I don't live in India so accents bother me little. Alia didn't look Bengali or sound it but I felt she encompassed Rani in every other way. For all the flack Karan gets, he's written some of the best roles in the industry for women, such as both Anjalis, Naina Catherine Kapur, Maya Talwar, and Rani Chatterjee. I think Rani was Alia's best role, in terms of acting, content and looks. She holds her own against Ranveer by matching his energy and chemistry. And I liked how Rani's character was so emancipated and feminist. She could value family while questioning regressive traditions and not being afraid to break those principles for something more egalitarian.
I think another thing I liked about the Rani character was that she was sexually emancipated. She wasn't the typical BW heroine who is a virgin while the male character gets to have multiple relationships (looking at Ram-Leela, where I didn't like how Ranveer's character has been around while Leela character never gets to have sex once, not even a wedding night). Rani's character has not only had sex before meeting Rocky but she's not ashamed of hiding her past relationships either. She comes onto Rocky first and is the one who starts off less emotionally invested and more in for the physical thrill of it. It felt like one of the rare cases in a mainstream BW movie where the female lead is allowed to enjoy sex and be so forward about it, a true equal of the male.
I think you like the character more than alia's performance
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