Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na



Two best friends, a boy & a girl, who spend ALL their time together, can't live without each other, yet do not know they are in love. In fact, they vehemently deny being in love with each other whenever someone suggests they are. That's one of the most common, hackeneyed & done-to-death story lines in Bollywood, idn't it? The first movie that comes to mind is Karan Johar's 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' (gag!)

However, what separates Jaane Tu...from the other movies made on this subject is the way the movie has been handled by debutant director Abbas Tyrewala. There's no over-the-top melodrama as we saw in KJo's movie. The story has been handled in a straight-forward, youthful manner with TONS of humor and college banter. Sweet (I hate the word 'cute'), funny and most of all, REFRESHING are the words I would use to describe the movie.

As for the lead actors, I don't find Imran Khan all that cute but he's a package deal. He can act reasonably well and has good comic timing. Maybe he'll go the Aamir Khan way, playing the "romantic chocolate hero" before carving out a niche for himself as a "thinking actor", for he surely can act. Genelia might not fit the bill of the conventional Hindi movie heroine (she's too much of a pao for that, no offense to my pao friends :) but is quite apt to play a college-goer.

I haven't stopped singing 'Kabhi Kabhi' & 'Pappu can't dance' since I saw the movie last night. Especially 'Kabhi Kabhi'...I don't remember the last time a Hindi movie song had the name of the protagonist in its lyrics, showing how customized the song is to the situation in the movie. And ofcourse, there's A R Rehman's music! It's lilting, catchy & flows perfectly with the mood of the movie. Good stuff.

I think the last time I left the theater with a smile on my face that came from the heart was after watching Jhankaar Beats. I've watched funny, even hilarious movies since then but none that has put me in such a mellow yet happy frame of mind.

The movie isn't college-goer nonsense that only college going kids would enjoy. It's a movie that can be watched & loved by people of all ages. Irrespective of whether you had that one special friend in college, you would still identify with the movie because it's also about friendships. It'll make you call/SMS your closest friends to tell them how much you love them. It surely made me do that!

One more thing I loved about the movie was the shots of Bombay. I ABSOLUTELY love movies that are shot in Bombay, Life in A Metro being a case in point. Jaane Tu...had Marine Drive, Bandstand, Bandra Fort, Asiatic Library & the Fort area all through. Places I've spent 5 years hanging out at.

Watch the movie if you haven't yet. It's worth it!

3 comments:

Kalyan Karmakar said...

i could empathise about what you wrote at the end on the Bombay shot. i felt that way when i returned to Cal after my first year at Bombay. This was while watching a film called 'Aastha (?)' the one where Rekha plays a housewife turned prostitute

Psyched said...

heya

this was one movie i was waiting for considering genelia was playin in
a brilliant movie

the song on my mind is
"nazrein milana"

Scarlett said...

@The Knife - I remember Aastha though I haven't seen it. It got panned, if I remember correctly. I was yelling "Bandstand!", "Bandra Fort!", "Marine Drive!", "Jazz By The Bay!", "Asiatic Library!" all thru' the movie :) Though there were a couple of exaggerations in the movie - for instance, when he's riding a horse from Marine Drive to the International Airport in Andheri at the end. That's a loooooong ride!

@ Psyched - I watched it again for the second time last night. Two nights in a row, can u believe it??