I ENTER the theatre (PVR) and see it packed with college students. Even if I did not know what Jaane Tu… is about, I would now know what to expect from the film.


For starters, Jaane Tu…is no cult, path breaking love story (I guess it is no longer possible to make an original romantic film). Hey, but I am in no mood to complain and fret if the film provides me with three hours of relentless, wholesome entertainment and is worth every paisa I have spent for the film. The film does live up to the viewer’s expectations and after a reasonably long time you get to see a film exuding so much youthful exuberance and innocence. Despite the intended clichés, the film smells as fresh as a cake from a nearby bakery.


Without giving away much, the film talks about two thick pals (Jai and Aditi) who fail to realise their profound love for each other when everyone else in town believes that they are made for each other and how they realise at the nick of time that they are subconsciously immersed in love. There is nothing new in the story but the film is more character-driven rather than being plot-driven. It focuses on different relationships between the principal characters. Some of them are so beautifully etched and developed that you are forced to sit up and take notice. The lead pair (Imran and Genelia) share an unmistakably adorable chemistry. Jai’s relationship with his mother and Aditi’s relationship with her brother seems to be so unworldly and is yet so real. The entire college group looks so normal, comfortable and believable that you can actually connect with each character from your personal college life. Thankfully, the director does not present any character as a pretentious, lofty wannabe as has come to be seen in the past where directors have depicted college students in a rather amateurish manner.


The dialogues vary from being ordinary (expected in a film of this nature) to witty and on a whole strike a chord with the audience. The editing is crisp and at no point you feel that a particular scene was not required. However, the most annoying (probably only) point of the film is that it frequently vacillates between the past and the present and thus, hinders the continuous flow of the narrative. The director should have reduced the frequency of occurrence of the airport discussions (present) and concentrated more on the main story. On the positive side, he presents the film with so many hilarious interludes that it often veers the film from a mere mundane to a rather compelling spectacle. AR Rehman’s music is expectantly first rate and refreshes you through the course of the film. Some of the scenes of the film stay with you even after the film is over, some of them being – Manjari Phadnis’s (Meghna) introductory scene; Naseerudin Shah’s warnings to his wife; the scene where Aditi wants Jai to fight in college; the scene where Amit reveals his innermost feelings to his sister and the airport climax scene.




The film is bolstered by imaginatively penned cameos delivered by the goofy Khan brothers, the merciless uncivilised cop (Paresh Rawal) and the ever so competent Naseerudin Shah (truly hilarious). Ratna Pathak Shah is in crackling form as the feisty mother who fears that her son will follow his ancestor’s gory lineage. All the young actors show vulnerability and imperfections in their respective roles and it actually works well in making the film and its characters look perfectly realisable. Credit to the director for casting newcomers as performances projecting this kind of vulnerability could be extracted only from newcomers. Other Articles by Rahul Srinivasan
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more >> While Manjari Phadnis (Meghna) is likable as the damsel in distress, Prateik Babbar excels as the rude, insecure and reclusive brother. The entire college group is earnest in its performance. While Imran Khan (Jai) is sufficiently restrained and aggressive as per the requirement of his role, Genelia (Aditi) lights up the screen with her chutzpah.


It is recommended that you watch the film with your friends or your significant other. Even if you are not a die-hard romantic or do not particularly enjoy college dramas, one thing is for sure that after watching the film the elders would want to travel back to their college days and the college kids would want to stop aging.