Jab we met – movie review

I had no intention of seeing Jab we met (When we met) a Bollywood film with an Hinglish title. But well, I was dragged to it…not by anyone in particular but by the four/three star film reviews. I cannot resist a movie that has been given four stars. I have to know whether the movie is really worth the stars and whether I would rate it the same way.

Would I give the movie four stars? No.

Jab we met is a light frothy time-pass movie. For me at least in dragged in places but it may not for all. There was this bunch of college kids sitting right next to us and they had a whale of a time. They were repeating the dialogues and commenting on almost every scene. There was a middle-aged couple on the other side and they seemed bored. We didn’t fall into either group because although we were not so exuberant in our enjoyment of the movie, we did enjoy it.

The story is basically about two young people who meet on a train and fall in love. Aditya Kashyap (Shahid Kapoor), a rich industrialist’s son has been ‘ditched’ by his girl-friend and is depressed. In a daze he gets on a train going to nowhere and that’s where he meets the love of his life. Only he doesn’t know that she is the love of his life. Geet (Kareena Kapoor) is a talkative extroverted girl who tells Aditya that her ambition in life is to get married! She is on her way home to Bhatinda but plans to elope to Simla where her love Anshuman (Tarun Arora) lives.

The best part of the movie is the chemistry between the two lead actors, and the way the sparks fly and a fire ignites. The credit goes to the director ofcourse (Imtiaz Ali) and the great script…but also to the actors. Though neither Shahid nor Kareena are grade A actors (Shahid Kapur has the potential) this movie would have been flat without them and the chemistry they create. Kareena acted well and it was a surprise. The fact that she was right for the role helped. She smoothly makes the transition from bubbling young girl to aggressive no-nonsense girl to sad girl.

As for the story, it isn’t easy to show a man who considers killing himself gradually becoming mesmerized with a strange girl despite himself. It was nicely done and very natural.

The story is very simple. Boy meets girl and they fall in love. And there isn’t any melodrama or rona-dhona…in fact there are quite a few comic moments. Tarun Arora, who plays the role of Anshuman has something to contribute here…but ofcourse it’s the situation which is comic and so are Anshuman’s dialogues. Hats off to the director! But Arora acted well too.

The board-room scenes (Aditya has taken over the reins of his father’s empire after his father’s death) seem artificial but thankfully this was a small part of the movie.

The music is good, though not earth-shaking. Shahid Kapoor manages to create some magic during the singing and dancing.

So is this film worth a see? Yeah why not! It’s a different kind of movie, fresh and easy on the eyes. There is a kissing scene (not common in a Hindi movie!) but it’s a movie one can take one’s kids too.

(First photo is from apunkachoice and the second from smashhits)

 

Share this post:digg it|kick it|Email it|bookmark it|reddit|liveIt