When Hamne Dekha “Jab We Met”

Jab we metWhat happens when you see a movie three times every day for 9 months without any break? To begin with, you remember every dialogue, lyrics of all the songs, every set, every sequence, every costume like the back of your hand. There is another extreme possibility which is either you love the movie very much (with a lot of time to sit on your a**) or you hate the sight of even its poster and swear never to see it again during this lifetime. I’ll go with the ‘loving’ part for “Jab We Met” because I must be totally crazy to see it at 10:40 p.m. on a Sunday night on TV too when I just saw it on DVD a few hours earlier over dinner.

We have 2 copies in DVDs of the movie JWM  at home. The first one wore out because of playing repeatedly. After all, no DVD is designed to be viewed like a five hundred times or more, right? I’m afraid the second one has also begun to show signs of wear and tear and might need a quick replacement. Navratri shopping can wait, a new copy of JWM takes a higher priority. Just kidding..no more DVDs of JWM.

So, how did this obsession began? It started off as an accident; back in January when LG was going through a very tough fussy-eating phase the only distraction that made him eat was the song “Mauji hi Mauja”. It played on different chanells through the day that he grew fond of the song and gyrated to it while having his food. When the frequency of the number decreased on TV, I got a DVD of the movie for Rs.30 (thank you Moser Baer!). Initially he finished his dinner by the time “Mauja hi Mauja” and “Nagada, Nagada” numbers finished playing. When he grew bored of it, it moved on to the other songs and with time different parts of the movie (minus the swearing or objectionable scenes). Soon we were seeing a good chunk of the movie (about 30 minutes in all) through the day which was the only TV viewing allowed. I know it’s bad parenting..very bad rather. But let’s just forget that for a while and keep in mind kids outgrow nursery rhymes too. Anyways this post is about the movie and not about my parenting ways, remember?

There’s something so refreshing about this movie that I think no review of it so far has done enough justice. The only other movie before this one that I claim to have seen more than once is “Dil Hai Ki Mantha Nahin“. Ironically, both the movies have similar story lines of boy-meets-girl-in-journey, falls in love with a happily-lived-ever-after ending. JWM exudes a positive energy every time you watch it; there’s so much enthusiasm to live life on one’s terms, a feel-good romance and a story freshly dealt like never before in recent times that it puts all the romantic movies to shame. It has raised the bar for Hindi movies with its realistic, no-hype approach that doesn’t go over-the-top in costumes or make-up making you connect with the characters. I remember the dialogue of almost every scene and yet I see it with the same anticipation as a first-time viewer every time I see the movie. This is one movie when you wouldn’t need a DVD remote after playing for there’s no need to skip any section or song. Imtiaz Ali must have done a fabulous job for viewers to consider Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapur among their favorite actors especially when the latter was considered more of a female actor than male because of his looks and roles in earlier movies such as Dil Maange More .  The chemistry between the lead pair couldn’t have been better and I can’t believe myself to be writing about a movie at this time of the night!

How movie reviews act as spoilers!

The reviews are better than the movie; that’s what I think of the pieces from Mayank Shekhar, a film critic with Mumbai Mirror. Sometime ago, I read how reviews top the book and dismissed it as impossible. With Shekhar’s review of Love Story, 2050 titled “Shove Story, 2008“, I know it’s possible to garner more readers for one’s reviews than viewers for a movie.

The much publicised July 4 weekend  for Bollywood is past us.  My exposure to television has increased marginally over the past few weeks. Surfing through channels, one was exposed to a fair amount of robotic gimmicks of one movie and the familiar boy-has-fun-with-the-girl-who-is-his-friend plot of another. The build-up was so much that for once I’ve felt like watching the first day, first show of a movie - Jaane tu..ya jaane na. Honestly, I have never seen any movie on the first day of its release - for that matter in the first week. The only premiere I’ve been to is that of The Last Samurai in Chicago.

Finally, came Sunday when we realized we could haul ourselves to the multiplex - the first time since LG has been born. Yea, haven’t seen a flick in over two years at the theater.  It was too late - didn’t get any ticket for a show with a decent timing; so, we let it pass. Now the interest has died what with the numerous reviews on every blog, every channel and every newspaper. Even if these guys don’t reveal the storyline or the climax, it’s spoiler enough to make one lose interest for it’s no longer a mystery which was so well kept until the opening weekend.

Mayank’s reviews have a way of doing that. Even if he recommends seeing a movie  or better utilizing one’s time by napping over the weekend, it’s the same thing because it’s out there - the stars, the treatment to the movie, the comparison of actors, overacting and numerous other things which weren’t talked about until Friday. Then follows the interviews with the director,post-release profit statistics, turnout. Suddenly, it’s more than the songs which was the only thing one was exposed to till date. I may sound crazy but try seeing one a week after release and you’ll realize why it’s so easy to settle for a DVD in the comforts of your home rather than hauling your bum to the multiplex and spending a 1000 bucks?

Ironic that today’s editorial in Times has an entry called “Spoilt for choice” on the same topic that’s been running through my mind the whole weekend.

KANK fails to create magic!

The verdict is out. I have to confess that I have never been a fan of Karan Johar’s movies and he has proved why again. Had he spent some more time on a more convincing reason for this pyar-mohabbat soap opera than promoting everyday on NDTV and other
television channels, the movie stood a chance of appealing to the viewers. It is too long, too flashy and melodramatic. There was more than once when I thought the movie was over. In short, with all the hype built around this so called bold movie, his
success formula hasn’t worked this time around and comes across as a satire on the institution of marriage (arranged and love) itself.

The BOLD plot: Shot in New York, with infidelity and extra marital affair being the central theme, the story is about 2 failed marriages – that of Dev Saran (Shah Rukh Khan) – Rhea (Preity Zinta) and Rishi (Abhishek Bachchan)-Maya (Rani Mukherji). Sam
(Amitabh Bachchan) plays the role of Rishi’s father and Kiron Kher as Dev’s mom. Dev meets Maya, clad in a dashing scarlet red wedding ghaghra, sitting alone on a bench in the sprawling lush green garden on her marriage day – pondering over the difference between pyaar and mohabbat. In his usual melodramatic way, Dev offers her advice and the movie takes a turning point – he is hit by a car outside the gates of Maya’s mansion and he becomes the cranky Khan for the rest of the movie.

Dev turns into frustrated soul after the accident leaves him limped for the rest of his life. Not able to pursue his dream of playing football (or should I say soccer) he turns mean and vents out all his pent-up anger on his successful fashion-diva wife, Rhea, who runs a magazine called “Diva”. His obsession with football doesn’t fade however and it is hilarious when his son picks up the football in a game and hands it over to the opponent’s goalie.

Three years later, Dev’s and Maya’s paths cross again, and their animosity gives way to friendship which blossoms into love as they find ways to save their marriages with the help of books and discussions over top-notch cafes of New York. Yet I fail to understand why Maya is unhappy with her marriage. Rishi sounds like the perfect husband who runs an upstart party planning firm, is successful and a loving husband. All he demands of her is a bit of social life and passion in the bedroom while she engages in her mundane champa bhai activities of cleaning the spic and span
apartment clad in expensive clothes! For a change none of the lead actors die except Big B who had to go for he couldn’t go around sleeping with all the white females when everyone else was weeping.
There is no twist per se in the end with Rishi finding new love.

The KJ Formula: Karan does it again what he does best – making his protagonists sob. The entire family was found weeping time and again in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Khan and Mukherji don the crying hats this time. Other ingredients of KJ’s moviemaking are in abundance as well with Shah Rukh again in the lead, Amitabh/Jaya Bachchan take turns in his movies with both of them in K3G followed by Jaya in Kal Ho Na Ho and now it is Big B’s turn. Once again, you can see the larger than life size lifestyle with all of them donning designer outfits, driving swanky cars, beautifully furnished apartments – the sophisticated life. Khan has to patronize a game in every movie. If
it was Basketball in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, it is football in KANK.

What to watch out for: The chemistry between the Bachchan duo and the screentime they share together account for the only lighter moments of the film. The first half has many such jolly scenes and passes by quickly. Definitely a movie worth seeing if you get free tickets as I did.

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Favorite Five Movies

These are my all-time favorite movies (in the same order). So it goes without saying that I can see them any number of times without getting bored -I’ve seen most of these atleast 10 times.

English

  1. You’ve got Mail
  2. One Fine Day
  3. Stuart Little
  4. Pretty Woman
  5. A Few Good Men

Hindi

  1. Dil Hai Ki Maantha Nahin
  2. DDLJ
  3. Ek Ladka Ek Ladki
  4. Pyaar Tho Hona Hi Tha
  5. Andaz Apna Apna