OK Jaanu (2017) Review!!!

Synopsis – Adi and Tara move to Mumbai to pursue their dreams. A chance meeting sparks off a heady, no strings attached romance until their careers pull them apart. Will ambition prevail over matters of the heart?

My Take – Just when you thought Bollywood has some potential to grow & flounder some original work, here comes another South Indian remake. Here director Shaad Ali, whose career went nose diving after failures like Jhoom Barabar Jhoom & the recent Kill Dil after massive success like Bunty Aur Babli & Saathiya, has made an official remake his mentor Mani Ratnam’s 2015 Tamil film O Kadhal Kanmani (Oh My Love, The Apple of My Eye), otherwise known as OK Kanmani, starring Dulquer Salmaan and Nithya Menen. Ratnam has produced the Bollywood version too in partnership with Karan Johar, and is credited with the story and screenplay also. If there is one thing to be said for Shaad Ali, it is that he is a very good pupil as he faithfully followed Tamil director Mani Ratnam, assisting him on several films and remaking one of the latter’s best romantic films Alaipayuthey in Hindi as Saathiya, but was this one necessary? Right from the underwhelming trailers, this honestly looked like a toned down remake of Befikre (2016). While both films do share a few similarities like commitment issues & living together, this Shaad Ali film despite all the cheerfulness is kind of dull. Of course, I haven’t seen the original, but I get the point behind it, the original Tamil film gives a view into the youngsters of our generation who are considered kind of loose as they believe in live-ins, abhor commitment and prioritize career enough to let go off love. Some may believe that they are heartless, others deem them as confused. Such conflicts on the big screen may seem unique down south, but here, in Bollywood, haven’t we seen this a few too many times?

The story follows Aditya (Aditya Roy Kapoor) and Tara (Shraddha Kapoor) who first laid eyes on each other at a railway station. Having met again at a wedding and not having belief in the institution of marriage, the two decide to date each other. We already know that Tara, an architect, wants to move to Paris, while game creator Aditya is eyeing fame and fortune in the US and despite knowing that their relationship is on borrowed time, they decide to move in together. Circumstances lead Tara to reveal to Aditya about her high class background, her mother being MD of a successful company. Aditya, meanwhile, stays in the house of elderly couple Gopi Shrivastav (Naseeruddin Shah) and his wife Charu (Leela Samson) who are poles apart in their beliefs as compared to the younger generation. One fine day, having seen Shrivastav take care of his wife, who has Alzheimer’s disease, everyday without fail, Aditya asks how they ended up marrying each other. It is after this important point, the film takes off. Without this scene, the film wouldn’t make much sense. So, it is a film that also showcases the psychological impact an environment has towards a person. Finally, does Aditya marry Tara? If yes, then, is it because of his understanding and liking towards her or is there something else possibly that could play a crucial role in his professional life? That is what the film tries to convey. It throws light on the attitude and the outlook of the younger male generation towards marriage and life in general. And yeah, that’s a big small step, but how do Tara and Aditya arrive at that change of mind? What inspires her, a young woman wounded by her parents’ divorce and custody battle, to soften up to the idea of marriage? Sure, she is in love, but she was in love soon after they met anyway, so what gives her this new confidence? What made Aditya see life differently when just minutes earlier he described her as “Tara, my biggest mistake”? The old couple signifies all that’s supposedly great about marriage as an institution — care, companionship, and eventually, unconditional love. Living-in perhaps does not allow for that level of security, I suppose (I wouldn’t know). This juxtaposition is interesting, though. Somehow, you sense much less of its impact. The thing with films like this are that they tell stories of young, urban, modern, liberal Indians not as they are but as seen through an older person’s inspirationally liberal gaze. The original is known to have steeped in wannabe coolth of the “please notice that I’m showing a couple having sex and living with each other before marriage” variety. Sadly, despite his relative youth, Ali has done nothing to improve Ratnam’s tone. Shaad Ali gets the flavor right but his characters are cardboardish. We know Adi and we know Tara, they are both one of us. Good score on the relatability but there’s hardly any time spent in building them and their dilemmas. Unthinkingly they jump into a bed together, start staying together and win the blessings of everyone around. Too convenient don’t you think? Now that’s just one of the problems with the film. Shaad Ali who is an expert in bringing Mani Ratnam’s magic to Bollywood hasn’t lost his mojo clearly. The film is interesting at first, but as it rolls along it reveals its hollowness, a failing that even the lead couple’s charms and the attractive production design cannot overcome. The director is so busy whipping up artificial energy in Tara and Adi’s relationship on screen, that he forgets one thing: conversations and quiet companionship. When do these people talk seriously? If it is Ali’s contention that they get to know each other in the spaces in their lives that we do not hear or see on screen, then the problem is this: as a viewer I wanted to know them too, but I came away with a superficial understanding of who they really are.

Genuine liberalism and attention to detail are clearly not this film’s strengths. For one, not a single artist in a small supporting role leaves an impact. And that loud cell phone conversation across a church aisle would have got Tara and Adi thrown out of any real church in India. For a film about people who’d rather move up in the world than make the kind of compromises relationships require, there’s one significant stumbling block: no viewer with a grip on reality would mistake either Adi or Tara for the career-obsessed sort. What will the millions of young people who actually have to juggle relationships and their careers make of these two, barely breaking a sweat, receiving nothing but congratulations from their bosses, with nothing as prosaic as a late night in office to disturb their pursuit of fun? The film is more froth than coffee— sweet and diverting, but lacking the kick of emotion. The film is also said to be an almost a frame to frame remake of the Tamil OK Kanmani, but the emotional scenes are cut short and or removed, perhaps with the idea that it would increase the pace of the film. However, it only works against the film. Shaad invests little in building their friendship. Their attraction or lust or crush passes before you can register. A one day trip in an unknown city later (a Jab We Met kinda lodge scene is orchestrated) the two move in together. For the first half an hour, all you’ll enjoy are the scenes leading to Hamma Hamma. One of Ali’s interventions works against the film are that the scenes between Samson and Shah have apparently been trimmed, which diminishes their influence over the final decision taken by Adi and Tara and undercuts the poignancy of their relationship. Ali’s copy is as fervent and as mindless as a student who copies from the guy sitting next to him during an exam. Every full stop and comma is noted down without an original thought. The last fifteen minutes of the film are pacy and just about crackling. But it takes too long to get to the point. Obviously, novelty in rom-coms is a wrong expectation but this one seems sincere. What doesn’t convince me, however, is the reason for their commitment phobia. Apart from Baadshah’s version of Humma Humma —a remake within a remake, and a crime against nature—the soundtrack, with A.R. Rahman reworking his OK Kanmani tunes, screeches and thrums beautifully. For those who have watched the original film, none of this is new. And of course, there are a few gorgeous sun-kissed shots of Mumbai and some beautiful Rahman beats to complement that. There are few films in which Mumbai becomes a character; luckily this is one of them. The city’s rain and shine, long shots of the unsettled sea and the sturdiness of old buildings that stand tall, overlooking them. Shraddha’s character has some context, Adi, however, settles for being a regular boy with no back story. There is a lot of heart, enough mush but not much to remember. The coming back of hot hit pair Aditya and Shraddha Kapoor has given a facelift to the film. It is needless to say they look great together, but their love drama sounds like a juvenile play. The chemistry is scorching and adorable in same measures. The repartee is naughty, the fights are cute. Thankfully, they both are past the tragic and morose ambience of their last film Aashiqui 2. Naseeruddin Shah delivers a nuanced performance as the caretaker Shrivastav & loving husband. He represents the common old man in the film. Leela Samson, who plays the main catalyst in changing Tara’s heart, makes you feel for her character which is notable especially in a scene when she stays stranded outside a temple having forgotten her way back home. On the whole, ‘OK Jaanu’ is an average film due to its uncluttered and poor writing on a topic done more skillfully.