Raanjhanaa

In Benares, Kundan, the son of a Hindu family, has been in love with his Muslim neighbour Zoya since childhood. She never takes him seriously and leaves for Delhi to study. When she returns years later she loves someone else. Kundan decides to help her be happy, and that help destroys everything. The subject is not love but obsession mistaking itself for sacrifice. Kundan says everything he does is for Zoya, while at no point asking her what she wants. The second half calculates the cost of that delusion. The form splits in two: a hot, crowded first half in Benares and a second half that moves into student politics in Delhi. That shift is the film's most criticised feature; the two halves do not quite fit. A. R. Rahman's score is one of the things carrying it, and the album drew wide attention independently. Aanand L. Rai directs. Dhanush crossed into Hindi cinema with this film; already established in Tamil cinema, it introduced him in the north. Sonam Kapoor plays Zoya and Abhay Deol the man in Delhi. Who it is for: viewers who like Indian melodrama and love stories that interrogate obsession. Who it is not for: anyone who will not find the protagonist's behaviour romantic; the film keeps Kundan's persistence endearing for a long time and only calls him to account at the end.