2012
Directed by: Yash Chopra
Sigh.
Here is a hypothetical: Say you promote-to-death a movie, a movie with the has-been star of the 90s, back the movie with a legendary director who fuels your media blitz by dying two weeks before the release. Suppose the movie is just terrible.
Ta-da. You have Jab Tak Hai Jaan.
It should be stated up front and to the point that Jab Tak Hai Jaan is trivial, out-of-touch, passe and tepid.
While there is no doubt that this movie will be a success (if only because of the passing of Yash Chopra, imminent divinity of my filmi soul); and Filmfare will groveling bestow award after award, it is hard to say that the film will actually deserve it. Singular moments work, small tidbits are endearing but as a complete product Jab Tak Hai Jaan does not sell.
Admit it to yourself. You'll feel better.
The plot recycles tropes from the 90s and early 2000s (amnesia, love triangles, London, multiple car accidents with the same character, bad denim), when this type of melodrama was commonplace, and muddles it together, poorly, with "modern" subplots and themes (sex, women having jobs, no parents!, boobs). Each scene ends dramatically with soaring music and a character walking purposefully towardsintermission the next scene. This hacking up of a normal flow gives the film a jerky, unconnected feel that, after three solid hours, makes one feel as if 1) nothing is happening and 2) even the people on screen are bored. Even more tragic is the lack of a point. The film vacillates limitlessly without ever making a statement, even overtly, about what we are supposed to care about.
Well, there is a speech in the last 20 seconds that sums it all up for us, but by then...everyone was asleep. (True story).
That a ten minute interlude with Neetu Singh and Rishi Kapoor (I screamed when I saw her, no lies) has more passion, humor, romance and plot than the rest of the film speaks volumes. Had we watched that scene loop 3 times I wouldn't have complained and would have left feeling fulfilled. It was validating to see that Neetu is a powerhouse of talent. In ten minutes she out-performed anyone else that would prance on screen during the film.
"But, but, but", you say, "It is ShahRukh Khan!"
Let me put this as delicately as I am able: Seeing someone the exact age of my father running around as a "28-year-old" in Bieber-Sneakers is 1) a disgrace and 2) smacks of someone desperately clinging to whatever shred of relevance they have left to milk. No amount of Botox and makeup can mask his twice-your-age status when next to his dewy costars. Watching SRK not only break his "rule" about on-screen kissing but participate in a sex scene was more than I could bear. I'm all for kissing and etc. in Bollywood. I don't think, honestly, that it matters. Kiss or don't kiss, but don't change your game in the middle of the eleventh hour just to prove how resilient of an actor you are. It was honestly the most cringe-inducing thing I've ever seen--and the audience, based on their titters and nervous whispering, agreed.
Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma carried this film. I know, I know; ever the proud card carrying member of the "I hate Katrina Kaif Fanclub" I was shocked by how much she did not annoy me. I really, really can't tell if she is a brilliant actor and just pulling the wool over all of our eyes. She radiated on screen, quite literally, and even though her character suffered from multiple personality disorder and was all over the place, she carried it off as well as she could.
It does not bode well to have both plot and characters involved in an identity crisis.
Anuskha brought light to the screen, as she is prone to doing. Bouncing around happily with glee she was the voice of the "modern ladki". If every line had been prefaced with a "kids these days!" a lot of her diaologe would have made more sense (and if she was in a grey-haired wig and a nightie). Apparently her only purpose was to hammer the opinion into the audience that any one under the age of 25 was flippant, unromantic and a sex fiend.
We can take a moment to enjoy that both of these female characters were career motivated and had great, power wielding jobs.
If anything is an overall factor into Jab Tak Hai Jaan's listlessness it is the music. Ay hai. The music is so bad. It takes the movie from "eh" to "soul suck" by being unengaging and without drive. It's the boring episode of Coke Studio: India. It just doesn't go anywhere.
Katrina had to thumka to Bongo drums. Bongo drums. "Yeah, I was totally at this poetry reading in a club that had all the lights on and those bongo drums just set my sexual passions and ada wild."
Yeah right.
You know I am completely for escapism but when pared against some of the more recent Indian RomCom releases Jab Tak Hai Jaan just feels so moldy and stale and out of life. Save yourself the 15$, the confusion, 3 hours of Numb Butt and just listen to Lata Mangeshkar whine the Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham theme. You'll get the same irritated effect.
Directed by: Yash Chopra
Because this picture is SO Yash Chopra.
Sigh.
Here is a hypothetical: Say you promote-to-death a movie, a movie with the has-been star of the 90s, back the movie with a legendary director who fuels your media blitz by dying two weeks before the release. Suppose the movie is just terrible.
Ta-da. You have Jab Tak Hai Jaan.
It should be stated up front and to the point that Jab Tak Hai Jaan is trivial, out-of-touch, passe and tepid.
While there is no doubt that this movie will be a success (if only because of the passing of Yash Chopra, imminent divinity of my filmi soul); and Filmfare will groveling bestow award after award, it is hard to say that the film will actually deserve it. Singular moments work, small tidbits are endearing but as a complete product Jab Tak Hai Jaan does not sell.
Admit it to yourself. You'll feel better.
The plot recycles tropes from the 90s and early 2000s (amnesia, love triangles, London, multiple car accidents with the same character, bad denim), when this type of melodrama was commonplace, and muddles it together, poorly, with "modern" subplots and themes (sex, women having jobs, no parents!, boobs). Each scene ends dramatically with soaring music and a character walking purposefully towards
Well, there is a speech in the last 20 seconds that sums it all up for us, but by then...everyone was asleep. (True story).
That a ten minute interlude with Neetu Singh and Rishi Kapoor (I screamed when I saw her, no lies) has more passion, humor, romance and plot than the rest of the film speaks volumes. Had we watched that scene loop 3 times I wouldn't have complained and would have left feeling fulfilled. It was validating to see that Neetu is a powerhouse of talent. In ten minutes she out-performed anyone else that would prance on screen during the film.
"But, but, but", you say, "It is ShahRukh Khan!"
Let me put this as delicately as I am able: Seeing someone the exact age of my father running around as a "28-year-old" in Bieber-Sneakers is 1) a disgrace and 2) smacks of someone desperately clinging to whatever shred of relevance they have left to milk. No amount of Botox and makeup can mask his twice-your-age status when next to his dewy costars. Watching SRK not only break his "rule" about on-screen kissing but participate in a sex scene was more than I could bear. I'm all for kissing and etc. in Bollywood. I don't think, honestly, that it matters. Kiss or don't kiss, but don't change your game in the middle of the eleventh hour just to prove how resilient of an actor you are. It was honestly the most cringe-inducing thing I've ever seen--and the audience, based on their titters and nervous whispering, agreed.
Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma carried this film. I know, I know; ever the proud card carrying member of the "I hate Katrina Kaif Fanclub" I was shocked by how much she did not annoy me. I really, really can't tell if she is a brilliant actor and just pulling the wool over all of our eyes. She radiated on screen, quite literally, and even though her character suffered from multiple personality disorder and was all over the place, she carried it off as well as she could.
It does not bode well to have both plot and characters involved in an identity crisis.
Anuskha brought light to the screen, as she is prone to doing. Bouncing around happily with glee she was the voice of the "modern ladki". If every line had been prefaced with a "kids these days!" a lot of her diaologe would have made more sense (and if she was in a grey-haired wig and a nightie). Apparently her only purpose was to hammer the opinion into the audience that any one under the age of 25 was flippant, unromantic and a sex fiend.
We can take a moment to enjoy that both of these female characters were career motivated and had great, power wielding jobs.
If anything is an overall factor into Jab Tak Hai Jaan's listlessness it is the music. Ay hai. The music is so bad. It takes the movie from "eh" to "soul suck" by being unengaging and without drive. It's the boring episode of Coke Studio: India. It just doesn't go anywhere.
Katrina had to thumka to Bongo drums. Bongo drums. "Yeah, I was totally at this poetry reading in a club that had all the lights on and those bongo drums just set my sexual passions and ada wild."
Yeah right.
You know I am completely for escapism but when pared against some of the more recent Indian RomCom releases Jab Tak Hai Jaan just feels so moldy and stale and out of life. Save yourself the 15$, the confusion, 3 hours of Numb Butt and just listen to Lata Mangeshkar whine the Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham theme. You'll get the same irritated effect.
