Jab We Met (When We Met – Jab is pronounced like ‘cub’ rather than ‘cab’), starring Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor, is the second film directed by Imtiaz Ali. I was looking forward to this one because I fell in love with the director’s first film, Socha Na Tha, and I was expecting more of the same.
I’ve only ever written about one other Hindi movie in the entire history of this blog, and that write-up wasn’t the most flattering. If you went by that you could be excused for thinking that I wasn’t a fan of Hindi cinema. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am, in fact an ardent fan of Hindi films, but it just so happens that this year has not been a great year. There haven’t been many Hindi movies which I would wholeheartedly recommend since this blog opened shop, and I just wasn’t interested in whining about the rest of them. Now at last we have Jab We Met, and at last there is something I can gush about. That should have been enough to give up the plot of where this is going. I absolutely loved Jab We Met. After a long time, I was happy to see a simple, straight-forward romantic Hindi film done with class, which manages to be both engaging and endearing.
Jab We Met is a return to the very core of what makes Hindi films so widely popular in a lot of the world outside western caucasian society: emotion. What Hindi films lack in technical perfection and sometimes logic, they make up for in their ability to completely endear themselves and their characters to the audience. Hindi films feel much more that they act and think, and they make the viewer feel with them. This is the reason why a good Hindi movie can stretch to over three hours without boring the audience. Action, events, and plot can only engage so much and keep your mind occupied for only so long before you require a break, and this is where Hollywood is at a disadvantage. Granted this preference for the emotional over the the more tangible might not work on western audiences, but when the rest of the world is numerically a much larger audience, I think Hindi cinema really should stick to its strengths. All these inherent strengths are manifested and celebrated in Jab We Met.
The plot is simple. Guy mourning a lost love meets crazy talkative girl on a train. What follows is part comedy of errors, part romance, part road movie, and part character drama. The characters are what truly stand out in this story. Both the male and female protagonists are strange and likable in their own ways. They are both straight-talking and mature in their dialogue with each other, not falling back on tired clichés of male-female behaviour. They are child-like but not childish. They are people with vision. The characters are people I wish I could meet. The characters are people I wish I could be. The characters are what I already am in some ways. They completely entice you from the first few minutes and you are swept up in their tale.
I am well aware of the fact that I have a major soft-spot for the acting of Kareena Kapoor when she is doing a great job, but what it all comes down to for me is the writing of the film. I have found that in the final analysis, I am a sucker for the perfectly written female character — at least perfect in my view of things, because each one of us is bound to have our own preference in that department. What is my definition of the “perfect female character?” Someone who is actually a complete character with a personality, intelligent, behaves like a human being before being a ‘girl’ … oh why bother, this list can go on forever without meaning anything. The best way to put this across is to mention some of the movies I think have these perfect characters: Socha Na Tha (Imtiaz Ali’s previous film), Asoka, The Matador, Bunty Aur Babli, Sunday in New York … and many others.
If all this perfection seems like unrealistic demands to all the ladies reading this, I’m sorry ladies but that’s just the way it is. You don’t hear me complaining when I’m expected to be a subtle mixture of Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle, Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator, and Sean Connery in Dr. No, do you? Realism is for the birds. If we didn’t all strive for some sense of the idea or seek it, what would make us human? Hindi films remind us of that, and every once in a while some thing like Jab We Met comes along and makes me feel glad once again that I was born into this species.
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lovely review……yup….imtiaz has definitely succeeded in bringing out the character of the “girl” as you say…he’s succeeded where almost 99% of hindi films fail where girls are either godesses or vamps….and i agree completely that bollywood should stick to its strength “EMOTION”……wonderful blog……hope to see more good posts…i’ll be a regular from now on….
KEEP UP WITH THE GOOD WORK!!!!
Thanks, Shantanu. Glad you liked the review and happy to know others agree about the emotional strengths of (good) Bollywood movies. I think a lot of reviews often look at Hindi cinema from almost a western theatrical point-of-view, which really is an unfair and irrelevant comparison.
Hope to see you around more often, and I will attempt to have more interesting content here regularly.
tis movie is a very nice movie.tis movie is suitable 4 lovest like me
I think this was an excellent movie.. and very well reviewed here. I loved the acting – wasn’t a big fan of Shahid until this movie!
Superb movie ever. Imtiaz Ali is a best director. Very different Romantic story. I like the music and all songs. I love Shahid Kapoor.
Good to know that you love this movie too but then anybody does!
However, it is far more charming to know that there are people who love Socha na tha, Aisha, Delhi-6 and Jab We met.
They are so Indian, so entrenched in our society, so fresh. I loved Socha na Tha. It has the easy feel to it which just sinks in your psyche. Crisp cutting dialogues and Abhay Deol’s lovable natural, intense ways just add the perfect feel to such movies. Jab we met, was quite a fascinating story too and Kareena’s antics often reminded others and me of my random things too!
Thanks for all your comments, Aparajita. You’re probably right in that there are few people who like something like Delhi-6 and Aisha or Jab We Met. I think it mostly comes from a need to strictly decide what sort of movie-watcher you are. Some choose to be the intellectual variety, and hence are forced to approve of anything that is supposed to be making a point, even if badly, and some choose to be the entertainment hounds, disliking anything that has a thought and automatically liking anything that comes across as light-hearted.
I like movies themselves; The thing in all their flavours and the craft that goes into making them. I like the entertaining, I like the profound, and I recognise the strengths and shortcomings of each example individually, as much as humanly possible.
The movies you mentioned do indeed capture various aspects of Indian-ness very well, which makes them rare gems in a rush to make our movies more international, with questionable results. The popularity of something like Jab We Met has grown with time, a good indication that we should make the best movies in our own style that we can make, and leave the rest to take care of itself.
Thanks again, and hope to see you around more often. Your thoughts are much appreciated.
Samir
karina i love u so so so so much