Nov 18, 2012 08:10 AM
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(Updated Nov 18, 2012 07:50 PM)
Introduction: Though I am not the greatest patron of SRK's movies of late, watching Jab Tak Hai Jaan was almost a given for me considering Yash Chopra's return to the director's seat (sadly, his last stint) and watching what he made of the film after his previous success Veer Zaara that I found good not only because it was a story well-told, but also because it unfolded with such sincerity and tenderness that's hard to witness in countless Bollywood films of today. Jab Tak Hai Jaan was expected to tread on similar lines. The reviews from friends on social networking sites and otherwise weren't very positive, but still I decided to give it a try.
Story: A documentary filmmaker doing a regular project with a small team in Ladakh stumbles upon a diary by a Major in the army, a mysterious man by the name of Samar Anand who is broodish and talks less. She learns about his lovelorn past, where he fell in love with Meera Thapar, a rich girl he had an intense romantic relationship with. Lured by his personality and his life, she successfully shoots a documentary about the 'man who cannot die'and later calls him to London, the same place he left more than 10 years ago owing to the heartbreak. However, a twist in the tale changes his life again.
Analysis: Getting straight to the point, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, with it's old-world romance, and vintage Yash Chopra touches with that hint of magic realism wouldn't in general be appreciated by the Yo-generation fed on cinema like Cocktail and I hate Luv Storys, which relies on the entertainment quotient more than wearing its heart on the sleeve. And JTHJ is exactly that. It wears its heart on its sleeves and makes no qualms about it, even when the story borders on the ludicrousness and the film progresses with a lethargic screenplay. Yet, the die-hard romantics who all this while have been craving for a film that appeals to their emotions and is more like poetry on celluloid might relish it with fervor.
The film deserves to be seen as simply a movie yet something that must not be taken lightly for its worth. Yash Chopra conjures up a world where he likes his audience to feel the emotions of the characters. What he did with his characters and films during his prime was no mean feat. The man clearly knew his job. Through understated art, he consistently managed to infuse something in the air, in the very environment where his characters breathed that it reached his viewers. JTHJ is no exception. In a particularly poignant moment in the second half, when Meera visits his former lover in the hospital room, you want to forget all the limitations of the script and the glaring loopholes right in that very instant when she is hugged by Samar. Suddenly everything appears like making sense, even when the mind says otherwise. It's not always bad to listen to your heart, you tell yourself in that very instant.
Performances: SRK lights up the screen in every scene he appears. This might not be his best performance on the basis of 'pure acting', but he manages to ooze charm and lend credibility to his character even while he looks jaded and way too old in the first half. As the always-high-on-spirits documentary filmmaker, Anushka is a treat even though she gives the impression of approaching every single character she plays film-after-film the same way. Katrina, however, is a disappointment. Not that anything great can be expected from her except looking gorgeous. The girl just cannot emote.
Music is easy on the ears despite not being Rahman's best by a big margin. Challa is the pick of the lot and the Saans song grows on you after hearing it a number of times on screen. The Heer song is beautiful and soothing too.
Should I recommend it? Not if you like the romance genre. Certainly not if you only like your films as vignettes of reality and bathed in attention to detail. But it deserves to be seen for SRK's return to romance, for his trademark expressions that work so well in a romantic film. But more importantly, for the man with that magic of touch; for the man who brought romance to screen like no other. JTHJ, for all its glaring flaws, has something about it that affects your senses. It is not easily forgotten once you leave your theater. Something to do with Yash Chopra's handling the narrative? Or SRK's performance that grows on you?
Probably both...
