Genre : Romance
Year : 2008
Running time : 2 hours 35 minutes
Director : Abbas Tyrewala
Cast : Imran Khan, Genelia D’Souza, Ratna PAthak Shah, Nirav Mehta, Naseeruddin Shah, Jayant Kripalani, Anuradha Patel, Karan Makhija, Alishka Varde, Manjari Phadnis, Prateik Babbar, Sugandha Garg, Ayaz Khan Kid rating : PG
JAANE TU YA JAANE NA : LOVE, ROMANCE AND ALL THAT GOOD STUFF !
This one I’ll always remember. My first desi film seen in one go – you heard that right, no interval, no break, no nothing – it went on and on. To it’s credit though, at no point did I actually feel the need for one. Walking in for the late night show at the local AMC, we thought we’d have our pick of seats. We were mistaken though; the theatre was almost full, and had we come even a few minutes later, we would have been forced to take seats in the first three rows. Do remember that sitting in rows 1-3, forces one to swivel one’s neck from side to side in an attempt to follow characters across the screen, and results, more often that not, in a crick in the neck that won’t go away. I, of course speak from experience.
As excited as I am over Hindi films being screened at regular mainstream theatres with state-of-the-art sound systems, instead of the older dollar-theatre style, run-down theatres, I still had a hard time finding listings for this film over the phone. The recorded message had the announcer getting in a tizzy over the desi name, pronouncing it with a Spanish twist. Thus the “Jaane tu ya jaane na” actually became “Yaan tu na janna”, with such little resemblance to the original, that it was a while and several listens later that we actually figured that the announcer was actually referring to this film.
Anyway, back to regular programming a.k.a. the review. This film is not unalike any other desi romantic flick that you may have seen, i.e.; girl meets boy , or as in this case has known him for very long. They are in love, apparently, but just don’t know it. Same old, same old , yeah ? So, whither the difference, eh ? you ask. In the treatment, folks, it’s all in the treatment. JTYJN is a film that’ll have you humming under bright blue skies, sliding down stair-rail banisters, and feeding the squirrels in the park, knowing in your heart of hearts that all is well, love is in the air, and there really don’t exist any villains which can threaten this utopia.
Or something like that.
Jai Singh Rathore (Imran Khan) is the only child of single parent and activist Savitri Rathore (Ratna Pathak Shah). Genelia is spoilt little rich girl Aditi Mahant. She is also a very good friend of Jai’s. When post-college marriage is suggested, both spurn the thought as ridiculous and instead decide to find each other the perfect soul-mate. Do they succeed ?
This film is very young at heart – it stars young, college-age actors, and the action revolves around them. While Aditi and Jai go by the nick-names ‘Meow’ and ‘Rats’ respectively, their friends are ‘Jiggy’, ‘Bombs’ and ‘Rotlu’. Casting is effective since everyone plays their role to the hilt, and we don’t have aged actors playing college-going kids.
Imran Khan who looks quite a bit like Jugal Hansraj does well in his debut doing the soft, vulnerable thing quite well, although he may not be suited for anything but the “cholcolate” hero roles. Genelia is a younger, and more cosmo version of Sonali Kulkarni, and is good too, although may need to tone down the wide-eyed, super-innocent look a bit; no one believes that all the time. Also a special mention goes out to Prateik Babbar who plays Aditi’s awkward, aloof brother, Amit, to great effect. The sister-brother spats are a treat to watch !
This is love story folks, so I’m not holding my breath in anticipation while watching the film; the end is foretold. However, this is a fun, fluffy film, and the director does manage to add in little quirky, interesting bits like Jai’s dead father (Naseeruddin Shah), resplendent in his Thakur-ian dress, speaking through his portrait. There also the mad-cap, long-lost Rathore-ian cousins who come to Jai’s aid in the nick of time, and the fulfillment of the becoming-a-man prophecy.
This film is good entertainer with a healthy mix of the believable and the flighty. It’s also clean, and fairly palatable for kids. Add to that a large helping of romance, some good music (“Kabhi kabhi Aditi”, “Pappu can’t dance”), and you have the perfect Friday night flick. Thus the prescription : Ingest whole and savor !
