Best Romantic Comedy In Bollywood.
Jan. 24th, 2008 09:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladymirthJab We Met is the best damn thing to happen to Bollywood cinema in decades.
Let's take a look at the two stars, shall we? I have no love for Kareena Kapoor. Acting is in her blood, and she has delivered quite a few laudable performances in Ashok, Chameli and even Don. Unfortunately however, I was introduced to her through the Karan Johar's cinematic monstrosity Khabie Khushi Khabie Gam, the major-most WTF moment in Indian blockbuster history. Her overblown, wince-worthy performance as Pooja (I'm sorrry - Poo) all but made me break out in hives. Plus, I find her sister to be easier on the eyes. So I am supremely wary of the woman.
Shahid Kapoor has been a complete non-entity to me since his unfortunate debut in Fida. Next to the supremely hot badassery of Fardeen Khan, Shahid merely came across as a short-ass Hrithik Roshan wannabe who looked nothing more than a leaping, wriggling sprat-creature of a humanoid with emo bangs. I remember wondering who the fuck thought he could carry off a starring role. No love for him there too.
So you can see why I had to be dragged off kicking and screaming to see Jab We Met, despite it's many positive reviews. The prospect of sitting for two and a half hours of a meet-cute between Kareena and Shahid, who had about as much chemistry as mold and wet cardboard in Fida, felt like a karmic bitchslap from a past life.
Boy was I wrong. In fact, I expect to be completely correct in all the pre-judgements I make for the next month, simply to create a cosmic counterbalance to how completely wrong I was in my prejudices about Jab We Met.
I'm not trying to diss on SRK in favour of Shahid. The boy has talent, but SRK is stil the more experienced, accomplished actor whom I still retain a certain fondness for, despite his annoying penchant for screen-hogging. I'm just rejoicing that the new blood coming into Bollywood cinema isn't as hopeless as we originally imagined. If that boy plays his cards right, he could easily fill SRK's shoes as Bollywood's most bankable talent within the next ten years.
Kudos also go out to the director and writer, who takes a rather half-hearted storyline and turns it into a masterpiece with great direction and realistic and witty dialogue. The soundtracks deserve a whole review to themselves, all of them being catchier than the sniffles and which keep getting stuck inside your head like half-chewed bubble-gum sticks to a shoe. It's very difficult to get tired of hearing them anytime soon.
Anyway, my point is: WATCH JAB WE MET. It's not a movie that'll be emulated anytime soon. It's not just a must-see, it's a must buy. If only to ogle Shahid Kapoor and the black-shirted forearms of Pr0n.
Let's take a look at the two stars, shall we? I have no love for Kareena Kapoor. Acting is in her blood, and she has delivered quite a few laudable performances in Ashok, Chameli and even Don. Unfortunately however, I was introduced to her through the Karan Johar's cinematic monstrosity Khabie Khushi Khabie Gam, the major-most WTF moment in Indian blockbuster history. Her overblown, wince-worthy performance as Pooja (I'm sorrry - Poo) all but made me break out in hives. Plus, I find her sister to be easier on the eyes. So I am supremely wary of the woman.
Shahid Kapoor has been a complete non-entity to me since his unfortunate debut in Fida. Next to the supremely hot badassery of Fardeen Khan, Shahid merely came across as a short-ass Hrithik Roshan wannabe who looked nothing more than a leaping, wriggling sprat-creature of a humanoid with emo bangs. I remember wondering who the fuck thought he could carry off a starring role. No love for him there too.
So you can see why I had to be dragged off kicking and screaming to see Jab We Met, despite it's many positive reviews. The prospect of sitting for two and a half hours of a meet-cute between Kareena and Shahid, who had about as much chemistry as mold and wet cardboard in Fida, felt like a karmic bitchslap from a past life.
Boy was I wrong. In fact, I expect to be completely correct in all the pre-judgements I make for the next month, simply to create a cosmic counterbalance to how completely wrong I was in my prejudices about Jab We Met.
First off, this Uber-hottie in a suit, GQ glasses and a sexy side part comes on screen, and I ogle this high-cheek-boned Tasty for about half an hour before realizing that it is, in fact, Shahid fucking Kapoor. In the next hour, I learn the following irrefutable truths about him:
1. The guy can ACT. Seriously. He had to start out as Mr. Darcy, transform into Kareena's unwilling nursey-maid escort and then drop his guard enough to reveal himself to be a real Lady-killer. With his understated, subtle performances and adult-nerd charm he sells not only the character but the emotional evolution of the character with a realism that packs a punch. If you are actually paying attention to that kind of thing, because...
2. He's FUCKING HOT! No really. After examining the many examples of a certain theory, I have come to the conclusion that the fine line between hotness + success and dorkhood + obscurity lies in the lack of emo bangs. Look at Shah Rukh Khan. With bangs, he kept getting cast as psychotic loser-types who get beaten up by the likes of Sunny Deol. Post-bangs-removal, he landed a role which featured him as a class jock who got to hook up with both Rani Mukerjee and Kajol, which catapulted him into the star stratosphere.
It's a shame really. Shahid Kapoor would have got a lot more recognition if someone had just told him to slick back his hair sooner. The glasses didn't hurt either.
Sis and I have a running bet as to how he suddenly seems to have grown three inches taller than Kareena, where before, he was about two inches shorter. Sis insists he's wearing heels, while I maintain that they made him stand on a box. Either way, the apparent added height works.
3. The guy can DANCE. He is a freaking professional, and a lot more natural and flexible than Shah Rukh Khan. Not that he's ever going to be able to go up against Hrithik Roshan any time soon, but he still is one of the best fucking dancers in the industry. Watch him in Nagada Nagada.
4. He has perfect comic timing. Well, both he and Kareena. It isn't sitcom-like either, the sheer uncontrivedness of it was what carried the movie. I love the subtle yet evident change in his expression when he clicks onto whatever plan Kareena's hatching. And the split second pause where he stops the car in the middle of the road and he and Kareena just look at each other before simultaneously leaping out and running after the train.
5. He has a very cute smile, and his eyes are as appealing as a puppy-dog's. Not exactly in the Jared Padalecki league, but still damn effective. He has a natural, unobtrusive charisma that reels you in without you ever noticing it.
6. He is a lot less annoying than Shah Rukh Khan and manages to make his presence felt without hogging the screen like the so-called Bollywood Badshah. He is the very essence of natural. In the face of the chronic affliction of typical Bollywood melodrama, this is like a breath of cool air.
Kareena is in her element here, as a headstrong Sikh girl who can't shut the hell up for love or money. Combining the essence of her character in Chameli with a lot of freshness and a lot more heart, this is also indubitably one of her finest performances.
I still wish it wasn't her though. There really isn't much screen chemistry between Kareena and Shahid, but the two of them sell their actual characters so effectively that they create a chemistry that is wholly outside of who they are as actors. Personally, I find it interesting that the actors (who went out together for three years) broke up right after this movie was shot. The love is still very much in the air in this movie.
What really got to me is the emotional realism inherent in the film, as well as the high degree of versimilitude in setting that Bollywood isn't exactly known for. Aditya (Shahid) doesn't realize his own attachment to Geet (Kareena) until he has to actually hand her over to the man he helped her elope with. Instead of mourning over it, or even waiting to see her with another man, he stops her at the gate and says good-bye, taking that memory of her as a free, unattached spirit in his heart and uses it to turn his life around. Once Aditya comes to Geet's aid the second time, Geet isn't stupidly unaware of his feelings for her (which is the case in most films) and even directly addresses them, and worries about how re-uniting with her errant boyfriend will affect him. Aditya doesn't play the cliched self-sacrificing hero, his primary aim has always been Geet's happiness and in ensuring her happiness he pretends that there is no self-sacrifice involved.
If SRK played this role, we'd be drowning in saccharine within the first half hour. In Shahid's hands, we are mesmerized and in love.
1. The guy can ACT. Seriously. He had to start out as Mr. Darcy, transform into Kareena's unwilling nursey-maid escort and then drop his guard enough to reveal himself to be a real Lady-killer. With his understated, subtle performances and adult-nerd charm he sells not only the character but the emotional evolution of the character with a realism that packs a punch. If you are actually paying attention to that kind of thing, because...
2. He's FUCKING HOT! No really. After examining the many examples of a certain theory, I have come to the conclusion that the fine line between hotness + success and dorkhood + obscurity lies in the lack of emo bangs. Look at Shah Rukh Khan. With bangs, he kept getting cast as psychotic loser-types who get beaten up by the likes of Sunny Deol. Post-bangs-removal, he landed a role which featured him as a class jock who got to hook up with both Rani Mukerjee and Kajol, which catapulted him into the star stratosphere.
It's a shame really. Shahid Kapoor would have got a lot more recognition if someone had just told him to slick back his hair sooner. The glasses didn't hurt either.
Sis and I have a running bet as to how he suddenly seems to have grown three inches taller than Kareena, where before, he was about two inches shorter. Sis insists he's wearing heels, while I maintain that they made him stand on a box. Either way, the apparent added height works.
3. The guy can DANCE. He is a freaking professional, and a lot more natural and flexible than Shah Rukh Khan. Not that he's ever going to be able to go up against Hrithik Roshan any time soon, but he still is one of the best fucking dancers in the industry. Watch him in Nagada Nagada.
4. He has perfect comic timing. Well, both he and Kareena. It isn't sitcom-like either, the sheer uncontrivedness of it was what carried the movie. I love the subtle yet evident change in his expression when he clicks onto whatever plan Kareena's hatching. And the split second pause where he stops the car in the middle of the road and he and Kareena just look at each other before simultaneously leaping out and running after the train.
5. He has a very cute smile, and his eyes are as appealing as a puppy-dog's. Not exactly in the Jared Padalecki league, but still damn effective. He has a natural, unobtrusive charisma that reels you in without you ever noticing it.
6. He is a lot less annoying than Shah Rukh Khan and manages to make his presence felt without hogging the screen like the so-called Bollywood Badshah. He is the very essence of natural. In the face of the chronic affliction of typical Bollywood melodrama, this is like a breath of cool air.
Kareena is in her element here, as a headstrong Sikh girl who can't shut the hell up for love or money. Combining the essence of her character in Chameli with a lot of freshness and a lot more heart, this is also indubitably one of her finest performances.
I still wish it wasn't her though. There really isn't much screen chemistry between Kareena and Shahid, but the two of them sell their actual characters so effectively that they create a chemistry that is wholly outside of who they are as actors. Personally, I find it interesting that the actors (who went out together for three years) broke up right after this movie was shot. The love is still very much in the air in this movie.
What really got to me is the emotional realism inherent in the film, as well as the high degree of versimilitude in setting that Bollywood isn't exactly known for. Aditya (Shahid) doesn't realize his own attachment to Geet (Kareena) until he has to actually hand her over to the man he helped her elope with. Instead of mourning over it, or even waiting to see her with another man, he stops her at the gate and says good-bye, taking that memory of her as a free, unattached spirit in his heart and uses it to turn his life around. Once Aditya comes to Geet's aid the second time, Geet isn't stupidly unaware of his feelings for her (which is the case in most films) and even directly addresses them, and worries about how re-uniting with her errant boyfriend will affect him. Aditya doesn't play the cliched self-sacrificing hero, his primary aim has always been Geet's happiness and in ensuring her happiness he pretends that there is no self-sacrifice involved.
If SRK played this role, we'd be drowning in saccharine within the first half hour. In Shahid's hands, we are mesmerized and in love.
I'm not trying to diss on SRK in favour of Shahid. The boy has talent, but SRK is stil the more experienced, accomplished actor whom I still retain a certain fondness for, despite his annoying penchant for screen-hogging. I'm just rejoicing that the new blood coming into Bollywood cinema isn't as hopeless as we originally imagined. If that boy plays his cards right, he could easily fill SRK's shoes as Bollywood's most bankable talent within the next ten years.
Kudos also go out to the director and writer, who takes a rather half-hearted storyline and turns it into a masterpiece with great direction and realistic and witty dialogue. The soundtracks deserve a whole review to themselves, all of them being catchier than the sniffles and which keep getting stuck inside your head like half-chewed bubble-gum sticks to a shoe. It's very difficult to get tired of hearing them anytime soon.
Anyway, my point is: WATCH JAB WE MET. It's not a movie that'll be emulated anytime soon. It's not just a must-see, it's a must buy. If only to ogle Shahid Kapoor and the black-shirted forearms of Pr0n.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-24 07:47 pm (UTC)So, hoping for Jab we met to go abroad (pick Paris!) so I can see a
fucking hot guygifted bollywood actor.Completely OT, here's for the Supernatural fan in you. Ramo did new banners and icons and...: http://ramoniciu.livejournal.com/43001.html?style=mine
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-02 02:40 pm (UTC)I LOVE Monsoon Wedding to bits, and Bend it like Beckham is awesome beyond words but B&P makes me wince every time. The only good thing about that movie is Naveen Andrews (yum!) and Alexis Bledel ( I wuv my Rory).
Here's another movie rec for you" watch Asoka. It didn't do well in India, (they preferred to watch that 3-hour long snore-fest Lagaan) but was well-received internationally and contains one of Kareena's and SRK's finest performances to date.
Kareena's best performances are in that and Chameli. She is a very talented actress, but then she is a Kapoor and therefore expected of her.
I'd already checked Ramo's LJ out earlier, but thanks very much for the link. =)
P.S: Can you believe I only noticed your gorgeous Sil Silaye icon now?
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-02 07:31 pm (UTC)Mohabtein is just georgeous and the story, my! Can you say LC? OK, so it's 4 hours long but...you can fast forwards. I really like it! ditto for Veer-Zaara.
Gangster is really a change in the usual Bollywood movie verse. So, just for that, worth a watch. And, as far as Ash's concerned, have you ever watched "Provoked"? It's an indian movie but shot in London and subject is "a married woman abused and beaten by her husband accidently kills him in their house fire. It's based on a rtue story". And I really liked it.
The one I prefer in B&P is the bigger sister. And I loved Goa's groove by Ashanti. "take me to love...!"
Asoka...I've never seen it on shelves here but I'll keep looking. today I got *that* close to buying NY-Massala and Dil to Pagal hai (they were in the same dvd set and seeing how one bollywood movie's price can sky rocket, I considered the deal. Did you see them? are they good?
Kareena I like so, Chameli I'll look for, too! Thx for the tips!
And, yup! What can I say? Devdas's still the ultimate Bollywood film for me. *hums*: "Sil Silaye chahat ka. na maine buj'ne diya"...but then again what gets me in this song is really its music!
have a peaceful sunday! :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-03 05:50 am (UTC)Devdas does encapsulate all of Bollywood's trademark stardust and glitter. =D It was heart-breaking, that film , and really gorgeous.
Thanks. You too. =)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-03 06:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-24 07:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-02 02:33 pm (UTC)I prefer the film version, though. Come on, Udith Narayan, Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik and Sunidi Chaughan? No contest. *g*
I love the KG3 songs, but I bloody HATE the film! Did. Not. Happen!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-02 07:20 pm (UTC)true! film version's better but, when you get to see Bharati's show live, their version's not bad either!
OT, did buy Ratatouille and planning on watching it tonight! (happy smile!!)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-24 11:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-02 02:22 pm (UTC)Well, it's not exactly Jerry Maguire, but I'll take it. *giggle*
I didn't know you watched Hindi movies, Ingrid.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-24 11:34 pm (UTC)as for kareena - same opinion as urs - i like karishma, but kareena - theres something abt her, which just makes me dislike her.
shahids debut was ishq vishq - adorable movie ♥ its another romantic comedy set in college and its like really really true.
actually i have seen shahid and kareena in real life - hes not that short, he does look like it but they are both same heights (concerts rock, esp if they are with John Abraham)
as for the S-K chemistry - i dont think the movie was big on chemistry like that ~ (hard to explain what i am saying) like kareenas character was very independent they werent really like yin and yang to each other, cuz shahid ends up becoming like kareena - and the romance is very minimum - its more friendship and joking and its nice ♥ :P
and i agree with you, as much as i like SRK, he couldnt have done this - but then he is 40 now not 25ish like the role demanded.
i loveeeee this movie i want an aditya ;D
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-02 02:29 pm (UTC)I think every woman who watches JWM comes out of the hall wanting to marry Shahid. Get in line, missy. *g*
I watched Ishq Vishk! It. Is. Adorable! And so true, because that is exactly what my college life is like! And Shahid is such a BOY! I can't believe I missed it the first time around, because Shenaz has always been my favourite MTV VJ. She is so sweet and beautiful, even though the make-up artists on Ishq Vishk have made her up too much. The film would have done better is they had lost a few of their interminable songs, I think. Was it a hit? It should've been, but anything starring complete newcomers are always dicey.
You've seen them all in real life!! *SQUEE!* I'm so jealous, I hate you. Do you have photos?
You're right about the chemistry in JBW, and I want an Aditya too! *squishes Aditya*
Btw, your icon makes me want to do bad, pervy things with it.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-04 09:03 am (UTC)lol but i think i would rather marry the vivah shahid than JWM shahid
yes i am that wierd.. :P cuz like i am like the character shahid was in JWM (not kareena, shes beyond me :P) so we both cant be similar :P
yin adn yang works better :P
yea man, john abraham is hottest thing ever! i mean human being :P *ahem* but then there is Jared hmmmmm
lol get in line, to do pervy things! :P
btw, i did a shahid spam :P
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-04 10:31 am (UTC)Btw, have you seen the promo of Milenge Milenge? I'm not too sure about the film, but the song is already stuck in my head and Shahid looks so adorable!
But seriously, what the fish is Kareena wearing in that video? It looks like she's wearing a yellow plastic bag.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-04 08:07 pm (UTC)i will do another soon - with pics from his movies :P
i am so behind on spams *shakes head* maybe during reading week, i can get some done :P
yellow plastic bag?? LMAO i havent seen the vid. :P let u know, when i see it :P
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-05 05:33 am (UTC)JAB WE MET
Date: 2014-10-01 09:23 pm (UTC)soundlyric