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.
