Jaane Tu....Ya Jaane Na is good fun

There were some 10 cars ahead of us waiting to get in Metropolitan, Gurgaon. "Phew, we should have come in earlier" Said my wife. "I know.....I hate malls just for this parking mess." I said. The movie was at 1040pm and it was already 1030pm and we were still waiting outside the mall to get in. I was contemplating if I should drive around and park it in DT City Center and walk to Metropolitan. That is when the cars started moving and we managed to squeeze inside. We parked our santro and rushed upstairs to the cineplex. Vasanth had not come in yet. Vasanth was our neighbour-good friend-fellow mate from Chennai. He had to gone to some 'meeting' and was supposed to join us directly at the theatre. Vasanth's Wife and kid had come with us. It was 1040pm already and I hated missing the beginnings. I called up Vasanth "what is up? what is the scene..?" Vasanth said "Hey, I am waiting to get into the parking lot, you guys leave a ticket for me at the counter...i will pick it up." So all of us rushed in leaving a ticket for vasanth at the counter.

We tucked ourselves in the comfortable seats of PVR. Thankfully, the movie started around 1050pm. I whistled when the name of Ar Rahman came on screen. The movie took off to a shaky start - with a bunch of friends blabbering, chatting and singing. I thought it was amateurish.
As soon as Imran Khan and Genelia came on screen the movie really took off. The first song was "Pappu can't dance sala..." The movie had great visuals. The photography was simple, fresh and beautiful. Imran Khan fit the bill of the middle-class-boy-next-door 'Jai Singh Rathore'. Genelia, the rising star from the south, played her role well of the bubbly-spoilt-rich girl 'Aditi Mahant' or 'Meow'. Abbas Tyrewala (Script writer of Munnabhai MBBS) has made a grand debut as the director of this movie.

Vasanth joined us at 11.05pm. Me and Vasanth true to our chennai origin - the land where hindi is still an alien language - are still picking up hindi. Our wives were our translators. I have been quite lazy in learning the language. "I should make a serious attempt from tomorrow to start learning hindi" I thought to myself for the 999999th time, when I could not understand one certain dialogue and had to ask my wife to translate.

There is nothing new about the story. It is the regular tried and tested story of 2 best friends who don't realize the love for each other until the last scene. But, the brilliance of the movie lies in its crisp & fresh screen play, actors and music . The way the movie moves, you just don't realize the time ticking. I felt Imraan Khan could have definitely done much better job as an actor. But, given that, this is his first movie, one could definitely let that pass by. He has a very pleasant face with a sweet smile. Genelia is cute and performs well. Nasaradein Shah 'dead father of imran' and Paresh Rawal 'the inspector' makes your ribs tickle. Special mention to Ratna pathak Shah as the social activists mother of Imran. Rahman's music adds a nice flavor & spice to whole meal.

Some of my favorite moments in the movie
- 'Dead' Nasaradein Shah (Father of Jai) talking out of his potrait and starts jumping and dancing when his son hits someone and goes to Prison like a true Rajput. One cannot help but clap and laugh.
- Genelia's parents talk to Imran about his marrying their daughter, but Imran mistakes them to be offering him a job and asks for the money they might pay him. Hilarious.
- When Jai dumps his girlfriend and the way she reacts. It was truly sad.
- When the cop says "terrorist says 'meow meow' " referring to Jai. Definitely funny

The movie got over around 145am. All of us had a big grin on our face. "amazing movie" i told my wife. My was like "we should watch this movie again". Vasant was like "I loved this movie man....whose idea was it?" as usual, i tried to take the credits. But my wife " it was my plan to go to this movie" anyways, it was a nice way to start the weekend. I saw a decent hindi movie after a long time. Last decent one I saw was Rang De Basanti. All of us walked towards the deserted parking lot talking about the moments in the movie. At the end, things that stay in your head are Imran's innocence, Genelia's cuteness, Rahman's music, Nasaredein Shah and Rathna Pathak's funny moments. We all went home and had a nice sleep. The next day I wake up late and read 'The Times of India' to find Jaane Tu been given just two and half stars. "Crazy critics..they just dont get it" I thought to myself.

Remembering School Days

Last night, I was browsing the internet and was reading some random blogs. I happen to come across a blog by one Tanmay Sahay http://tanmaysahay.blogspot.com/. This guy's blog is about his personal experience etc and is extremely well written. In one of his blogs, he had listed out some of his memories from childhood. I thought it might be fun to list some my own memories from school days in Chennai and here they are:

• Asking for cricket scores during lunch and interval from the house behind our school
• Racing in my black street cat cycle with my friends
• Walking in the hot sun with hands over my friends shoulder
• Spending endless hours playing TV games at my cousin's place in Chengalpattu
• Playing under arm cricket in the narrow lane near our house
• Playing book cricket tournaments
• Waiting for one whole week for that one hour of PT period
• Collecting big fun chewing gum - foot ball flash cards and exchanging the same with friends
• Stealing comics from my lending library & getting caught
• My entire family (Mom, Me, Sis,dad) going out in my dad's bullet
• Dreading when they give my school report card to get it signed by my parents
• Entire family including few guests sleeping in one AC room during summers
• Performing for Michael Jackson's " Smooth Criminal" at our intra school culturals and winning 3rd place
• Bragging to my friends that I have started shaving
• Eating Mollaga Bajji (Chilli Pakoda) at Marina Beach
• Pooling money with my friends to buy Debonaire
• Waiting in the queue for hours at Sathyam Theater to book tickets in advance for a Rajinikanth's or Kamal's new release
• Tasting beer and pretending to have liked it
• Letting my friends copy my answers in exam and feeling proud about it
• Sucking that 1 Rs rasna juice packet and walking back home with the juice dripping all over my white shirt
• Wearing 'Power' Bata shoes with pride to school

Jaane Tu....Jaane Na

I am really looking forward to this movie Jaane Tu..... featuring Imran Khan and Genelia. The visuals and trailers of the movie have been just beautiful. Music of Ar Rahman, as always, sounds very refreshing. With bunch of formula-driven-music directors in bollywood, I am glad one guy could come up with something different every time. I am one of those guys who will go and buy Rahman's music album without hearing the same even once.

I claim myself to be good at pre judging a movie based on the trailers & the story line.......and, I have been correct 90% of the time. My feeling is that Jaane Tu will make the cut. If the screen play is right, the movie will be a super hit. I also have a feeling about another movie Love story 50 featuring Harman Baweja (Hritik's look alike) and Priyanka Chopra. Based on the trailers and story line, it ain't so impressive and I just feel it might not make the cut.
www.jaanetu.com/low.htm