Raksha Bandhan

Raksha Bandhan wants you to fondly remember the days when Hindi movie plots pivoted on promises made to dying parents and dowry determined whether a wedding could take place. Aanand L Rai’s movie, despite its progressive messaging, sets the clock back in more ways than one.In a corner of Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi, chaat seller Kedarnath (Akshay Kumar) is serving paani-puri whose consumption guarantees male babies. Kedarnath believes wholly in his sales pitch. He has four sisters and worries every waking minute about rustling up the money needed to pay their dowry.None of the sisters has a job that might have eased Kedarnath’s perceived burden. At least three of them have what Kedarnath sees as insurmountable flaws. Durga (Deepika Khanna) is overweight. Lakshmi (Smrithi Srikanth) is dark-skinned. Saraswati (Sahejmeen Kaur) is a tomboy. Only the eldest sister, the pale-skinned and dutiful Gayatri (Sadia Khateeb), meets with Kedarnath’s approval.A contemporary version of self-sacrificing movie brothers of yore, Kedarnath is the responsible sibling who prioritises the happiness of others over his own. He has been in love with Sapna (Bhumi Pednekar) forever, but has told her to wait until he arranges the funds to marry off every one of his sisters.Although some help comes Kedarnath’s way from wedding organiser Shanu (Seema Pahwa), he has to do most of the heavy lifting on his own. It means working double shifts and enduring the taunts of Sapna’s understandably anxious father (Neeraj Sood).

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