Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012)

It's a long time since I've seen a pure love story. Though it is a triangular love concept, the third vertex in the figure, Anushka Sharma, cannot be looked as an unnecessary part of the equation due to the way she breathes life into her character. Songs composed by A.R.Rahman have his touch and as is the norm, listening to them the second time is more enjoyable. Katrina Kaif is truly a British beauty with her flawless skin and her Hindi accent is kinda cute. Shah Rukh is the passionate lover as always. It is inconceivable that a rich and polished girl of upscale London falls for an odd job man and street singer, that too on one kiss alone, at a metro station. But what the heck, it's a Bollywood Yash Raj movie! Story dragged for a while but Anushka's re-entry in the second half is entertaining with her witty comebacks and tomboyish gestures. The medical condition of SRK ( retrograde amnesia) and his two accidents with memory retained from the first accident and Katrina coming after years to help him are so..so.. well, I wondered how SRK and Katrina were going to get back together. Overall, watch it if you like love stories and A.R.Rahman!

The movie drags for 3 long hours. Only the last hour is slightly watchable after the amnesia twist. The first 2 hours don't seem slow-paced, but is certainly predictable, hence boring. Quite unfortunate for the movie that the best part comes in the wee end when most of the audience would have left the theater!Visually good: they've shown India very beautifully. We feel like visiting all the calm mountains. (Of course this is not new. Lots of movies use exactly the same places and footages.) The Challa song is good, but the rest of the songs are run-of-the-mill. Needless to say, Anushka is far better than Katrina. Even character-wise. The happy-go- lucky girl image suits her. But we've seen it before and there is nothing new here for the viewer.The first part is a lame love story. There's absolutely no chemistry between the lead pair. It is way less than run-of-the-mill. SRK looks too old and worn out to dance with Kat. Post-interval, he tries to re- capture the Veer-Zaara kind of 'sad lover' emotions, trying to garner too much sympathy. It seems very shallow. He looks good as the aloof, dignified bomb diffuser, but when he shows signs of melting before Anushka, it looks too soon, too easy and uncomfortable for us.I found a whole list of bummers: If her dad loves her so much she should simply speak to him about her new choice. And this crap supporting her mother's extra-marital live-in as a 'love story' trying to generate sympathy in the Indian mind about casual divorces that are already rampant in the west. Leaving one good man for another, that too ditching an adolescent child, is not at all mature. Why did Kat have to promise to give him up to buy his life? She could have promised something else. It seems stupid. It seems totally dumb of her to think some superstitius bullshit like her absence keeping him safe. And if Jesus would keep him 'alive' in her absence, he certainly can get some injury at least? Why would you give all your money to a useless, jobless, shabbily- dressed Pakistani room mate who can't even make chai and whom you have to cook for, just because your girl friend dumped you? What makes you think he can get a job if he has lots of money when he couldn't so far? (It would have helped if it was established to the viewer that he was a very talented person only waiting for a break. Or better still, get rid of the character itself!) And what about money for flight ticket? And why go back to India when you could just shift to another city.Why did SRK alone had to run to stop her from stepping back on the switch? Why didn't he ask others to pull her away? And it was a switch for a bomb in the car, not bomb itself. The people near the car should have been blasted. Also if she was filming the bomb diffusion procedure itself, she'd have seen it coming. Why was she shooting something else? And why listen to ipod music when shooting an important documentary? Even audio in the shoot is important! And any sane photographer will not simply blindly step back before checking if anything is in the way. Finally, ipod with small earphones will NOT make external sounds inaudible at all!You don't sleep outdoors in Kashmir winter nights, wearing no warm cap and sweater, that too when u have your own tent nearby, that too when you are the only girl around!!! :-)) And when her camera breaks, I felt it serves her right for carelessly kicking the ball at her own camera! By the way didn't she have her backup tiny camcorder?The second accident is an extremely stupid twist. Anyone will know better than carelessly back off onto a busy London street moments after narrowly missing being hit, and after her bomb-switch incident and knowing about his bike accident of the past. Its a really silly twist! They could have made it more serious and believable and plausible!One thing I did like was the idea of testing his 'un-die-ability' in a bomb diffusion squad (and thus doing the world some good) rather than foolish, illegal and unethical gambling-with-death that Sanjay Dutt does in movie 'Luck'. Another good thing is this movie made me start singing loudly to myself without inhibition! :-) Which is why I'm giving 2 stars.

Jab Tak Hai Jaan. It's not good because it's last indulgent attempt of Yash Chopra. It is good because Yash Chopra had the ability to adapt his love stories to changing times. His hero has still the old soul of undying love but one of his heroine is straight from the generation from 21st century. Every love story has a villain who does not like lovers to be close to each other, here he is God himself. The story has three acts, first riding on confident performance of Shahrukh Khan, second act riding on soulful energy of Anushka Sharma but third act is where writer and directors find themselves in confused state and let the story fill with few silly twists. Movie works because it has soul, neat characterization, uncluttered screenplay and nice background score but it is let down by average work by A.R.Rahman and Gulzar in songs by their standards and the average performance by Katrina Kaif which could have been a killer performance if played by some better talent. Nevertheless, it is a nice love story to enjoy once for sure.

20 things I learned from this epic crap-fest:Indians are always top of anything they do and live in the poshest homes and lead the most affluent lifestyles abroad. As for those who are shown to be less fortunate, there is always a reason for it and no matter what, they will become fortunate by the end of the film.National Geographic is always scouting for moronic scantily clad army brats to come and intern with them.Bomb experts are also known as "the men who cannot die" in India.Katrina Kaif can't act, even if she is being directed by one of the greatest Indian directors of all time."What the fish" is the new WTF.No one in this movie knows how to successfully cross the street.Random people on the street will automatically know your choreography step for step even if you are Freestyle dancing.Everybody in London understands Hindi/Urdu.Katrina Kaif blinks 5 times more per second than the average human being.Shahrukh Khan would do anything for YRF and I mean ANYTHING.YRF will do anything for money.Londoners would still hold garden parties in the middle of winter with no tents or any kind of shield from the harsh weather.Even a Yash Raj movie can have bathroom breaks, I didn't think this could ever be possible.Indian entertainers like to address God (especially in Church scenes) like they are talking to their pal and not a supreme being.It is okay to treat a non-Hindu religion (especially Christianity) with blatant disregard because Christians won't mind? =/Don't worry if love between you and your millionaire businessman sweetheart doesn't workout you can always grow a successful wine vineyard with your lover.In London, when you get arrested for trespassing, the police will not only let you finish the song you may have been singing but also standby and watch you bump and grind with your lover.Suspend your disbelief at every plot hole especially if you find yourself asking questions like: How did Akira get to the rock in the middle of that body of water to film her dare? Or why are there were poignant moments being shown where Samar wasn't with Meera yet those scenes were documented in the diary Akira was reading?Drop a few bomb defusing lingo and London metro police will let you board a train to defuse a bomb and rather than suspect you of planting said bomb, they'll thank you for defusing it and let you walk away without further questioning. =/People will do anything for money which is the only logical excuse why for the making of this film.