Review : Jab we met

Rating : Above average (3.6/5)
Genre : Comedy / Drama
Year : 2007
Running time : 2 hours 24 minutes
Director : Imtiaz Ali
Cast : Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Tarun Arora, Kiran Joneja, Divya Seth

JAB WE MET : ROMANCE DONE RIGHT !

This film is the cutesy kind of romantic flick, which has been such a nice, breezy watch, that you hate to nitpick. Ali’s second directorial venture after “Socha na tha”, he does it again, producing an entertaining film which exudes bonhomie and good humor. Yes, it is filmi, but it’s a commercial film, and will never be considered India’s entry to the Oscars, so I’m quite comfy with it not being all arty-sharty. And yes, the second half does get a little heavy and stretched, but for an unassuming film to come out of nowhere, and give me three hours of enjoyment, where hyped-up big banner films are crashing like the duds that they are, warms the cockles of one’s heart.

Aditya Kashyap (Shahid Kapur), a very rich, young industrialist, leaves home after a stressful time, and meets up with Geet (Kareena), a bubbly, vivacious, pretty young Sardarni, who talks nineteen to the dozen. Geet, once she’s figured out that Aditya is running away from something, offers her help, and won’t take no for an answer. All Aditya wants is to be left alone, so someone like garrulous Geet is anathema. However fate intervenes to throw them together for a couple of days. Things go all awkward when Aditya finds himself falling for Geet, who’s all set to start her new life with the love of her life, Anshuman (Tarun). . .

Shahid and Kareena make a charming pair; the chemistry definitely helps the film. Kareena gives a pretty good performance, her best after Omkara, and channels her natural perkiness into Geet’s attractive yet borderline annoying character. Since the film majorly hinges on Geet’s character, it is to her credit that the film works; any other actress and I’d have been champing at the bit. Shahid does really well too, appearing suave, and sweet, and nice – quite the prince on the white steed.

The film is mainly about the two young things, and their journey from being mere co-passengers on a train to potential soul-mates. So the conversation is young, and fresh and sounds like real talk. The characters, which encompass Aditya’s family (an estranged mom played by Hum Log’s Manjhli Divya Seth – anyone remember Hum Log ?) and Geet’s Punjabi parivar complete with mother (Kiran Joneja), father, sister, Chacha, and grand-father, are a tad filmi and cliched, (because like ALL Punjabis in the universe, they live in a palatial bungalow with a large central courtyard, drink tons of lassi, and dance the bhangra at the drop of a hat) but still pretty well-developed and believable. And the film works because we really do care about Geet and Aditya, their lives, and problems, and how they end up.

Ali takes us through a light, breezy first half. Lots of sparkly, and funny dialogue, mostly courtesy Geet’s non-stop chatter (she wonders what the difference is between a mountain and a hill, while Aditya deadpans), and Aditya’s taciturn responses, grace the first 1.5 hours. The second half takes a more serious downturn and relies on emotion, and feelings rather heavily. The direction is fairly tight, and the story pretty innovative. I mean it’s still boy meets girl etc., but told with such lightness of spirit, and humor, that it doesn’t seem jaded at all. Into the film, Ali also manages to sprinkle tasteful ditties on life and love – quite a nice change from the vulgar innuendoes one has gotten used to seeing in Desi cinema. The film has very good music. “Nagada, nagada” and “Mauja, mauja” are 2 catchy Bhangra based numbers. I also loved “Yeh Ishq hai” although the music seemed familiar, sort of.

Although a classy film, please use your judgement when taking kids to see it; a few dialogues contain references to rape, and there’s a liplock at the end of the film. Compared to all the terrible trash spewed out in films like Partner, Golmaal etc, this might seem like peanuts, but still. All in all, JWM is an entertaining 2.5 hours, and well worth your money and your time.