Saturday, July 12, 2008

Jaane tu ya jaane na review

A debate with my friends on the movie's review and my hitherto lifeless blog made me write this review for this latest flick "Jaane tu ya jaane na"

Rating: 3/5

Overall: A one time watch, which stands no where in comparison to classic youngster movies like Qayamat se Qayamat Tak or Dil Chahta hai or Rang De Basanti or even Hum Hain Raahi Pyaar Ke but still has some appeal.

Honestly speaking, I had absolutely no plans to go for the movie till I saw produced by Aamir Khan, this is his third movie as producer but sorry Aamir, after Lagaan and Taare Zameen Par, this was a let down if not a disappointment, it wasn't the same class.

Pros:
1. No melodrama, a plain close to life story of a boy-next-door and a girl-next-door (except for the end, but may be that was by design, as a satire on those over dramatized airport scenes in hindi movies.)
2. Naseerudin Shah, Paresh Rawal are simply fantastic or should I use the word perfect, Rajat Kapoor, Kittu Gidwani have done justice to their statures.
3. Among the youngsters, I was impressed the most by Aditi's (Genelia's) brother (don't know the name of actor), an unorthodox role done with eloquence.
4. Rest of the youth party is charged and adds a lot of freshness and vigor to the movie.
5. Great dialogue writing even though story is a passe.
6. Good music - Typical A.R.Rehman, I couldn't help myself swaying on "Pappu can't dance Saala" :)

Cons:
1. Stale plot.
2. Some scenes need to be polished, they drag and fail to keep the attention.
3. Acting by the youth party (except for Aditi's brother of course) is good only in patches. Both Genelia and Imran seem to have potential but they still are not there yet. Especially with Aditi, I felt lots of times, she was looking good till she opened her mouth although I must admit she has done well in other parts.
4. Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan were disappointing as usual as far as acting is concerned, 10 years of industry and I am yet to see something great from the folks.
5. And yes, I feel narration could be trimmed, most of the times it wasn't funny, only produced a break in the ongoing story.

Favorite scenes from the movie:
1. Chemistry between brother and sister in general but in particular the scene where they confess how they moved far from each other is quite touching.
2. The conversations between Naseerudin Shah and his wife.

Overall, didn't leave any impact on me, I don't feel there is anything which I will retain from the movie 3 months down the line or maybe even earlier, I must confess, my -ve feedback is because of Aamir Khan productions which raised my expectations before the movie and on top, some friends reviews compared it to DCH. Call me old fashioned, but cmon Aamir, you are the magic, an Aamir Khan production is incomplete without Aamir on screen. :)