RABB DA RADIO (Punjabi) - One really loves watching this simple, sweet and emotional family drama on the big screen as the small screen has completely ruined this specific genre emphasizing on snakes, ghosts, crime and comedy quite ridiculously. (Review By Bobby Sing)

Coming straight to the point, RABB DA RADIO hasn't got anything novel in its concept or storyline, particularly for the viewers who have actively witnessed the cinema in the decades of 70s and 80s. The film is all about the good old emotional drama focusing on the family divisions with useful insertions of celebrations, romance, music, humour and spirited moments in the climax heading towards a happy ending.

A physical wall dividing two families is sure to remind you of several key films of that particular era and the vamps creating misunderstandings among the members would easily bring to your mind names such as Lalita Pawar, Shashi Kala, Bindu, Shoma Anand and more from Hindi Cinema.

Yet, RABB DA RADIO successfully wins your hearts through its simple, straight forward narration without any forced and silly gimmicks well supported by all decent performances. And the emotional twist in the second half is bound to win hearts with an inspiring transformation pointing towards the woman-power.

As a matter of fact here is a rare Punjabi film which has all the women reaching out to the audience much more than the men through their genuine acts, and the leading singer-writer-actor Tarsem Jassar very thoughtfully allows that to happen in his debut film. No doubt Tarsem plays his part well despite the less dialogues but the film unarguably belongs to the writer Jass Grewal and Mandy Takhar, Simi Chahal, Anita Devgn, Nirmal Rishi and all women in the cast in this specific order. Especially Mandy Takhar can easily include this as her best portrayal till date playing it perfectly. Directed by Harry Bhatti and Tarnvir Singh Jagpal together, RABB DA RADIO remains authentic in its look and feel taking you back in time and uses the emotional quotient well accompanied by some fine music.

The directors brilliantly incorporate the traditional songs in the narration (also featuring a special appearance of Ammy Virk) and worth mentioning is the use of an old Asha Bhosle, Mohd. Rafi track from film SASSI PUNNU (1982) with the original music composed by Ravi (giving the due credits). Besides a dialogue followed by the title song rightly explains the meaning of RABB DA RADIO referring to our heart which always makes the right decision catching the exact frequency sent by that Supreme Power.

Why it works despite a clichéd family drama?

The film works since its of a genre we can easily relate to even in this second decade of the new millennium in the same manner as we used to do three decades back.

In other words it can easily be stated as ‘the return of realistic family genre’ on the big screen post the small screen ruined it completely with tiring repetitions and over the top presentations in the last two decades.

Taking you back in that era, films talking about family issues, their problems and clashes were received quite well in the 70-80s since the Television was still in the stages of initial developments and cinema was the only means for the common man to find his own reflection of life and be entertained. Interestingly Hindi novels based on such social issues were also read widely by the housewives in those decades with their authors having a big fan following selling in lakhs.

In the 90s, with the introduction of Cable TV, the one genre which found an instant liking and boost was ‘the family drama genre’ adapted by various serials coming at different channels and therefore the filmmakers stopped making movies based on the same as the viewers were easily watching such dramas on their TV sets.

Interestingly the execution still remained quite close to reality in these serials till the end of the millennium before Ekta Kapoor and more like-minded producers started adding gimmicks and all artificial tones to the presentation with an over dramatic background score and mostly hamming acts taking them far away from reality.

So the first decade of the new millennium ruined the genre exploiting it to death and then they had to bring in crime, ghosts, chudails, dayans, snakes, jadu-dona and comedy into these serials revealing the mental bankruptcy.

However just when we were becoming fed up of these serials and their sick execution, comes RABB DA RADIO with the same old feel good, realistic family drama putting life back into the genre, winning hearts all over.

So even though the film doesn’t have any new story plot to offer, it still has got the emotional warmth, the family feel and the love we once used to cherish in our cinema back in the 70s and 80s.

Therefore just go for it taking the family along and realize/accept the damage done by the IDIOT BOX to your mind and thought process in the last few decades.

Rating : 3 + 0.5 / 5 (with the additional 0.5 just for Asha-Rafi song added beautifully)

Note: It was really encouraging to see Punjabi cinema viewers opting for this film and appreciating it too without the presence of any big star or any huge publicity. The support to good cinema in such overwhelming way really boosts up the spirit of new producers, directors and performers unarguably.