Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008)

Surinder (Shah Rukh Khan), a 40+ shy guy, comes to visit his professor. His daughter Taani (Anushka Sharma) is soon to be married, the father presents him as his favourite student, but as a young energetic woman she doesn't even see him. Tragedy strikes as the future husband is killed in a car accident. The father is devastated and sent to the hospital. He asks for Surinder and Taani and makes them promise to get married so that she is taken care of by someone he trusts. Taani comes to live with Surinder but barely speaks a word to him, despite his extreme gentleness and attempts to make her laugh. One day she comes on an advertisement for dance lessons. She asks Surinder to do it. He doesn't care about it at first, then accepts. He sees improvement in her mood, but she doesn't open to him. He then disguises to get into the dance lessons, but the school gets into a dance competition and couples are (randomly?) chosen. I saw maybe 300 Bollywood movies, most being romantic comedies. This one begins as a drama, then the mood gets lighter as the movie goes on. The characters are very likeable from the start, and the story development is mostly slow to allow to know them better. The scenery is only the small town they live in, so nothing fancy there, only the dance course is somewhat more colored, and improves a bit as the tension grows. But what makes the movie is the stunning performance of SRK, playing both a shy guy in a strange situation and the bold dancer trying to warm Taani's heart. And Anushka Sharma (in her first role) is totally stunning, she plays this broken young woman in such a moving way, either very sad, a bit angry, lost among other people ... A special sequence with lots of guests (Kajol, Rani, Bipasha, Lara Dutta ...) brings a happy moment. Very recommended.