Mr. Inkenti’s Weblog

Looks like its more taare amir khan productions par—Lagaan, Taare Zameen Par, and now Jaane Tu. This time around, Amir teams up with his Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander and Akele Hum Akele Tum man Mansoor Khan as producers. To launch his nephew, Amir ropes in Abbas Tyrewala–the man behind the most famous dialogues for the cult classic Munnabhai MBBS—and gives him his first break as director. Lets not forget the man who can elevate any film with his presence A R Rahman. With such creative talent behind a film, it is but natural to expect a gem. First, the flip side—the film is not a gem in the sense that it there is nothing new or daring about it. The good news—this highly creative and talented team dish out quite a delicious dish that is enjoyable!

The film is about Jai Singh Rathore (Imraan Khan) and Aditi (Genelia Dsouza), their friendship, ups and downs, and finally a journey into realizing their love for each other. Jai, Aditi, and gang are cool and yuppy. College is just finished and the gang is trying to come to terms with it and decide what to do next. Jai and Aditi are the best of the friends and everybody around them thinks it is the most natural thing for them to get married. However, Jai and Aditi insist they are just friends and decide to find each other a partner. The clause being the new partner must accept their friendship. And thus begins their journey in which they find, lose, love, get jealous, cry, laugh, and finally realize the love for each other. Yes, there is no story at all, but the proceedings move at a good pace (though they slow down in the begining of the second half), treatment is fresh and strikes the right cord with the youth. What works best is certain characterizations and threads that are connected towards the end.

Following are some of the enjoyable characterizations and threads:

1. The dreams that Jai gets about a rider clad in black on a white horse in a desert committing ruthless acts.

2. The Rathore Brothers (Arbaz Khan and Sohail Khan) coming to the disco on their horses.

3. The dead Amar Singh Rathore (Naseerudin Shah) talking to his wife through his portrait about how she is making his son a loser and how his son will one day become a man!—To become a man a Rathore must (i) ride a horse (ii) be behind bars (iii) and break somebody’s bones.

The climax at the airport is one of the high points of the film adding the much needed punch [read heroism]. The biggest super star in the film is A R Rahman’s music. Kabhi Kabhi Aditi (received with thundering applause and confetti) and Pappu Can’t Dance along with the background music brings alive the film. Genelia, having honed her acting skills in Tollywood, as Aditi is simply superb. It is because of her expressions and acting that we can connect with unrealized feelings between Jai and Aditi and eventually makes us root for them. Imraan Khan as Jai is effective and delivers a spirited performance. He too has potential to be a good actor, but his ultra-smooth chick look will limit the scope of his future roles. The rest of the casting is simply perfect and performances great, for example, Ratna Pathak as Savitri is first rate.

Some other highlight scenes from the film that the audience connects with:

1. Jai, who is a Ghandian non-violence man, picks up a fight with Sushant for Aditi.

2. Jai realizing that his mother has been fabricating stories to him about his brave and daring father’s cowardice.

3. Meghna telling Jai that she thinks the problem is he loves Aditi; but when she says it is a joke–Jai says that Meghna is actually correct (thunderous response in the theater)

4. Savitri and her friend watching Jai ride the horse in the middle of the night.

Full credit to Abbas Tyrewala for making this film such a joy ride. For those who know much about Telugu cinema will also recollect that Abbas Tyrewala is a close friend of ‘Power Star’ Pawan Kalyan. Abbas Tyrewala was the script consultant for Pawan Kalyan’s Gudumba Shankar (the scene where Jai helps Meghna by telling the goons that she has a dreadful disease that she wants to spread is straight out of Gudumba Shankar). The film is based in a urban yuppy setting (too much discos, looking for a partner in a disco, wanting a partner just for having one, women drinking and getting drunk in pubs), which not many can relate to. However, because the emotional quotient of the film is high and most importantly, audience connect to some of the universal feelings shown in the film–love, jealousy, friendship etc,—the film is saved.

However, the film will not become a cult classic like Dil Chahtha Hai. which is also is based in a urban yuppy setting. The reason is because Jaane Tu has shades of blockbuster love stories…from Kuch Kuch Hota hai, Nuvve Kavali (telugu) to Aashiqui. In fact, more than us the makers of the film are aware that there is nothing new, daring, or path breaking about this film as they echo their view in the opening scenes of the film through the conversation among the group of friends at the airport. One of the group members talks about the mundane love stories that are about friends falling in love and airport climaxes. But then, her friends tell her that she will begin to believe in the magic of love after hearing about Jai and Aditi. No matter how big a hit this film is in the cities and how intelligently it is packaged, Jai and Aditi cannot replace Rahul and Anjali (from Kuch Kuch Hota hai ) who define and describe the love-friendship equation.

Well, it is intelligent on the part of the film makers to downplay their film and thereby elevate its simplicity. The bottom line is—the film clicks with the youth and at a time when there is nothing enjoyable in Bollywood it is like a shower of joy.

Mr. Inkenti’s Movienomics Verdict: One Thumb Up! Definitely worth a watch.