Jab We Met

Director: Imtiaz Ali
Producer: Dhillin Mehta
Starring: Shahid Kapoor , Kareena Kapoor, Dara Singh, Kiran Juneja
Music: Pritam, Sandesh Shandilya
Lyrics: Irshad Kamil

"Kahani Mein Twist Hai…!" Bollywood love stories have always been infused with unpredictable twists and turns and finally land up with the lead pair in desired heaven.
This tried and trusted formula has been revamped and resurrected for decades. 'Jab We Met' reintroduces director Imtiaz Ali as an appropriate and efficient storyteller after mish-mash youthful saga 'Socha Na Tha'. It may be not be his finest attempt in this genre but positively a better entertaining option for the festive weekends.
Girl meets boy but circumstances detest their relationships! It's decades' old decayed concept that has been successfully executed in Mahesh Bhatt's 'Dil Hai Ke Maanta Nahin', Aditya Chopra's 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge' and Ajay Devgan's 'Pyar to Hona Hi Tha'. Even Hollywood had classics like 'It happened One Night' to its credit followed by recent super hits like 'Harry meets Sally', 'A Walk in the Clouds', 'French Kiss' etc that have been appreciated worldwide.
In short, 'Jab We Met' has a cultural backdrop of 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge' and conceptual backdrop of films like Hollywood 'A Walk in the Clouds'. Unfortunately, Hollywood's 'A Walk in the Cloud' had two disastrous clones in the form of 'Dhai Akshar Prem Ke' and 'Kunwara' but 'Jab We Met' works well both for actor as well for the director. Yes, it does work and delivers packages of comical relief in the first half followed by conventional melodramatic acts to sum up the predictable proceedings.
'Jab We Met' has many aces up his sleeves and all accolades to the handling of the subject that gives it a strikingly refreshing look. As told earlier, 'Jab We Met' is not the brightest flick of this genre but promises "paisa vassol" entertainment for family audiences. Director Imtiaz Ali matures as a proficient storyteller and director by daring to rehash and recreate age-old formula of girl eloping with her love interest and thus facing the wrath of her loved ones.
Both Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor surface some ground for them as all of their endeavors ('Fida', '36 Chinatown' and 'Chup Chipke') have faired average to poor at the box office. In fact, the film is a blessing for both of them and shows the first spark of flaring love chemistry between them on silver screen. Pritam's music and Natarajan's cinematography are the other striking features that elevate the credentials of this youthful love saga.
Aditya (Shahid Kapur), a demoralized industrialist, gets emotionally tormented after attending the marriage of the girl he loves the most. Depressed and exhausted, he feels ashamed to face the world. He walks out of the marriage gathering and aimlessly boards a train in the night. Destiny rescues him on train when he meets Geet (Kareena Kapoor) - a gorgeous but exasperatingly talkative girl who is leaving Mumbai to go to her hometown - Bhatinda (Punjab). The communion became a headache for both of them as they miss their train on every station.
Geet discloses big plans to Aditya of eloping with her boyfriend Anshuman (Tarun Arora) as she fears resentment from her parents. The love journey of the two begins on grim note when Geet irritates Aditya to a large extent and every meeting becomes mental torture for him.
Finally, the two find themselves stranded on a desolate station with no luggage or money. They board a lounge for the night. Geet's family (Pawan Malhotra, Dara Singh and Kiran Juneja) welcomes her and Aditya and the friendship turns into love. As per the promise, Aditya helps Geet elope to meet her love interest, Anshuman in Shimla.
Love blooms and so the pleasant journey for the two through the exuberant hilly mountains of Manali and Shimla. Destiny despises Geet's love story as Anshuman avoids and dumps her. On the other hand, Aditya makes up his losing ground by conquering all his adversaries by resurrecting his "down in the dumps" business empire.
Geet's family accuses Aditya for his involvement in elopement and finally forces him to locate her. Aditya is traumatized to learn about Geet's misfortune and consoles her to face the circumstances. Aditya manages in patching up the relationship of Geet and Anshuman and they decide to travel back to Bhatinda (Geet's native place).
On their arrival, Geet's family mistakes Aditya as Geet's real lover. Anshuman is exasperated on being sidelined by Geet's parents and seeks help from both Aditya and Geet. The film ends on a very "filmi" note where the girl understands the meaning of real love and chooses her real soul-mate as her life partner.
The first half of 'Jab We Met' has shades from films like 'Dil Hai Ke Maanta Nahin' and 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge', where lovers meet under drastic circumstances in an unconventional situation (bus, train etc). Kareena Kapoor's extrovertly penned character of "Geet" delivers some comical moments but many a time it sounds outlandish.
Dialogues (Imtiaz Ali) needs to be more spicy and crispy to give more hilarious feels. In recent times, Kareena has delivered her most impressive performance by taking break from conventional "naach-gaana" appearances.
Shahid Kapoor's adaptability and tenacity in melodramatic scenes are the other high points of the film that boost the film's prospects. Even he shows loads of maturity by getting into the soul of the character that had many shades.
The climax of the film belongs to him where he shows his flair of intense acting. Pawan Malhotra gets another "meaty" role to play after her villainous acts in 'Black Friday' and 'Don - the chase begins'. Dara Singh provides melodramatic sequences with his patent "Punjabi" accented dialogue delivery. Tarun Arora looks unimpressive while Kiran Juneja has little to offer in her muted character.
Pritam's music rocks! It really rocks in all "bhangra" moods in tracks like "Nagaada Nagaada" and "Mauja Hi Mauja". Sandesh Shandilya -conceived "Aaoge Jab Tum" is the best soundtrack of the film that really sets the melodramatic stage for the climax and gives the film its momentum in latter stages. Choreography (Saroj Khan and Ahmed Khan) glitters appreciably in festive tracks and so do costumes (Manish Malhotra, Shabina Khan) for the lead actors.
'Jab We Met' marks the resurrection for the lead actors as well as for the director Imtiaz Ali. Its big leap for Imtiaz Ali from his nervous days of 'Socha Na Tha' to the well conceived melodramatic love chemistry of 'Jab We Met'.
The story of the film may be bit "run of the mill" stuff but the execution and treatment deserves to be applauded. Comedies are the flavors of the season and so will be 'Jab We Met' for its audiences.
The aggressive promotion, bankable music, good performances coupled with good mouth of publicity will be enhancing its prospects at the box office.
Finally, the love birds did meet, if not in personal lives but certainly on the silver screen!