Movie Review : Jab Tak Hai Jaan

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Rating : 3/5
Genre : Romance
Year : 2012
Running time : 3 hours
Director : Yash Chopra
Cast : Shahrukh Khan, Katrina Kaif, Anushka Sharma, Anupam Kher, Sarika, Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Singh
Kid rating : PG-13

Yash Chopra was known for his swoon-worthy romances. Veer-Zaara, Chandni, Lamhe, Kabhie-Kabhie are only some of the quality films he had directed; he produced many others. “Jab tak hai jaan” is a romance then of the Chopra stable; it is grand, yearning, ever-lasting passion. But it is a romance with an 80s throwback of a story, and that waters down the awe-inspiring love tale. JTHJ turns out, overall, to be an average film; I had expected better.

Unsophisticated Samar Anand (Khan) is making a living in the UK, working odd jobs, and singing desi ditties (Challa) in London’s public squares, glamorously, impishly, oozing charisma like only a Yash Chopra hero can. Here he meets Meera (Kaif), whom he has only glimpsed earlier, and has already fallen in love with. A few meetings and one tempo-fed dance (Ishq Shava) later she is in love with him too. The two spend some quality time together (in bed/on the rooftop/in telephone booths) and promise lifelong devotion to each other, until . . . the unthinkable happens.

10 years later Samar is Major Samar Anand, bomb defusal expert in the Indian Army (don’t ask how). Dubbed “the man who cannot die”, Samar defuses bombs without protective gear and has so far defused 98 of them. Lively 21-year old film-maker Akira Rai (Anushka Sharma) decides to make a documentary on him, a film she hopes will help her make a career at the Discovery Channel. So she follows Samar and his crew around, and soon falls in love with 38 year old Samar’s distant, broodingly intense persona.

Love lives get entangled when Samar and Akira happen to land in London and meet Samar’s first love, Meera.

Shahrukh, Katrina and Anushka do very well in this film, but are hampered by sketchily defined roles, and a plot full of holes. Ordinarily, for a Chopra film, I would not even worry about plot holes. Ordinarily a Yash Chopra film would have swept me off my feet into a warm, fuzzy, romance-ruled haze. Not so this one. With JTHJ it seemed like I was watching a romance from the 80s, where surreal events happened without rhyme or reason or plausibility. The characters never quite develop into real people; they remain shiny, glamorous, well-dressed folk regardless of the circumstance, like Samar, who inspite of ever-present heartbreak, always appears in muscle tees with snazzily wrapped scarves, or dandily tipped hats. Katrina looks gorgeous in every frame while Anushka sports the shortest shorts I’ve ever seen on Bollywood heroines.

This is a very long film by today’s standards – a whopping 3 hours. And believe me when I say that it feels LONGER – 1.5 hours of this would have been enough. While I admire the passion in the film, and the noble notions of love being hinted at leave me weak-kneed, I’m also yawning when the film takes longer than it should, going clichedly with the love triangles, and the “retrograde amnesia”, and the private conversations with God. Is it too much to ask for modern sensibilities in a supposedly modern film ? Is it too much to ask for characters with (gasp!)brains, or even, even, common-sense?

On the plus side JTHJ has some beautiful cinematography and three dazzling stars. Even a logic-hampered love, if it comes via Yash Chopra is powerful, and so it is here. The romance gets to you, and you’re kinda wishing that the dumb lovers would get their act together (even though it’s taking them 3 hours to do it!). I liked SRK’s character best, inspite of all his eyebrow-wiggling and affected mannerism. With a stubble and a brooding gaze to match, he makes quite the languishing lover. The music is mediocre; Rahman is a genius, but he can have his off-days.

It wouldn’t hurt to wait for this film on dvd, but if you must, go with lowered expectations.

Kidwise : Some kisses, love-making scenes, short, skimpy clothing, but no overt vulgarity. Safe for the 10+ crowd.