Jaane Tu ya Jaane Na(2008) : Review

It has been a while since I sat through a film that made me smile, and at times even break into a hearty laughter. Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na, did both. The film, by Aamir Khan Productions and directed by Abbas Tyrewala, is about love.It has no great production values, no great packaging, no fantastic storyline to speak of. And surprisingly, no unforgettable lines by Tyrewala, who has given us plenty in Munnabhai, Maqbool and Main Hoon Na. The good thing is AR Rahman's music reflects the soul of the film, youthful, easy, breezy.MUSIC REVIEW: Jaane Tu... Jaane Tu, in fact, is a very barebones film that you know the story of: Young people growing up, growing apart and growing in love. So we have Jai (Imran Khan) and Aditi (Genelia D’Souza), who love each other, but lack the insight and maturity to accept it. And in the end – of course, after twists and turns and many song and dance sequences with friends – they find the courage to face up to the truth.The characters Jaane Tu is populated by parents who are 'cool' and play Scrabble, parents who are bitter and on the verge of breakup, single, hardworking mothers, corrupt, comical cops, difficult brothers, and friends who just hang around and gang around strumming guitars and getting drunk on cola. But the clichés – you can find thousands, from Dil Chahta Hai to Kuch Kuch Hota Hai – are saved by the humour. Like the scene where Jai is invited by Aditi's parents to discuss their engagement, or the one with the antics of the two brothers Bhaloo and Baghera (hilarious comic cameos by 'swashbuckling' Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan), or the piece de resistance, the delightful relationship between Jai's mother Savitri (played by Ratna Pathak Shah) and the talking portrait of her husband (Naseeruddin Shah), which leaves you in splits!The characters of course are comically exaggerated and yet believable. Friends here do not zip around in Mercs or live in Manhattan-esque apartments. They take cabs and walk the streets of Mumbai, borrow money to pay for cover charges at nightclubs, saunter around in their pyjamas, and, at times, refuse to buy a cell phone until they get a job (okay so the last bit is a little unbelievable).