued from water by the navy helicopter.

10 years later, Shiv takes them their two twins, Karan and Arjun to the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Then, Saira calls the three and went to her.

Cast

• Sushant Singh Rajput as Jilaan, and his reincarnation Shiv Kakkar, who is Saira's boyfriend turned husband
• Kriti Sanon as Saiba, who was Jilaan's wife, and her reincarnation Saira Singh, who is Shiv's girlfriend turned wife
• Jim Sarbh as Kaabir, who was Saiba's ex-lover, and his reincarnation Zakir "Zack" Merchant, who is Saira's ex fiancé
• Varun Sharma as Radha Chembare, Shiv's childhood friend
• Vikas Verma as Manav Mehta, Saira's former boyfriend
• Karan Singh Chhabra as Happy
• Rajkummar Rao as Muraaqi (guest appearance)
• Deepika Padukone (special appearance in the song "Raabta")

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 Museum, 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]

Casting

Alia Bhatt was initially considered to play the lead role opposite Sushant Singh Rajput, but turned down the role over scheduling conflicts.^[7] In December 2015, Asin was approached to play the lead role opposite Rajput, but she turned down the offer because of her decision to not act post marriage. Kriti Sanon was signed on to play the lead female role in the film in February 2016.^[8]

Controversy

Raabta makers received a legal notice over plagiarism from Magadheera producer Allu Aravind. Raabta producers offered to show Arvind the film. They also offered to deposit an escrow amount with the court, but Arvind reportedly rejected both.^[9] A source says it was likely Arvind wanted Magadheera to be remade in Hindi, and was concerned no one would be interested after Raabta.^[10] On 8 June 2017, the courts ruled in favor of Raabta makers.^[11]

Critical reception

Bollywood Hungama rated it 3.5/5.^[12] 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."^[13] 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?"^[14] India Today rated it 1/5, calling it "A comet-crossed romance which never hits the target."^[15]

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."^[16]

Soundtrack

The film's music was composed by

By the opening weekend, the movie collected Rs. 159.3 million nationwide. The lifetime collection of Raabta was Rs. 256.7 million nationwide. The movie made worldwide gross collection of Rs. 390.5 million.[18]

Accolades

References