The Hindu : New Delhi News : A lovely and not so lovely week at the theatres Cinema

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Sunday, Jul 06, 2008
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A lovely and not so lovely week at the theatres Cinema

ZIYA US SALAM

L0VE IN THE AIR: Scenes from “Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na” (left) and “Love Story 2050”.

L0VE IN THE AIR: Scenes from “Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na” (left) and “Love Story 2050”.

JAANE TU…YA JAANE NA

(At Delite and other theatres in Delhi and elsewhere)

His uncle is still at it: wowing audiences across generations, re-inventing himself with every new venture of his. And now you have Imran, Aamir Khan’s nephew, whose face does nothing to make you question his genes. He resembles Aamir in more than a passing manner. More importantly, he also reminds us of Aamir in his early “Qayamat se Qayamat Tak” days: fresh, frothy with a winsome smile, and a complete natural in front of the camera. “Jaane Tu̷ 0;Ya Jaane Na” may not work wonders at the box office, but we all know a new star is born.

Director Abbas Tyrewala takes a time-tested way to introduce Imran: a love story set on the university campus, the kind we see only in cliché-ridden Bollywood. So all the students wear designer stuff, girls lick their lollypops, guys wear their cap back-to-the-front. And there is not even a hint of academics. Our guy is better looking than everybody else, the girl – Genelia, now clearly on a comeback trail – just about. She is a motor mouth, he can barely speak a sentence. She can return brickbats with a ton of rubble, he is likely to show his other cheek to an assailant. The other youngsters fill up the frames, help maintain a young ambience in a story that works through its taut narrative. Despite occasional lapses in momentum, the love story of two people who don’t know when the Cupid struck works.

In new-found freedom for Hindi cinema, the hero and heroine are best friends. He cannot stay without her caustic remarks, she cannot do without him trailing her like a shadow all the time. She cannot stand his non-violent streak, his docile ways, he cannot tolerate her loud ways. That they are usually in a group cloaks the truth: friendship is a nice cover for what is essentially a non-platonic attraction. For the non-happening story to move forward, Tyrewala introduces a girlfriend for the hero with the obvious repercussions. Throw in a toughie for the girl, the kind who would enjoy drool-value. Again, the side-effects are predictable. All familiar, all enjoyable. All good as long as it lasts.

“Jaane Tu…” is not a path-breaking film. In fact, the director pays homage to every conceivable stereotype along the way. Backing up a designer campus crowd are constant references to the valour of Rajputs…. how a man who has not wielded the sword or bashed up a couple, is, well, not quite a man! Tyrewala makes it palatable by keeping the tenor light and comic.

Now add an emerging new Bollywood mom: she still prepares a toast and halwa for her son, but wears pants, reads novels, speaks English. That Ratna Pathak Shah makes a rare appearance as the ambivalent mom spices up the proceedings. But hey, wait a minute, the dark horse of the film is the irrepressible Naseeruddin Shah. In a cameo as the gallant Rajput, he is a winner. His flawless dialogue delivery, his nuances, his body manoeuvring all lend the film some of its best moments.

Watch “Jaane Tu….” It may not offer anything new beyond a hero who is going to be around for some time, but it sails through on the basis of its packaging, its seamless interweaving of the traditional with the modern.

LOVE STORY 2050

(At Regal, Delhi, and other theatres)

If Imran resembles Aamir, and the resemblance is natural and understandable, it is quite the opposite here. Newcomer Harman Baweja seems to have cultivated an uncanny similarity to Hrithik Roshan to evoke interest in his debut film.

He seems to make a conscious effort to walk, talk and even occasionally look like Hrithik. Father Harry Baweja, the director, does not help his kid’s cause by even shoplifting some of the sequences from Hrithik’s films. So here we get lots of sun and sand, crests and troughs of waters, cliffs and the like. All a throwback to “Kaho Na…Pyar Hai” that gave Rakesh Roshan’s son a passport to frame. Then the special effect scenes with a special science laboratory for experiments tell you the director watched “Krisshh” very carefully.

Hey, if only he had spent that much energy in presenting his son in an original manner. Young Harman does all that is asked of him: flexes muscles, runs, no gallops, after the girl, even tries a Hrithik-like dance step or two. That he does all this with confidence speaks of his talent. Pity he is not allowed to be his own man in a story that moves so slowly that tortoises could have been in business.

It all starts off as a routine love story: In a new trend for Bollywood, the film is not based in India but the first world. This time it is Australia. Here Priyanka is at the racecourse watching guys bike their way to glory. Again, predictably, she challenges one guy to win it. Again, predictably, that guy is a hero, who also goes on to win it. That sets the stereotypical love affair rolling. Soon we have the guy chasing her all over: stadiums, malls, railway stations….Phew! How can one be so predictable!

There is a twist: again, nothing new, just a reiteration of something that’s tried, tested and used innumerable times in the past: she has promised him a kiss. He is one side of the road, she on the other with an ice cream in hand. In comes the traffic…. You don’t need to be a Nostradamus to know where the film will head: the girl gets killed, the guy still pines for her. Enter time machine, enter 2050. Enter the girl again. Yippie!

So sad! It is a film that taxes your patience. Despite some novelty with the robots, the show falls flat. Forgettable music, non-existent director. And a lead pair that show some spark but are usually hamstrung by the script.

“Love Story 2050” is lots of style with little substance, lots of imitation, very little to flatter the audiences. Heard of something called love fatigue? Umm.

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