Stranger in a strange land

A good-looking and incredibly rich man (Shahid Kapor) is dumped by his girlfriend, and is down in the dumps. He leaves his Mercedes on the street and wanders about, then jumps on to the first train he sees. A good-looking fast talking Punjabi kudi (Kareena Kapoor ) hops on to same train and talks non-stop, even in her sleep, driving the moping hero to brink of insanity. He hops off, she hops off to help him get back on, misses the train, and thus begins a madcap journey from Bombay to Bhatinda. Sound improbable? Hackneyed? Forget all that and go on this most enjoyable journey with Kareena and Shahid. Shahid has a long way to go before he can be an actor of any note, and his chocolate boy looks require much more than a pair of glasses to be toned down, but by the end of it you feel that it was not a bad effort. Kareena has finally come into her own as an actress, first as the very serious Dolly of Omkara, and now as the most frivolous and most convincingly garrulous Geet. She demonstrates her acting skills to the fullest and looks very good in the process.

The movie is a modern day Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge with chance meetings, missed trains, shared hotel rooms, partings, families, elopements and is bubbling with a youthful fun feel. Someone told me that in this film one misses the Shahrukh of the 90s! This was a role inspired by the quintessential lover-boy of our times and 10 years ago he would have run with it and turned Jab We Met into an outstanding film! But even so, the film still works – has fun music, great chemistry between the lead pair and above all has a most real feel to it. And it is funny, “Akeli Ladki to Khuli Hui Tijori Hoti Hai”; the boyfriend telling Shahid – “Now her brothers want to take me to the sugarcane fields. Why should I go to the sugarcane fields with them? I won’t go!’ Next shot shows him holding some sugar cane! The settings, the locales, the songs, the trains, automobiles, everything is imparted a never before seen ambiance by sophomore director Imtiaz Ali. The story is not new but the treatment is super fresh like a fresh glass of Nimbupani in baking heat! Jab We Met is one fine entertainer and worth a repeat watch. The film is ruled by Kareena; a new female star emerges, and is able to carry the film on her shoulders.

Filed under: Film reviews | Tagged: Imtiaz Ali, Jab We Met, Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapur |