Jab Tak Hai Jaan- Movie Review

Jab Tk Hai Jaan- Movie Review

3 Stars out of 5

Production and Direction: Yash Chopra

Starring: SRK, Katrina and Anushka

Script: Aditya Chopra

Music and BG Score: AR Rehman

Lyrics: Gulzaar

Cinematography: Anil Mehta

The name of Yash Chopra is synonymous to the words love and romance. Who can forget the ever green love sagas, which he has gifted to the moviegoers in his career. Films like Darr, Chaandni, Dil To Pagal Hai, Veer Zara, Silsiley and many more have been successful in getting the status of Cult Classics in their respective eras. He has been a true path breaking film maker with seriously No Holds Bars, in terms of film making. Colors, Celebrations, Emotions, Music, Dance, and beautiful locations have been his USPs all through his great directorial and production career.

And almost two years back, he announced a movie bringing some of the best in business together for the first time. Musical maestro AR Rehman, legendary poet/lyricist/dialogue wrier Gulzaar Sb, master of cinematography Anil Mehta, true king of b-town SRK and last but not the least, celebrated young faces of current Bollywood, Katrina and Anushka. To sum the whole things up, a real Dream Team. And this announcement truly created goose bumps among the cinema lovers.

This much hyped and possibly the most awaited movie of 2012 got the nervous stir even more, when the sound track came into the limelight. Songs like Challa, Saans, Ishq Shawa and Jab Tak Hai Jaan became instantaneous hits and each one of us had our fingers crossed to witness perhaps the biggest love saga of all the time but….. Kahani had a different twist this time.

This highly anticipated love saga was unfortunately NOT a Yash Chopra Romance at all. Like Veer Zara, you get to listen (in fact watch) the past of the main protagonist in his own words. Akira (Anushka) by chance finds the diary of rude and straight faced angry man Samar Anand and discovers that he has “almost” lost his live Meera (Katrina) in London, 10years back. Flashbacks take you to London (10 years back), where Samar used to do odd jobs to meet the ends of life. Here, he the rich young beautiful Meera and falls in love with her. And after a few twistes and turns they part ways and he comes back to India.

And all of a sudden, we get to know that Samar Anand is now a Major (out of nowhere) and Akira wants to make a documentary about the Man who cannot die. This time, she falls in love with Samar and ooppssss……. Isn’t it to bollywoodish…….

Coming straight now, to the loopholes and the short comings of JTHJ, the biggest mistake in the movie is the weakness of the script. Aditya has NOT done justice to his name. I would never blame the drector as he was not having the enough room to play. Adi has completely failed in providing a gluing sort of script, that can held the audience tight. Second of the list, the endless length of the movie. Gone are the days, when audience used to digest (in fact enjoy) the lengthy 3 odd hours movies. You should keep the things simple and straight in order to connect with the movie goer. This love story is almost 3 hours long and who can wait for such a long time to taste a very predictable end and that too in a pure 90’s style of Bollywood climax. Some of the sequences are totally unnecessary, in fact useless, which could only make the things worse by making the whole phenomenon even more boring.

Let’s praise, what really needs to be appreciated, if you want to see JTHJ, go for some very soothing tunes and bg score from the master of the craft, which equally collaborates with ever loving poetry of Gulzaar Sb. Saans has been the real USP of the movie. The way it was pictured, I can easily put it in the list of Top 25 romantic numbers of all times. It really reminded me of some of the gems like Hum Ko Hui Se Chura Lo (from Mohabbatein), Pyar Kar (DTPH), Khamoshian (1 2 Ka 4) and many more. Vaibhavi has done wonders in terms of chorography. Jiya Re and Ishq Shawa are fabulously filmed with nice footsteps from all the three (SRK, Anushka and Katrina).

To me, there are two heroes in the film. SRK and Anushka. Someone like SRK needs no praise from any one. He has already proved that he is the real guru of love and romance and this time it was no different. I both attires (lovely common man Samar and rigid Magor Samar), he is a class apart and acted almost flawless. Anushka has a very short margin but she rendered her performance so beautifully that you can never ignore her. Bindaas, Cool, Happy Go Lucky and then a very serious dipped in love passionate girl, just one word FABULOUS. Katrina looked beautiful all through the film. No comments on her acting. On top of all this, it is about the legendary Anil Mehta. From the great locales of London to the heavenly scenic beauty of Kashmir, he has told the romance through his skills and expertise. Hatts Off Anil. Standing Ovation to your great work.

On the whole, this much anticipated love saga, turned out to be a One Time Watch only. Sorry, but I cannot waste 3 more crucial hours of my love by watching it again. Adi really spoils the show.