movie review - jaane tu....ya jaane na...........God is really in the Supporting Cast

well OK, lets face it.....he looks good.....in a non chocolate boy kind of way....but for the better part of this past month, and you can blame it on my being slow...i had no idea who this "imran khan" was....i finally figured, after watching a scathing news story titled "this pappu cant speak" on one of the news channels (where else do you get 'breaking filmi news'?) that this was aamir khan's nephew.....so as with anything that i need to find out more about, i headed to my most immediate and mostly credible source of information - the Internet and read up like a star struck (wont be an entirely wrong description) movie junkie all there was to know about this debutant actor...

OK so we know all about him, how he didn't know hindi and attended a film acting school and found it bizarre, and (alas!!) is very much in love with avantika, who he speaks fairly openly about....and all that.....

soon after the scathing report of his "cant speak" news item in the media, i was zapped and (here in lies the power of the media and a fabulous lesson of how to use it well) left stunned, by the immediate turn around.....everywhere you saw, aamir (maamu) and his bhateeja imran were there....at promotions, at events, giving interviews to anyone who held anything remotely looking like a mike in their hands and were waxing eloquent about each other and their movies and everything else they had or hadn't spoken about.....it was amazing to see this publicity blitzkrieg.... therein lies the absolute intelligence of aamir khan..the man...who sets his mind on something and goes after it with all barrels blazing!!

OK...this began as a movie review....and i have completely lost the plot!!

what made me want to see Jaane Tu, is the fact that imran is very articulate, not only does he have a deeply sexy voice (for his age) but he speaks clearly....like a normal intelligent clear minded man (OK....err not so normal....i guess). i was smitten by the way he articulated his thoughts, and there appeared to be no prepared answers....although that's an oxymoron considering the magnitudes of interviews he's been giving!! that apart, i like abbas tyrewala's work....on all the previous occasions....for a man to be scripting something as varied as Maqbool and the Munna bhai series, had to be taken seriously.....

so we braved the crowds of mad and excited teeny bopper's to make my way into the theatre....the story is pretty simple....girl and boy are best of friends and everyone including you and me (their families, friends included) think they are in love and cant understand why the hell they haven't made declarations of it yet!! they believe they are just "best friends" try to find matches for each other, realise they love each other and then go all out to confess!!

OK now that the story is out of the way....lets come to the other parts of the film.......

first things first, Imran Khan, is perfectly cast as the leading man...he is completely confident in front of the camera, walks, talks and dances like a normal person and very quickly endures the character he plays "jai singh Rathore" to you.....for a first time, he is so much at ease that you want to cringe at all the other bad actors after 25 films that you have endured.....

genelia is a sight for sore eyes.....i am a big fan of her telugu movies and she clearly is a face the camera loves....she however needs to work on her dialogue delivery a little......cos sometimes you wonder why she needs to screech so much......

the rest of the star cast.....supporting roles (read other than the lead pair) are spectacular.....the gang of friends is refreshingly normal....with a motley of people obviously scoured from the length and breadth of this country....thank god they are young...yet such confident actors and not at all conscious of the camera....its fabulous to see people performing well in these parts...and i think this is what makes a movie singularly better....the performances of the ensemble cast.....the role of the mother (Rathna Pathak Shah) is (but) brilliantly played ....and i think hindi movies could do with a liberal dose of this fabulous actress....she is all substance, wit and timing ....and it is difficult not to want more of her.....anooradha patel and jayant kriplani( where have you been??) are good and overall the casting director has gotten it just bang on!! how often do you see real talent in the side roles.....not often....and for that, jaane tu is a real treat to watch......real actors make it so effortless.....naseeruddin shah is so loveable.....and those famous siblings.....they show such maturity in their comic act...........that you wonder why they've never done anything but crass comedy before....!! and paresh rawal, shows you what you can do with supreme acting in just a couple of scenes.....the only weak links are the two people who play suitors to imran and genelia...they look much too old to be even considered matches for them....

there are parts where the script really kicks and drags it feet and perhaps the editor went on a loo break once too often......the establishment of three things....the "friendship" between the lead pair, the courting of someone else, and the realisation of true love for each other, gives you enough time to go grab a three course refreshment......and not miss a thing.......and this is what surprises me....that abbas was so excited to tell his tale, that he made it a tad tedious.....

the music of course is topnotch....breezy and catchy, yet the lyrics elevate it to another level.......kabhi kabhi aditi, is by far my favourite of all......thought they haven't made full length song a dance sequences for all of them....a few songs however, don't know why they are there....and for someone who claims not to know how to dance.....the leading lady does rather well (as has happened in scores of movies where perfectly choreographed song and dance routines happen....but somehow i expected a lot more tautness here from the director)

what works for the film is that the cast is bang on....the camera clearly loves both imran khan and genelia....the supporting cast, really does it for the movie.....it elevates it to a level higher......the set design is so real that you want the lamps and beds that are there in the movie in your own home.....and will keep an eye out for them.....it does so much for a film when the set doesn't look "fake"

my absolute favourite cameo in the movie (difficult choice to make) was that of prateik babbar, who plays genelia's brother.....genes sometimes make such a difference...he is all Smitha patils son....and yet his own man....its shocking to see such a performance in a role that has little over 4 scenes charm you the way he did.....dialogues, expression and acting...he is way above this league.....he brings to the role of an angst ridden, loner, painter, brother yearning for the attention of his sister, such a credibility that you cant help fall in love with him......

overall jaane tu is a good time pass watch.....aamir khan the producer businessman will ensure it gets better ratings that it deserves.....its a nice clean fresh faced flick.....and will surely make a star of imran khan....the boy has promise and i hope will have a decent and sensible career.....i would like to see what he does next....now that he has teeny bopper out of the way.....genelia will be a good addition to the leading lady brigade...she has a freshness last seen in preity zinta....and gosh she is so pretty!! abbas has done well with his maiden directorial venture, in that he picked a winning team and a story and great music.....he also chose wisely in finding a producer for his film......after Rang de, this is a film where the ensemble cast excels in their roles.....and that i think is the mark of a very intelligent man!!

go watch this one...for the sheer freshness in the acting and to burst the bubble that supporting actors dont contribute to the end result of a movie....they are the ones that actually make this one graduate from yet another teen romance, to a pretty good movie.....my rating is three stars on five...

Welcome Imran!! cheers to you and here's to seeing more of you.....Abbas...well done....but man you have so much more to give.....Pakhi - the casting director - you are the real hero of this movie!!