Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na - Too Many film makers spoil the movie : NAACHGAANA

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na - Too Many film makers spoil the movie

July 8th, 2008

Imagine Aamir Khan making his debut with Andaz Apna Apna!!! And what if the director of the same is Mansoor Khan and not Raj Kumar Santoshi! This is the kind of feeling I had after watching Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. This is a movie gone wrong, primarily because it had too many film makers in the crew. The movie is meant to be a spoof of the romantic films made in the Hindi Film Industry, or so it seemed to me. But at the same time it tries too hard to be innocent.

And its not that the film is without its moments. This is one of those rare films where I was waiting anxiously for the scenes involving the khan duo(Arbaaz and Sohail). There’s a scene where the hero saves the “izzat” of a girl, from the clutches of Khan duo by declaring her an AIDS patient. And just before Khan had spelt out “yeh bimari choone se nahi failti”, I had uttered to myself “choone se pyar failta hai”. And then there’s the idea of recurring dream, one of the pet scenes of the romantic movies of the 90s. But instead of showing the veiled face of the heroine in the dreams, the director has shown a veiled face of the hero on a horseback (probably as a homage to one of the most recognizable scenes of the Angry Young Man). And when the hero finally recognizes the face, you get a realization that before recognizing your love, you need to recognize yourself. The conversations between Nasir-ud-din Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah might remind you of Hum Paanch, but for me it’s a fantastic spoof of those countless scenes of Hindi Cinema where the grieving husband/wife engages in conversation with his/her deceased spouse.

But the best moment for me, is the scene just before intermission where the director has no qualms in accepting that the intermission is forced by the story tellers on the audience to increase the sales of popcorn, coffee etc. And the audience is left waiting anxiously for the intermission to get over. And again at the ending, when the director tries to portray that the audience gets so involved with the story that it is dying to meet the characters of the story. Yes Abbas, I too have felt the same way sometimes, but I didn’t get any such feeling after watching Jaane Tu.

Even the initial promos of the film gave out this indication that the movie is trying to spoof the trends of Hindi Cinema. But as the trailers changed so did the movie. From a lighthearted spoof it became a romantic movie.

The basic problem with this movie is that it takes itself too seriously. Andaz Apna Apna, worked for me because it had the ability to laugh on itself. I seriously don’t get it, when you try to spoof it by laughing on others. I seriously fail to understand why Abbas didn’t try to spoof the love story between its lead characters. Why did he have to get serious with the love story part of his script? Was it because of the influence of Aamir and Mansoor Khan? Was it because of the pressure of launching the nephew of Aamir Khan? Does he genuinely believe in those saccharin romances that he has tried to portray? Whatever be the reason, but there seemed a continuous tug of war between two directors. One who wanted to make a spoof and the other who wanted to make a romantic comedy. I don’t mean to say that the love story was dramatic. No, it is not. But at the same time it felt like watching two different movies at the same time. And I seriously don’t understand the need for the character of Prateik Babbar. His paintings indicate that he has had a traumatized childhood, but why? Is it because his best friend and sister(Genelia) had little time for her? Does Abbas want us to believe this?

Almost every review that I have read so far, has heaved huge praises on Genilia. Sorry to say, but I found her pathetic. Was it because of her voice that irritated me or was it because I was unable to relate to her character? Could be a mixture of both. At the end of the film, I could not think of any character, with the possible exception of the Khan duo, that might stay with me.

The movie is exactly like its title – Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. Did Abbas really knew what he was making??

There Are 9 Responses So Far. »

Comment by akshay shah on 8 July 2008:

Wow…one bad review!
Comment by neelu on 8 July 2008:

I thought the film had one huge Chalte Chalte hangover that ran throughout the film, with the narration of a story to an annoying new girlfriend. And the airport climax was supposed to be spoofy (preceded by the horse ride through Mumbai) but did not jive with the serious romantic tone of most of the film.

Most of all, I thought none of these characters were real in any way - with names like Meow and Rats and Bomb and Jiggy (Jignesh of course), and rides in Toyotas and convertibles, and fun and frolic in discos and bars, no one had any real kind of life. Don’t know if the film was in synch sound - but Genelia’s dialog delivery was simply horrendous and she dragged the film down. Another minus from me for the situations and settings of the two best songs. This was kind of made up for in the situation for Kahin to, that was well done indeed. Imran was quite good, I was able to connect to his character, but most of the rest of the gang was simply dead weight. The Shah duo Mum and Dad were fabulous of course. But you are right about the Sallu siblings being show stealers. Who’d have thunk they could actually be so funny! Parts of film did look dated, but other parts were quite well done - Imran riding past a statue of Shivaji! A 6/10 from me.
Comment by utkal on 9 July 2008:

What a load of bull crap. Comapring this film to andaz apna apna is like comparing chalk with cheese. Height of stupidity to think of this as a spoof of romantic movies. this is THE ROMANTIC MOVIE , the ultimate. What do you men , ‘ names like Rats and Meaow”? theye are nicknmaes for godsake! Never heard of nicknmaes? Guddu, Llo, Bebo, no? Bugs, Ftaso, Piggy Chps, no? You havent been to colege, I guess. What is touching people is that the characters are so real, compared to films like Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai. The romance is straight out of everyone’s college life. The presentation is larger-than-life, but the soul is true to reality. That is so difficult to achieve. And Abbas has acieved that rare feet. Like Rakeysh Mehra did in RDB, and Amir did in TZP, and Shimit did in Chak De.
Comment by jayshah on 9 July 2008:

I didn’t see this as a “spoof” either. Its a college romance. All the good points the reviewer speaks of are Abbas “style” humour for which we see in MBBS. Whether it was deliberate attempt to spoof is open to interpretation, but the movie was always a light hearted college romance with strong characters as back up.

The musical score is anything but spoofish aswell! I mean compare it to the AAA score, that score was so obscure and different. This is a rather tradional score for the kind of movie and indicative of the kind of movie it is.
Comment by neelu on 9 July 2008:

Utkal - Guddu, pappu, fatso, yes! Rats and Meow, no! Never encountered those menagerie nicks. And if these people were real with their convertibles and their discos and bars, then what is wrong with KKHH? The elements of spoofiness cannot be denied. Unless you are claiming the a man riding through Mumbai, and then crawling through the airport X-ray conveyor belt in this heightened state of alert, is somehow real.
Comment by Aarkayne on 9 July 2008:

I found Genelia’s acting(diction, delivery etc) a little wanting. The movie drags in several places but it was overall plenty fun. For a debut movie, Abbas Tyrewala’s done a decent job at direction, however Abbas Tyrewala the writer probably could have done much better after having penned the likes of MAQBOOL.

Pros - Khan brothers, Shah duo, Imran, Ranjhore ke Rajput Rathod(hilarious), music, Prateik Babbar(save a weak scene with atrociously forced laughter which is the writer/director’s fault)

Cons - Genelia’s acting, her diction, her dialog delivery(did anybody think she reminded you of Sonali Kulkarni, who has been getting on my nerves in Hindi movies lately)

Overall - Liked it enough to recommend to others, but wont re-watch in theaters or DVD for a while.
Comment by utkal on 9 July 2008:

Nelu, of course you haven’t heard Rats and Meaw, thats’ the point. abbas wanted to create those nicknames. But sure you have heard of Bugs Krishnan (Bhargav Krishnan in real life), and how different is Rats from Bugs? And what does anyone mean by abbas’s writing is not as in Maqbool.How can you compare the two? Compare it to say QSQT, and this is obviously much better writing. and the guy in the baggage through X-Ray check, Naseer coming out of the photo frame are the screw ball elements, but not meant to make the movie a spoof. Just a lot of fun. Look at movies like Four Weddings and A Funeral, or Noting Hill. There are many such crazy moments, but they are genuine romances and not spoofs. The grammar is to offset the romance with a bit of crazy humour so thet it does not turn out saccharine sweet. And Abbas has got it just right.
Comment by rockstar on 9 July 2008:

well constructive criticism is always welcome but to rip off a movie by comparing it to a movie of different genre hardly sounds covincing why dont u compare it to other movies which are based on allmost same theme

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0255426/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tujhe_Meri_Kasam
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348258/(genelia’s first bollywood movie only) ,agree script had nothing new and is inspired but u have to hand it over to director for treatment
Comment by Aarkayne on 9 July 2008:

utkal:”And what does anyone mean by abbas’s writing is not as in Maqbool.How can you compare the two?”

Abbas is an extremely talented writer, which is why the bar needs to be held high. Its not a comparision of genres one is doing here, simply the quality of writing. Agreed the lines gray somewhat. He has done a fine job, really. Whenever he writes a movie I will most likely see it. Just as I will an Imtiaz Ali movie or a Nagesh Kukunoor movie(even the crappy BANGKOK movie). Good writer-directors are a rare breed these days.

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