Review of Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (2007) by Remona O — 05 Aug 2007

By far, the worst film i've seen all year. The less said about this one the better. The storyline was interesting in concept but executed terribly. On top of that, the movie was mindnumbingly boring. The main characters are both shallow and illogical...words cannot describe how random and boring the background stories that occupy the first half of the film are. The whole Ticket To Hollywood sequence in Abhi's story was both pointless (ticket to hollywood?) and crude (the Princess Diana bit). Preity Zinta's story was even more absurd (the whole superhero aspect) and insulting (india vs pakistan, indians skincolor). Overall, ridiculous and pointless can describe the majority of Jhoom's plot. Ditto for the 'dance off' sequence that occupies most of the second half. By the time the so called 'twist' shows up...the audience cannot sympathize with the characters since their is no reason given for their feelings...their really is no plot development to speak of...this movie just goes nowhere.

The only reason to see this is for its beautifully staged songs. But even those get annoying...seeing Amitabh Bachchan (in a pointless cameo) and company repeat the title song 6 times throughout the movie is enough too drive a person insane. While the film is told in a very unconventional fantasy musical type style...it cant pull it off. Unlike last years wonderful Jaan-E-Mann...Yash Raj didn't even try. The script and direction is absolutely abysmal. As far as acting...Abhishek was very annoying, and Preity Zinta sleepwalked through her role. On the other hand, Lara/Bobby gave credible performances as Abhi and Preity's love interests and lended some life to the film. They showed both sides of their characters excellently...along with some of the songs and cinematography, they were the saving grace of the movie. Overall, as of all Yash Raj productions of late...this film is all gloss no substance. Avoid.