Review of Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012) by Diana A — 20 Feb 2013

The movie starts with a poem being delivered by the man himself- Yash chopra. A tone of reverence for the filmmaker, whose last film as a director was going to be screened a few moments from then, was set.

Yash Chopra has created many 'Romances' in his long career. Often good scripts and mostly great songs have been integral part of his films. With so much done and achieved, his last film was, alas, far away from being called his 'best work'.

Jab Tak Hain Jaan is just another potboiler featuring YRF's favorite hero since the 90's and their formula female actors (i.e. the actors who are 'stars of the moment'). With great promotions (steeped with sentimentality's evoked around Mr. Chopra's sudden demise), large posters all around the metropolitan cities, SRK flanked by the two most hot actresses of the time and of course umpteen number of public appearances made prior to the release, this film just did not make it to the audiences' expectation.

What Mr. Chopra wanted to convey, perhaps never permeated through his film and instead too many questions arise. How does a person who does odd jobs (cleaning snow in front of a church in England, selling fish in a market, so on and so forth) after 10 years become the Major in the Indian army? How does a girl (Anushka) who loiters around all the time with all her antics and hysterics, end up with a documentary that goes on to become the main cover story in none other than Discovery Channel?

As if these anomalies were not enough, there is a long list of them. To start with, the film had a very weak script and an inept Shahrukh Khan as the 28 year old in the 1st half, fidgeting around without doing much (one of the most unconvincing performances ever by him). There was Katrina Kaif who just delivered her dialogues on time without taking much pain into emoting and an Anushka Sharma whose presence almost had a screeching effect due to the boisterous rendition of her character in almost all the scenes.

However, the 38-year-old Shahrukh in the second half came as a relief, as here he played his part quite convincingly. YRF movies are known for their mesmerizing songs, here too there was a big disappointment. Barring one 'saans mein teri saans mili to', all others were slack and does not leave any mark.

The movie ends with shots and scenes featuring Mr. Chopra directing the cast in various locations. It was a real pleasure to see Mr. Chopra behind the scenes instructing his actors. The mental effort that went into figuring out who is doing what in the 3-hour long drama, mellowed down with the solemnity embedded in the last few minutes. The tone set in the beginning found its connection in the end.

Jab Tak Hain Jaan is a watchable film that will be remembered more for being the last directed movie by the great crafter of Bollywood, than for anything else.