Shuddh Desi Romance

Summary

Shuddh Desi Romance (transl. and released internationally as A Pure Desi Romance) is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy drama film directed by Maneesh Sharma and produced by Aditya Chopra. It features Parineeti Chopra, Sushant Singh Rajput and Vaani Kapoor in lead roles. The story, set in Jaipur, Rajasthan, explores the views of the younger generation on commitment, live-in relationships and arranged marriages as compared to love marriages in small town India. It screened in the Gala Presentation section of the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.[4] Upon release, the film received positive reviews from critics with high praise for Chopra, Rajput and Kapoor's performances and was declared a hit in India by Box Office India.[5]

Shuddh Desi Romance
Theatrical release poster
Directed byManeesh Sharma
Written byJaideep Sahni
Produced byAditya Chopra
StarringParineeti Chopra
Sushant Singh Rajput
Vaani Kapoor
CinematographyManu Anand
Edited byNamrata Rao
Music bySachin–Jigar
Production
company
Distributed byYash Raj Films
Release date
  • 6 September 2013 (2013-09-06)
Running time
141 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budgetest. ₹22 crore[1][2]
Box officeest. ₹76 crore[3]

Plot edit

Raghu Ram is a tourist guide in Jaipur who doubles up as a rental baraati for Goyal, a wedding planner. Raghu is experiencing pre-marital jitters before his arranged marriage. Goyal has hired a fake baraat to accompany Raghu to his wedding which includes Gayatri, an independent and open-minded woman who lives life on her own terms. On the way to his wedding venue in the bus they kiss passionately. Raghu falls for Gayatri. A confused Raghu, heavily impressed by her freedom, gathers the guts to run away from his wedding.

A fortnight later, the two begin dating and eventually enter into a live-in relationship. In India, such relationships are socially frowned upon, so they hide the relationship from their neighbours by pretending to be siblings. Mr. Gupta, a neighbour of Gayatri, catches Raghu with Gayatri and tries to create distrust between them, but the couple are able to reconcile and decide to get married. However, on the day of the wedding, Gayatri runs out on him, and Raghu is left inconsolable.

Soon after, at a wedding, Raghu meets Tara, the woman he was going to marry before he met Gayatri. She asks him out initially on a revenge trip but slowly falls for him. Just as Raghu is about to ask her to marry him at a wedding, he runs into Gayatri. The bride's mom sends Raghu and Gayatri to pick up the priest from the station. On the way, Gayatri tries to talk to Raghu but he is reluctant. Later at dinner, Raghu finds Tara and Gayatri sitting on the same table. Tara tells him that she invited Gayatri to dinner on Sunday. Raghu gingerly makes an excuse for the bathroom. Gayatri follows him, and they confess their love for each other. Tara arrives and catches them in a loving embrace. Tara realizes she doesn't love Raghu anymore and leaves without any explanation while Raghu and Gayatri are led by Goyal to accept that they love each other and that they should marry.

Three days later, on the night of their marriage, Gayatri and Raghu run into each other at the main gate while they are trying to run away. Later they meet at Gayatri's home where Raghu says that he truly loves Gayatri but he doesn't want to be imprisoned by marriage. They kiss and agree to resume their live-in relationship.

Cast edit

Production edit

Scripting

The script was written by Jaideep Sahni, who has previously written such films as Company (2002), Bunty Aur Babli (2005), Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006) and Chak De! India (2007). The setting, Jaipur, was used to provide a contrast from the lifestyle of big cities and to depict how a traditional way of life complete with its hypocrisies co-exists in these smaller cities along with modern influences.[6]

Filming

While the majority of the film was shot in and around Jaipur, Rajasthan, the title song was shot at Mehrangarh Fort and the palaces and bylanes in Jodhpur, Rajasthan with the lead actors, and choreographed by Ganesh Acharya.[7][8]

Soundtrack edit

Shuddh Desi Romance
Soundtrack album by
Released19 August 2013
Recorded2013
GenreFeature film soundtrack, Rajasthani folk, bossa, techno
Length23:56
LabelYRF Music
ProducerAditya Chopra
Sachin–Jigar chronology
Issaq
(2013)
Shuddh Desi Romance
(2013)
Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania
(2014)

The soundtrack album was composed by the duo Sachin–Jigar, with lyrics were written by Jaideep Sahni. It contains four vocal songs and the remaining tracks are instrumental. The tracks have a huge Rajasthani folk influence mixed with bossa and techno. The album was released on 19 August 2013.

No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."Tere Mere Beech Mein"Sunidhi Chauhan, Mohit Chauhan4:12
2."Gulabi"Jigar Saraiya, Priya Saraiya3:51
3."Chanchal Mann Ati Random"Divya Kumar3:55
4."Shuddh Desi Romance"Benny Dayal, Shalmali Kholgade3:06
5."Mujhe Kiss Kar Sakte Ho"Sachin–Jigar2:21
6."Love in Jaipur"Sachin–Jigar2:04
7."Tez Waala Attraction"Sachin–Jigar1:31
8."Boyfriend Banogey"Sachin–Jigar1:40
9."Bhanwara Ma Bhatke"Sachin–Jigar1:16
Total length:23:56

Release edit

Shuddh Desi Romance was released on 6 September 2013. It was mainly a multiplex release on approximately 1100 screens.[9] A teaser trailer of Dhoom 3 was attached to the prints.[10] It has an investment of 250 million (US$3.1 million) including marketing and release costs.[1][2][11]

Marketing edit

The trailer was launched at Raj Mandir Cinema, Jaipur.[12]

Yash Raj Films launched the poster with the digital poster on 17 June 2013.[13] Sushant Singh Rajput introduced Vaani Kapoor at a song launch event on 1 August where they unveiled their song "Gulabi".[14] The title track, "Shuddh Desi Romance" was released on 18 August 2013.[15]

The star cast – Parineeti Chopra, Sushant Singh Rajput and Vaani Kapoor – promoted the film on 31 August 2013 in an appearance on the show Comedy Nights with Kapil. Sushant, Parineeti and Vaani promoted the film on the show DID Super Moms. The stars promoted it on Jhalak Dikhla Jaa where Sushant wooed Madhuri Dixit. Chopra and Kapoor with director Maneesh Sharma and writer Jaideep Sahni discussed the film at great length with the Indian Express team at the Screen Preview.[16]

Reception edit

Critical response edit

The movie received generally positive reviews, with praises mainly towards Chopra, Rajput and Kapoor's performances.

India edit

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 and stated that Shuddh Desi Romance caters to and reflects the mindset of a lot of youth in modern society.[17] Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave 3.5 out of 5 and commented that "To a large extent, Shuddh Desi Romance reinvents the wheel as far as Bollywood rom-coms go. It's aggressively non-formulaic, and gives us characters who refuse to conform. The minor hiccups notwithstanding, this is a charming little film." Tushar Joshi of DNA gave it 3 stars and felt that Shuddh Desi Romance is refreshing, breezy and engaging.[18] India Today gave it 3.5 stars.[19] Mohar Basu of Koimoi gave 3.5 stars and remarked that the film is a heartfelt true take of real contemporary relationships.[20] Sukanya Verma of Rediff gave it 3.5 stars and judged that Shuddh Desi Romance has no dull moments.[21][22]

Khalid Mohammad of the Deccan Chronicle gave it 3 stars and wrote, "don't miss it for Ms Chopra and for the feisty first half. Post-break, you can catch 40, even 400 winks in your seat."[23] Reshma Sengar of Zee News gave it 2.5 stars and summarised, "Although not as good as Band Baaja Baaraat and Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl, Maneesh Sharma's third directorial venture is "jhataak", peppy and colourful but still turns out only to be a onetime watch!"[24] Anupama Chopra gave the film 4 stars and said Shuddh Desi Romance is "a dose of adrenalin, though it loses steam in the second half – it's almost as if, suddenly, Manish and Jaideep didn't know where to take their story and characters."[25] The Times of India gave it 3 stars and stated that "the concept is engaging, but the plot is little shudd, little desi and quite confused".[26] Rachit Gupta of Filmfare gave it 3 stars and said that the film is a crazy, witty and a soulful twist on getting hitched.[27]

Overseas edit

Dawn's film critic Mohammad Kamran Jawaid said that "Shuddh Desi Romance has an innovative twist on the love triangle, spiffy songs, a mix of adequate to engaging performances (Mr. Rajput is adequate, Ms. Chopra is engaging, Ms. Kapoor is somewhere in between) and just about apt technical intelligence that doesn’t overpower the story Mr. Sharma has in mind. So at the very least, it has a few aces up its sleeve." Jawaid, however, had a problem with the lack of morality in context of South Asian family values, writing "Young love, I can understand (and endorse) easy. Debasement of relationships to avoid public disgrace, amongst other puerilities, is a drastic measure for yours truly. The first world may disagree, but here in South Asia, it’s the orthodox bond of family that count, not the drastic need to escape its ideals."[28]

Box office edit

India edit

The film grossed 295 million (US$3.7 million) nett across its first five days at the domestic box office.[29] It collected around Rs 362.7 million nett in week one.[1] Shuddh Desi Romance collected around 12.5 million nett on its 8th day.[30] Shuddh Desi Romance dropped in its second weekend collecting nearly 60 million nett. The ten-day total is Rs 420 million nett plus.[31] Shuddh Desi Romance had Rs 85.8 million nett second week taking its two-week total to around Rs 450 million nett.[32][33] The film nett. grossed Rs 10 million in third week taking its total to 463 million (US$5.8 million) nett.[1]

Overseas edit

Shuddh Desi Romance grossed $1.08 million (Rs 7.04 cr) in its first weekend overseas.[34][35] Shuddh Desi Romance did well in overseas as it has collected $1.7 million in ten days.[36] The film crossed US$ 2 million overseas in three weeks.[37][38]

Awards edit

Filmfare Awards[39]
BIG Star Entertainment Awards[citation needed]
IIFA Awards[40]

See also edit

References edit

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  3. ^ "Shuddh Desi Romance - Movie - Box Office India". www.boxofficeindia.com. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  4. ^ "Toronto film festival 2013: the full line-up". The Guardian. London. 23 July 2013. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
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  6. ^ "Bollywood screenwriters are finally getting their due". Deccan Chronicle. 8 September 2013. Archived from the original on 9 September 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  7. ^ "Parineeti Chopra and Sushant Singh Rajput shoot a new song for Shuddh Desi Romance". Bollywoodlife.com. 11 August 2013. Archived from the original on 9 September 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  8. ^ "Shuddh Desi Romance title track making". Bollywoodlife.com. 3 September 2013. Archived from the original on 9 September 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
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  12. ^ "Trailer launch video of Shuddh Desi Romance" on YouTube
  13. ^ "Shuddh Desi Romance First Look | Feat. Parineeti Chopra, Sushant Singh Rajput" Archived 24 June 2013 at archive.today, Yash Raj Films, 17 June 2013
  14. ^ "Yash Raj Films". Yash Raj Films. 1 August 2013. Archived from the original on 15 August 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  15. ^ "Shuddh Desi Romance title song: Sushant Singh Rajput and Parineeti Chopra's colourful chemistry is engaging!". Bollywood Life. 19 August 2013. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  16. ^ "PHOTOS: Exclusive: Parineeti, Vaani's Shuddh Desi Romance @ Screen Big Picture Photo Gallery, Picture News Gallery". The Indian Express. 3 September 2013. Archived from the original on 7 August 2023. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  17. ^ "Shuddh Desi Romance (2013) | Hindi Movie Critic Review By Taran Adarsh". Bollywood Hungama. 28 June 2012. Archived from the original on 1 August 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
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  22. ^ "Shuddh Desi Romance is an honest love story with a desi touch, say critics". Hindustan Times. 9 June 2013. Archived from the original on 6 September 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
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  28. ^ Movie review at Dawn.com Archived 13 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 13 September 2013
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  35. ^ Hungama, Bollywood (9 September 2013). "'Shuddh Desi Romance' is a Hit, 'Zanjeer' washout! : Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 20 October 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
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External links edit