Jab We Met
I’ve watched Socha Na Tha 10 times. I’ve loved that film and therefore I was expecting a lot from Jab We Met. When Anurag told me that this is the best romantic film he has ever seen, my expectations were further heightened. Thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed at all. The film not only shows Imtiaz Ali’s growth as a storyteller, it also presents Shahid and Kareena as never seen before.
Two diametrically opposite characters Aditya and Geet meet on a train and their journey starts. One is nursing heartbreak while the other is looking forward to a life with the one she loves. Love happened. They don’t know when. You travel with them as an audience, experiencing their emotions, living their life. That’s the power of celluloid. You empathize with them, you laugh with them, and you cry with them, you celebrate with them.
This is easily Kareena’s best performance till date. There is always a risk in playing an overtly bubbly character. You end up looking like a caricature but Kareena knows the sharp edge she is supposed to walk on. Her character goes a major transformation post-interval and she just flows along. Watch out for the scene where she cries after calling herself Pagli, or when she abuses her boyfriend over the phone or the scene where she hugs Shahid minutes before the film ends. I doubt if this character could have been played by anyone else.
Shahid shows remarkable maturity. He handled all his scenes brilliantly and very subtly. Whether it’s his interaction with his mother, aptly played by Divya Seth, or the scene where he tries to make Kareena laugh by saying that he knows Karate, or the scene immediately after their intimate moment where he says, “Oye hota hai yaar!” You’ll just admire him with awe when he tells Kareena, “Yes I like you, but ye mera problem hai”.
Other characters that manage to leave an impact are Pawan Malhotra, Dara Singh and Rusty who plays Geet’s pretty cousin Roop. Tarun Arora gets to play an interesting character. You’ll get to laugh a lot at his expense.
Music by Pritam is very soothing. The picturisation of these songs are not only well-timed, they are also well-shot. Hum jo chalne lage, Ye ishq haye, Nagada, Tumse Hi are all testimony to this. Mauja hi Mauja comes at the right time drawing whistles from the crowd.
At the expense of nitpicking, I’d like to point out few flaws. Kareena’s excessive luggage gets miraculously transformed into a bag and a half. The second time she misses train needed a more strong reason. Shahid finds Kareena very easily in Simla. Can’t think of anything else but yes, I’ve carried home a memory of a wonderful film.
Imtiaz Ali manages to create wonderful film and a very smooth-flowing narrative. The film is full of small small details that say a lot. If endless babbling is a part of heroine’s character, the director also achieves in creating silent shots that speak volumes. Some of my favourite such shots -
1. Shahid keeping his car keys and cellphone on the car.
2. The shot of fallen tie in forground as Shahid walks away.
3. The awkward intimate moment that Shahid and Kareena share.
4. Use of train sound when Kareena is asked by her lover to tell everyone the truth.
I was delighted to see the passing shot of Lassi being made in Washing Machine. A symbol of Punjab I’ve seen.
A big salute to Imtiaz Ali and the producers who trusted his vision. Jab We Met added to the list of my favourite films.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Sorry for not mentioning Irshad Kamil for the mesmerizing lyrics.
Na hai yeh pana
Na khona hi hai
Tera na hona,
Jaane kyun hona hi hai…
Ab to dekhni hi padegi…
Followed my instincts (nothing new) and went to see the film.
been a looooooooooooong time since I fell in love with a movie. If shahid and kareena’s performances left me a lil stunned (yeah, tad cynical) then Imtiaz’s caressing touch-ups to scenes and sequences left me with this wide grin …
Most impressive was shahid’s oh-so-subtle screen presence. Despite flamboyance of kareena’s character, cant help but keep watching him..expressions..body lang…(am not drooling…trust me)
Yup!
A very, very enjoyable film.
Although the second half was a bit slowish for me.
But 1st half is really wonderful, infact I shall go back again just to see it!
review of jab we met…
http://chavannichap.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-post_3981.html
The girl who played Roop is Saumya Tandon. Sorry for the error.
awesome movie…watched twice…planning to go again on sunday;)
Anyone who hasn’t seen the movie yet please go n watch it you will fall in love with the characters.Thats the beauty of Jab We Met.Sweet,simple and amazingly refreshing.Just grab it guys.
Really cool movie, planning on watching it again, heartwarming yet very funny. love it love it love it!/:)
:x 2 good muvi…plan 2 c coupl of times more
Fallen totally in love with the movie, my family is deeply worried for my sanity. They think I’m nursing a major passion for Shahid ( Who is sixteen years youger than me ), but its just the movie – its such a wonderful, complete package. Shahid and Kareena really look as though they are totally in love and the sparks that fly on screen are enough to set the hall ablaze. ‘Tumse hi’ and ‘aaoge jab tum’ are out of this world.Long time( actually can’t remember how long ) since a romance has affected me with this intensity. Seen it thrice already, looking around for more people to accompany me ( even my teenaged daughter has refused now ). Settled for rewatches on youtube. Pleaaase – let the DVD be released soon.
2 baar dekh li yaar hall mein .. phir dekhne ka man hai lekin koi hai hi nahi saath mein boohoo.
lol SEXY dialogues hahaha
“ye saale laundey mujhe ganne ke khet dekhne le jaate hain !! kyun jaoon main Ganne ke khet dekhne ?? kyun jaoon ???”
one of the best romantic films to come out of India. music is also thumbs up ! and good thing is that its shot completely in India .. no unnecessary swiss locales .. Imtiaz Ali rox !
highly romantic and display of unsaid emotions…
just loved it.
A late entrant to the club, watched it in February on the plane by sheer coincidence. I am officially in love with movie and with Shahid Kapur. My husband thinks I am crazy, 8 years older to the poor boy and I can’t stop talking about how wonderful he is. I am a bit worried about my health due my silly obsession, first ever crush of this intensity on a Bollywood hero ;-)
I have watched it a million times on DVD, Shahid’s screen presence is amazing.
I haven’t seen such beautiful picturisation of romance in a while so even if there are few flaws/errors in the acting department somewhere, I choose to ignore that since even DDLJ was not perfect. For men, it is way above DDLJ; of course the reason could be my new found affection for Shahid Kapur.
Wish I were in India, would have gone to the cinemas to watch it atleast 5-6 times but for now I am just happy watching the DVD.;)[-(;););)
:d Amaazig film! abolutely loved it! would watch it again nd again! has that affect which is jus so individual.. loved the acttiin! shahid kapoor is one hell of an actor (second copy of sharukh) nd kareena is such a dopey cutiee :d/ but this film was a hit mann! LoVVee It Jus LoVVe It:x