Jab We Met
Yamini Popli
Imtiaz Ali’s Jab We Met (2008) is a warm-hearted Bollywood love story which stands out from other Bollywood love stories. This story revolves around the life of a young man, the son of a rich businessman and a happy-go-lucky, annoyingly talkative girl who lives life, king size. They meet in a train going to Bhatinda where the boy is on the verge of suicide and the girl is going back home to Bhatinda. They miss their train and the story continues with their journey of travelling through different cities to reach their destination. This is a light-hearted comedy gives us lessons about life and about being grateful for whatever we have. The protagonist Geet, (Kareena Kapoor) changes the man Aditya’s (Shahid Kapoor) perspective on life by teaching him how to enjoy each moment and how to see the glass half full instead of half empty.
The cast including the supporting actors have done a great job in this film. This is probably one of the greatest films of Shahid and Kareena’s career. Imtiaz Ali has directed the film beautifully making the viewer feel all emotions from sadness to laughter. The story is beautiful and the direction has fully justified the story with extremely well-shot scenes.the couple race off to Manali. But it’s not what you think. The screenplay has organised a lemony twist. Cheers.
She has an agenda: another guy, a regular dumb man, Anshuman (Tarun Arora). Duh. He tells her to take a hike. Now, she’s messed up while Mr Jilted becomes a livewire and even sorts out his plummeting business empire. The reversal of roles is achieved splendidly.
Clearly, Imtiaz Ali had a terrific script but didn’t quite know how to wrap it up. There are far too many loose strands – Big Moose says something about being scared about religious differences and keeps changing his mind as if he didn’t possess one.
On the positive side, Nataraja Subramaniam’s cinematography, the choice of locations and Pritam’s music score are extraordinary. Certain scenes are written and performed marvellously – like the girl’s encounter with a railway station master, her emotional outbursts and the boy’s restrained reunion with his estranged mother.
Of the cast, none of the supporting performances is worth a wow. Shahid Kapur is boyish charm personified and tackles difficult scenes with maturity. Kareena Kapoor is outstanding. She handles mood swings – from the self loving to the self-effacing – with spontaneity. Yup, there is a chemistry. Jab We Saw, We Liked. Worth a trip.
To view the trailer of the movie, click on the link below.
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