Jab tak hai Jaan Movie Review

Low expectations always helps. Watched “Jab tak hai jaan” with the same mindset of low expectations. Although my die-hard-SRK-fan siblings, who had already watched the movie, were not helping at all in keeping those expectations low. Still, managed to keep my brains intact before entering the cinema hall.  One of them even said, “You should leave your brain and only go with your heart to watch a Yashraj movie”. Classic, I tell you.

Yeah, Right!

What would you expect from a Shahrukh-YashRaj film?? Romance!! right??

Well, you do get that from the script. Flawed, but still the script is designed to be romantic. Film starts off with Shahrukh, in Indian army uniform defusing a bomb, actually successfully defusing (Indian hero, how can you not expect him to diffuse that).

A stubble-carrying SRK looks uber cool.  The poetry recited in his voice is amazing.

Anushka Sharma’s entry is surely a mouth-watering one. She is vivacious and lively in the character of Akira, which she plays. Displaying that “makeup-breakup-generation-girl-attitude” is what she does quite beautifully. Making you smile at the way she goes about her “fitoor” (passion) of filming SRK for her documentary.

In the backdrop runs SRK’s never dying love for Meera (played by Katrina) who tries her best to act apart from looking glamorous. But fails, miserably. Acting is something that you should least expect from her (and I know, you won’t).

The chemistry between Samar (SRK’s character) and Meera is unconvincingly boring. Even with liplocks being planted in between. (Yes, SRK’s first onscreen kiss!!!) But it all looked too unconvincing and the romance that could have actually taken the movie to the level that you do expect from a Yashraj movie falls flat.

Songs are good, if not A.R Rehman-isque but with Shahrukh being the one on whom it was picturised, a Sonu Nigam would have appeared better. Picture a song like heer on an emotionless-katrina!!  Many of these things take some of the magic already away from the songs.

Dialogues are good, but some scenes, especially when SRK angrily challenges God in the church could have reached that Amitabh-God talk in Deewar.

But, even with all these flaws, be it in terms of script, acting, song picturization, etc. what stands out is the man in the centre of it all. The SRK. Delivering a solid performance as someone who is in love. Love which never dies. Each phase that he lives through in the movie makes you connect with his rage, his anger and the reason of all this, his love for Meera. The stubble-look reminds you of Chak-de, and he lives to that performance, although the script does not make him go beyond that.

There should always be something that you can take back from a movie, and Jab tak hai jaan will make sure you do. Watch it for the love-struck SRK, the bubbly Anushka and glamourous doll Katrina. There was one joke that was going viral on twitter a few days back, “Human beings love jab tak hai jaan, while Being humans didn’t”. 🙂