A Mundane Curtain Call

The film had a lot running on it – apart from the baggage of Yash Chopra that was unavoidably thrust upon it, the film was Shah Rukh’s return as the real romantic hero; add to that AR Rahman’s music and Gulzar’s lyrics. However, like most films that crumble under the weight of heavy expectations, Jab Tak Hai Jaan falls short of writing itself in history as anything other than the final trick Yash Chopra’s magic hat.

Yash Chopra was known to have mastered the technique of making the audience suspend their abilities to think rationally and buy into his premise. The larger than life characters and dramatic dialogues take you into a world that exists only in imaginariums.

The story of the three central characters is largely derivative and lacks originality. The plot points are loose pit-stops in the scheme of things and are not strong enough. The screenplay takes help from recent box office and critical successes – especially the parts where Samar Anand (SRK) is disposing bombs for the Indian Army leave you with clear flashes of scenes from Hurt Locker. A song in the film also resembles, in bits and pieces, another song from last year’s big hit Rockstar. However, majority of the desired audience of the film doesn’t buy the ticket for the story, thereby making the flaws in the plot unimportant. The film has a few typical Yash Chopra moments but comes across as a forced attempt than the effortlessness in his earlier films.

Nevertheless, even die-hard Shah Rukh fans might see a depleted superstar making futile attempts to appear young and romantic. Let’s face it, a 47-year-old face can barely muster up the innocence of a first love and the hurt of a first heartbreak. Shah Rukh’s inefficiency to fulfill the chocolate boy is just one nail in that coffin.

Katrina Kaif, yet again, lets her bust do the acting and is extremely dull and, after a point, it becomes unbearable to listen to dialogues coming out of a stone face. Anushka Sharma, who plays a documentary filmmaker, appears to be on a perpetual high (we suspect Prozac). Her character of Akira fails in portraying both the class of Kurosawa (her apparent namesake) and the zest of a young girl.

In terms of its music, the entire soundtrack will be out of your playlist in less than three days – highly shocking for such forgettable work from AR Rahman. Gulzar’s lyrics too, are simplistic but lack the elegance of Dil toh baccha hai ji.

For a cinema fanatic in India, ie everyone, it is impossible to ignore this film. The final presentation of one of the legends of the industry, Jab Tak Hai Jaan is a great reminder of the delightful experiences all of us have had thanks to Yash Chopra. Albeit the film isn’t in the same league as Waqt or Deewaar or Trishul, missing it wouldn’t be the best decision. SRK fans, watch it for your hero, the rest of you can watch it as a mark of respect to the pal do pal ka shayar.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Published in DNA After Hrs (Pune) on November 14, 2012