« Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End | HomePage | Boss's Best - My Personal Pancham Favourites »
17 June 2007
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom - Guilty Pleasure?
| Powered by: Chakpak.com | Jhoom Barabar Jhoom |
My rating: 7/10
There was a time, not very long back, when screen lovers in mainstream Hindi films would suddenly find themselves in Switzerland singing their mandatory love ballad amid verdant valleys and Alpine surroundings. As time progressed, and Switzerland became oh-so-familiar, the locations became more global – Australia, New Zealand, Canada, et al. What did not change was the fact that our protagonists, though quintessential desis, would fantasize about singing and dancing in distant foreign locales. A dream, after all, reflects one’s aspiration, not reality. You dream of something that is…well, distant.
Now, have you ever thought about where NRIs would dream of singing their love duet? Well, India of course. They would dream of traveling on Indian Railways, meeting at the Old Delhi Railway station, navigating their way through the busy by lanes of Chandni Chowk on cycle rickshaws, wandering up and down the steps of an exotic step-well somewhere in Rajasthan, and of course serenading at the Taj. In other words – all that India stands for in the eyes of a foreigner: exotica. The lovebirds in Shaad Ali's Jhoom Barabar Jhoom do precisely that. Doesn't matter if one of them is not really an Indian, and perhaps Lahore would be a better choice for her as a 'dream destination'.
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom has many such moments, which fall well within the conventions of Hindi films, but have a delightfully 'different' treatment. First and foremost – the melodrama is completely gotten rid of, save for some brief moments towards the climax. Secondly, the film has virtually no plot, which is very true of most mainstream Hindi films. But unlike other films, Shaad Ali seems to know this very well and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom doesn't pretend to be anything else. This plotless, have-fun-while-it-lasts flick actually elevates thematic vacuousness to the level of a virtue. It is the non-existent storyline and an absence of 'dramatic conflict' that makes Jhoom Barabar Jhoom such fun to watch. What a sharp contrast from Ta Ra Rum Pum , the last film from the same production house that tried so hard to be 'meaningful' but ended up getting nowhere.
The entire first half of the film is about two strangers meeting at London's Waterloo railway station and narrating the stories of their respective love lives to kill time. The stories they narrate are bizarre and outrageous, but presented in a delightfully different manner. OK, not so different but not commonplace either. The narration of these stories has the same chutzpah and tongue-in-cheek quality that Sai Paranjpe presented so hilariously in Chashme Baddoor . Remember the scenes in Chashme Baddoor where Ravi Baswani and Rakesh Bedi try to cover up their failure in wooing Deepti Naval and take inspiration from the Hindi films they have seen to spin interesting yarns about their escapades?
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom pays homage to a number of Hindi films (many of them classics). So when the lovers are at the Taj, Jo Waada Kiya from Taj Mahal plays in the background. A prostitute names Laila gets her introduction with the Laila song from Qurbani. Ye Dosti accentuates the scene where Abhishek and Boobby are riding on a scooter with a sidecar, just like the way their fathers did in Sholay. A bit corny, yes. But what the heck, it’s meant to be fun.
The reason I liked Jhoom Barabar Jhoom was that it never takes itself too seriously. The humour, though corny at times, comes across quite effortlessly. Just try to think about the lines you might have used to inject humour in your regular conversations with friends. At that moment they would have seemed very funny, but take them to a different setting and they would appear completely inane. That’s a quality the team of Jhoom Barabar Jhoom - the writers, director, actors- manages to infuse in the film quite successfully. My true LOL moment in the film was when Piyush Mishra is quite annoyed having to wait for his kababs to be served and shouts "…kya bakra kaatne gaya hai?" and the shop owner shouts at his cook using the exact same words. I realize that this doesn't sound funny when I write it down, but in the film this scene had me in splits.
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom relies a lot on Shankar Ehsaan Loy's high-octane music and brilliant choreography by Vaibhavi Merchant to get its unique fun feel . The conceptualization of the Kiss of Love song is imaginative and very Broadway-ish. Gulzar's rustic lyrics add to the charm of the song and dance routines, though at time you wonder if the characters in the film would have in their vocabulary the words he gives them to mouth. But a die-hard Gulzar fan like me would not complain, because his distinctive touch stays intact in his songs, not to mention his fascination for the moon and the new imagery he associates with the moon and moonlight. A few examples:
- आजा चाँदनी कूटेँगे आसमान को लूटेँगे, चल धुआँ उड़ा के झूम
- यहीं कहीं शब काटेंगे, चिलम चटाई बाँटेंगे, चल धुआँ उड़ा के झूम
- मक्की की रोटी गुड़ रख के, मिसरी से मीठे लब चख के, तन्दूर जला के झूम
- खीसे खुलने लगे हैं, हीरे तुलने लगे हैं…
- चाँद की उतार ली हैं दोनों बालियाँ…
- ये चाँद का चिकना साबुन कुछ देर में घुल जायेगा…
- धागे तोड़ लाओ चाँदनी से नूर के…
I know that I belong to the rare breed of people who actually enjoyed Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. It's been panned universally by critics and I'm yet to hear a positive comment from anyone who has seen the film. I don't understand why, but there have been many times when my views have not matched with others. For one, I saw many good points even in the now forgotten Umrao Jaan when others found none. At first I used to be very defensive about my views, but not anymore. Jhoom Barabar Jhoom is my guilty pleasure. Actually not - I don't feel embarrassed to admit that I loved it. If other's didn't, it's not my problem!
P.S: I have finally found one review that gives a thumbs up to JBJ, and the best part is that it is by my favorite reviewer Baradwaj Rangan.
01:40 Posted in Film | Permalink | Comments (7) | Trackbacks (0) | Email this | Tags: Movie Reviews
Trackbacks
The URL to Trackback this post is: http://urgetofly.blogspirit.com/trackback/1305655
Comments
no even if "one of them is not really an Indian" trust me she will not dream of Lahore as the "dream destination" for the ten minutes lets fall in love trip with her paramour (if it was the ten minutes lets eat some really good food trip, yes it could be Lahore).
But when little girls dream of love in Pakistan, we continue to dream in Technicolor and of the Taj.
Posted by: aneela | 18 June 2007
Fantastic Review! Agree on almost all counts.....it's sad so many people are missing the point in the movie..Ali is a genius, and yes..that 30 minute musical ROCKED:-)! The highlight IMO
My review below FYI
http://aakshayshah.blogspot.com/2007/06/akshay-shah-watches-jhoom-barabar-jhoom.html
A.Shah
Posted by: AKshay Shah | 20 June 2007
Good to hear some +ve review on JBJ :)
Posted by: Prashant | 20 June 2007
Well, the reviewer may not admit it, but he seems to have a pre-disposition which colours his views of a movie he watches. He has two distinct traits:
1. Non-conventional, against the common tide, away from the beaten track... etc etc. (I no one likes a movie, he will find something at least to like about it)
2. A weeping heart for the underdog, the misunderstood, the rebel... (if a movie gets a bad review, he would do his best to lift the flagging spirit of the film-maker)
These two qualities, I am sure, influence his personal and professional life as well. I can imagine him to be a sympathetic manager and a sensitive pet-owner, an indulgent parent and a champion of lost causes in public life.
Maybe, just maybe.
What makes me like this review is what make most film reviews repulsive to me. The reviewer went into the theatre with a positive predisposition to find a good point in the movie, sat through and watched the full movie and noted the positives, and is still not blind to the negatives. Ultimately, his judgement of the movie is personal. Most reviewers try to be everybody. They look at a movie from a "public" point of view, and try to judge at the outset what would the "public" (read, Box Office) verdict on a movie. They try to predict that, and then go forward and try to reflect that assumed view of other peoples' mind. This is because reviewing brings food to their table, and they won't afford to be caught unawares if a movie they criticised does well at the Box Office, or vice versa.
A movie, like a book, is a personal experience. Better keep it personal. This reviewer keeps that in mind, and reacts to the film JBJ from an intensely personal stand point. I like his attitude when he says, "if no one else likes it, it is not my problem !" He is unapologetic and does not try to validate his liking too much. He simply 'likes' JBJ. take it or leave it.
I am sure there are many such private voices which are being shouted down by the combined din of official reviewers and word of mouth of a Box Office gossip. So just let the veneers go and go watch the movie again with a fresh state of mind, just for sinking your teeth into the succulent taste of pure unadulterated story-less fun packaged in great style.
Posted by: Jayanta | 29 November 2007
I knew it. One day I would find a place where I could discuss this film with some like minded individuals. A friend wrote perhaps the only other nodding review to Rangan Sir on the film.
http://passionforcinema.com/jhoom-barabar-jhoom-bollywood-in-honkytonk-lights-and-spandex-tights/
At the same time, all these JBJ bashings were going on at PFC. I happened to write in a short review, having had enough of everyone calling the film a new benchmark for mediocrity, in one of those posts. Sadly, I cant seem to find my own review, but that some time else.
You pretty much mention all that I have to say about the film. I have a few additions..
-I LOVE the film for its ....
some other day :-)
Posted by: tushar | 19 January 2008
Here is another person who had a blast watching this film.....
This is what I expected Jaan-e-Man to be, but was totally disappointed. JBJ distills the essence of what makes Bollywood films worthwhile and does away with the trite storylines that most Bollywood films have. That to me is its biggest strength.
I have yet to meet someone who has liked this film, but that has never bothered me. I know what I like and dislike. I loved this film.....more than both of Shad Ali's previous films. I will pdefinately put it in the list of the very few films that I have actually liked this year.
Cheers
Posted by: Anil | 24 January 2008
Anil, it's great to find that the cult of JBJ lovers is not as small as I had thought it would be... :)
Posted by: Aditya Pant | 24 January 2008