What's this?

(Ans: Paean to love, bollywood and Airports!!)

The wait for Aamir's latest presentation "Jaane tu ya jaane na" is over. Rehman's peppy scores had so tantalised listeners that it's a relief that the movie lives upto the hype. :)


It's a thorough entertainer, that is so trenched in all of bollywod's oldest and arcane motifs (hero never realising the use of a cellphone can reduce the risk of losing his love forever, climax at the airport!! etc.) while at the same time catering to an urban, hipper audience with adapted sensibilities.





Jaane tu ya jaane na... traces the story of a group of collegers, their search for love, insecurities and the haunting theme of people not knowing what they've got. This occurs in many parts of the movie- Rotlu and Bombs falling in love, Savitri (Jai's mother) hoping to find her son a mellow anti-ego of his father, Aditi (and her parents) about her brother, Aditi and Jai themselves and finally Naseruddin Shah's cameo as the person waiting for a Mr. Godot (Read the last section, Total Trivia).


Abbas Tyrewalla who's scripted and directed the movie truly deserves appreciation for bringing a new sense into film-making. All his character's are strongly backed. Not only do they have their own space but the director makes sure their emotions and insecurities are voiced as well (when was the last time you saw the hero's sidekick falling for the heroine in a bolly movie?).


It's also good to see some situational humor in Indian films of late - as in AB Sr. searching his pockets for hundred rupees and borrowing it from Chandru in Sarkaar Raj , JTYJN certainly has loads of such scenes (the Inspector at the airport embarassedly singing the Jane tu ya jaane na.. song etc).

The events are narrated to Jiggy's air-hostess girlfriend. Though the technique itself is not so innovative the way the story is narrated adds life to the movie and takes a sub-plot of its own. (Hofstadter or his tortoise will kill me for such loose sentences).

Some of the themes in the movie are really impressive such as Savitri (Ratna Pathak Shah) talking to her husband Ajey Singh Rathore's portrait, Jai's dreams of the rider mounted on a black horse, the tonga in the background (which i think symbolises the characters moving either closer or farther from each other) etc.


Genelia has done her role a fair bit (I felt she was more exceptional in Bommarillu, though she played the role of a gauche there too). Manjiri Phadnis dazles as Meghna, yet another nicely contrasted character in the writer's scheme of things. Imran Khan will have a tough time shedding the "chocolate" tag off his name.

Total Trivia: In the final scene of the movie when all the friends are leaving the airport, the person with a billboard for a Mr. Godot is seen. I was told this was Naseruddin Shah in a cameo.
The reference to Mr. Godot is interesting though. The reference here is to the play "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett. The play was voted the best english language play of twentieth century. In the play the protagonists Estragen and Vladimir are waiting for a Mr. Godot. They ramble, amble and rant throughout the play waiting for Mr. Godot who never arrives. The funniest part is neither has any idea what Godot looks like and they admit that they may not recognise him if he were to appear before them. So, the allusion is probably to people waiting for a special somebody or someone or something, never sure of what they are on a quest for.