Review of Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na (2008) by Angie M — 19 Jul 2008

There is nothing fresh about the movie when it comes to a story. Even certain plot structures have been rehashed from earlier works -- the friends narrating the story taken from "Chalte Chalte" and the famous picture talking from "Hum Paanch". What does give it a somewhat different feel are the characters, some of whom are quirky and interesting.

This brings me to an important point about the movie -- that I was far more interested in the secondary characters than the main ones. The supporting characters were not your usual background caricatures with no real personality. Take for instance Amit and Meghna -- although, the director didn't go into much details about them, which I would have liked but would have ultimated detracted from the fun of the story, he gave us enough details in sketching intriguing characters. The subtle exploration of creativity that leads to eccentricity in the case of Amit and delusion in the case of Megna isn't something you see in the usual Bollywood masala fare. It did help that Prateik Babbar and Manjari Fadnis do decent jobs in making their characters likeable. One other character I found interesting was that of Shalini -- there was something refreshing in her level-headed punk personality. In addition, it was so good to finally see Ratna Pathak on screen after so long, whom I probably last saw in the "Tara" days. Her character is obviously supposed to be a comical satire type, and she did a good job in bringing in the laughs.

However, while on one hand the director gives us such colorful characters mentioned above, it's sad that he also brought in cliched roles like that bully fiance and the silliness in the form of the Khan brothers. The latter was particularly annoying. As I mentioned before, the main two leads -- Jai and Aditi -- didn't seem to stand out. Aditi's obnoxiousness ends up becoming more irritating than endearing, partly because of Genelia's OTT acting and her not-so-good diction. Imran is good enough for a newcomer, though he is a bit stiff in scenes. The character, though, is nothing to rave about. Their love story had its cute moments, and the two undoubtedly share a good chemistry, but it didn't have the wow factor in it -- certainly not enough to warrant that kind of reaction from the Mala girl in the end.

All in all, it is a decent time pass flick with a few fun moments and a memorable soundtrack.