Rajshri is known to be the old-school production house. The production house that holds on to traditional Indian values in their films, refusing to stray away from them no matter what the latest trends. When they did try to stray away with Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon, they sadly fell flat on their face and decided to go back to their usual self with Vivah, which turned out to be a blockbuster. Later on they even delivered a sleeper hit in the form of Ek VIvah Aisa Bhi. They returned on the Christmas Eve of 2010 with another film and another director. Does Isi Life Mein live up to the Rajshri name? Or does it stray away from their usual style of cinema? Read on to find out.
In many ways Isi Life Mein’s story is very much relatable to the situation this iconic production house is in. The story involves two youngsters and their clash of ideals despite being born in the same generation. Much like the story of Rajshri the production house which holds onto its traditional ideals when its competitors such as YRF have no hesitation in moving with the times.
Rajnandini (Sandeepa) hails from a traditional Rajasthani family where women aren’t given much opportunity to pursue careers. Cultural and religious values are held high in the family and girls are married off young. However when Rajnandini’s school results are extraordinary, her mother works a bit of magic and deception in the house in order to send her bright daughter to Mumbai to pursue further studies, all the while lying to her father (Monish Behl), who would never agree to this plan. There Rajnandini meets Vivaan (Akshay Oberoi) who is the chairman of the college’s dramatics society. As expected, sparks fly when they meet and before you know it they’re doing romantic scenes from various plays together and doing much more than just ‘acting’ in those rehearsals. Of course nothing is said and in no time Rajnandini is whisked away to her hometown for the traditional marriage planned for her. How the two unite, how their various sentiments meet halfway and how the Ranjnandini’s traditional family changes is what Isi Life Mein is all about.
On the face of it, the story is quite heard of. The usually flow of events is certainly present as far as the love story is concerned. However, what writer and director Vidhi Kasliwal is to be commended on is to have brought onscreen a larger social message or rather created awareness about the clashing cultural identity of the youth in different geographic settings in India. By contrasting the upbringing of a cultural girl in Rajasthan to that of city-boy in Mumbai the writer very clearly showed that till date modern India may still be divided and this isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing. She never once highlights that one lifestyle is superior to the other but very cleverly intertwines the two when the couple come together. One learns from the other thus combining the pluses of both lifestyles in one healthy and balanced culture that can be truly called ‘modern India’.
Perhaps not every audience member will get the above message from the film but rather be disappointed with the clich
