The man who gave us the first successful multi-starrer in the form of Waqt (1965); a one-of-its-kind thriller Ittefaq (1969) which became the first song-less Hindi film; one of the biggest hits in Rajesh Khanna's career Daag (1973); the ground-breaking film Deewar (1975); classic tales of love like Kabhi Kabhie (1976), Silsila (1981) and Chandni (1989); a cult film like Lamhe (1991), a romantic psychological thriller Darr (1993) and modern day love sagas like Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), a musical and Veer-Zaara (2004), a love tale beyond boundaries, is no more with us as his last offering Jab Tak Hai Jaan releases. JTHJ is again a modern day love saga like most of Yash Chopra's films dealing with the complications in love and relationships. The film got all the media hype when Chopra announced it as his last venture as a director which followed his unfortunate death and some more legal controversies. Does the film justifies the hype it created?
The film starts with Yash Chopra reciting a line of the poem written by Aditya Chopra - "Bhool na jaana rakhna yaad mujhe, Jab Tak Hai Jaan . . . Jab Tak Hai Jaan." which sounds very much ironical now. Major Samar Anand (Shahrukh Khan) is a fearless bomb-squad leader having earned the title of "The man who cannot die" for his courageous efforts in diffusing bombs all over the Kashmir valley without any body-suit. Akira (Anushka Sharma) works for the Discovery Channel and is in Ladakh with her team making a documentary on the bomb-disposal squad of the Indian Army. She accidentally reads Samar's personal diary which depicts his back-story and how he became a fearless officer. The plot goes ten years back when Samar, a happy-go-lucky Punjabi boy works in London doing odd jobs for survival. He falls in love with Meera (Katrina Kaif), the only child of a business tycoon who is getting married to someone else. Somehow Meera reciprocates her love to Samar and they both decide to live their lives together. Samar meets with an accident and Meera prays for his recovery and due to her immense faith in God she vows not to meet Samar again if God makes him recover soon. After knowing this, Samar who had recovered from the accident leaves London and challenges Meera's vow by joining the Indian Army and playing with death. Akira, during the filming falls in love with Samar and after submitting the documentary calls Samar to London for its authentication where Samar again meets with an accident and looses his memory. This brings back Meera into his life. Will they be together again ?
JTHJ has its plot scattered in a huge radius that it looks like a never-ending tale of love. The writing of the film is below average, be it the story-line, the dialogues or the screenplay; "poor initiation of a could-be-made good story" is written all over the film. It was supposed to be a tribute to the legendary filmmaker by his son who penned down the story and co-written the screenplay. Aditya Chopra need to think about what sort of stories he's putting ahead and making a good-looking hamper in the form of a film (other being Ek Tha Tiger). There isn't a single point in the film which could relate to the long-lost "Yash Chopra Romance" (apart from its length); the film is NOT a typical Yash Chopra-film and we could even have doubts about him actually directing it. The cinematography by Anil Mehta is A-Grade covering the beautiful locales picture-perfectly. Namrata Rao's editing is not at all "Namra" leading to a 3-hours long running time. Even AR Rahman's music lacks the magical touch this time but still "Challa" and "Saans" are the two songs to look out for. Gulzar's lyrics does the work but in parts.
Shahrukh Khan in his trademark role of a lover boy looks charming and as the rough and tough Army officer steals the show (even hearts). Though he's not in his best form but watching him romancing in his tailor-made style after a really long time is soothing and sometimes breathtaking. Katrina Kaif looks absolutely stunning in every frame but falls short of acting skills. Anushka Sharma is the real surprise package as she charms all the way putting energy to an otherwise slow-paced plot of the film.
The never-ending plot, the detailing of every unnecessary emotion, the unusually 'funny' rift with God and the mixing of old and modern-day love made the film look too complicated to understand and you may actually wait for the 'EXIT' lights to turn on. Jab Tak Hai Jaan falls too short of its expectations. Watch out only if you're a loyal SRK fan or just to pay respect to a legend. No matter what Yashji, you'll always be missed ... JAB TAK HAI JAAN!
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