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Jab Harry Met Sejal (2017)
Super romantic and excellent performances make it an instant classic! Best romantic movie about finding ourselves
A deep, personal conflict, hidden away under layers of daily life, stifled by the relentless passage of time, ensconced in loneliness; fate leading to a chance meeting with another soul who offers a glimpse and glimmer of escape; and a physical journey that leads to finding oneself within; this is the essence of every Imtiaz Ali film to date. The reason Why Jab Harry Met Sejal is already being called his weakest film yet, is that despite hanging on to these same tropes, it is still a film that departs from the paths that Ali usually treads on his journeys and a journey on an untested path isn't everyone's cup of tea.
But it is in this departure that JHMS stands apart from his previous work, and there is so much in the film that belies the somewhat hasty dismissal of JHMS as Imtiaz Ali's weakest film so far.
Is the protagonist SRK's boisterous, homesick Punjabi tour guide, shackled by the guilt of leaving his home in Punjab for greener pastures, in the dead of the night without a semblance of an explanation? Or is it Anushka Sharma's entitled, obnoxious Gujarati bride-to-be, ostensibly looking for her lost engagement ring, but subconsciously looking for an escape from a married life that, in a conventional rich Gujarati setup, would ensure she's no longer bound by her own moral compass, but by that of the entrenched, seemingly- unshakeable patriarchy?
You'd think that as the ranking star of the enterprise,the film would be about SRK's Harry. Indeed, Rockstar and Tamasha are so completely about Jordan and Ved respectively, that you came away reeling from discovering what those characters went through
But Harry already knows what's haunting him. He knows that he misses Punjab, its blooming fields, and its songs louder than tractors. All he has to do is go back home, to begin his journey to redemption. It is Sejal who undergoes the more significant change as she makes tough choices, but because the film has the two of them sharing the screen for most of the runtime, you never quite see the obvious.
And how those two share the screen! SRK does much of what made him the star he is, but also manages to flesh out the foul-mouthed Punjabi to great effect. Anushka Sharma turns in a career-best performance, doing most of the heavy- lifting in the acting department, letting SRK coast along on sheer charm and superstardom. For the record, Anushka's Gujarati accent isn't perfect, and hardly consistent through her dialogue. But she manages to make it a delightful character quirk, and it never jars.
Most interestingly, though, unlike how Imtiaz Ali usually travels back and forth in the lives of the characters to reveal the source of their loneliness, in this film, we discover the characters almost in real- time. We get to see little of why they are how they are, and more of how they react to situations, which gives us only a clue of the character backstory.
In that sense, even among Imtiaz Ali's filmography, this one is more about an actual journey than anything yet. It's more situational, less poetic; more frothy, less esoteric. In many ways, Jab Harry Met Sejal is Imtiaz Ali-lite, propelled mostly by the unfortunate truth that if you have Shah Rukh Khan in your film, it will invariably have to be moulded for a shallower, wider audience.
This also means that you get a more sexist and regressive male character than Imtiaz Ali usually gives us. He treats women as objects for sex, but when he sees one he begins to fall for, he decides she's not the kind who one should fool around with, but looked at from afar. Of course, Harry evolves through the film, but the net result still remains that this is a less gender- sensitive film than Imtiaz Ali's previous work.
But make no mistake: the pain, the quest for solace, the gorgeous little moments that make journeys so much more important than destinations, they're all there. One particular scene has Shah Rukh expressing a range of emotions in a single take; from a frenzied, teary panic attack to cheering up and appreciating the glory of the morning, traversing this emotional journey with a barrage of Punjabi, ostensibly telling himself what his mom told him to calm him when he was a child. It seems like a scene designed for a hyperactive performer like SRK, and he nails it.
Anushka, on the other hand, manages to make you root for her throughout, because there's something about a character that refuses to mince words. She, and SRK's reactions to her, are the constant source of humour in the film, and this film has more of it than any of Ali's recent work. Perhaps that's another reason why JHMS comes across as more flimsy and lightweight than what we've come to expect from Imtiaz Ali.
Despite its seeming lack of depth and the most obvious conflict resolution you could possible imagine, JHMS has much in it to appreciate and love. Everything that makes an Imtiaz Ali film the experience it usually is, is present in JHMS, crafted and designed in a way that makes it more commercial and less-demanding of the viewer. His previous films show you empathy, while Jab Harry Met Sejal gives you a chance to be empathetic.
This film will not have the same kind of cult fandom that some of his other films have gained over the years, but Jab Harry Met Sejal is likely to age better than you'd expect it to, as you discover the little deft touches of Imtiaz's emotional and cinematic intelligence. Sejal and Harry eventually meet halfway, and the story of how they do can probably be experienced as a fan of Imtiaz Ali, if you meet him halfway as well
Secret Superstar (2017)
Watch Dear Zindagi or Taare Zameen Par instead. Another melodramatic preachy overrated overacted recycled plot by the Social Justice Warrior
Come on Aamir, enough already! You know you are not a good actor when you keep playing one dimensional characters with similar sketches and motivations throughout your career with some patriotic and social messages so that people will get distracted and not pay attention to your mediocre acting performances film after film. Garish tight clothes? Making a fool of himself? That hairstyle? : Raj from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. That hairstyle? : G.One from Ra.One Funny? : RNBDJ, Chennai Express, Baadshah, Yes Boss, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani.. Not afraid of small roles in which women are central to the story? : Shakti the Power, Dear Zindagi, Gaja Gamini, In which Annie gives it those ones. Self-aware? : I hope you use words knowing their meanings, ma'am. Amitabh Bachchan and his successor Shahrukh Khan are the most self- aware superstars our country has ever seen. Intelligent, witty, and can talk about any topic in the world keeping the atmosphere light. Unlike the fake, pretentious hypocrite and boring Aamir Khan who is not even an above-average actor when pitted against Akshaye Khanna, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Saif Ali Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh and many, many others. Vulnerability? Has been? Teary-eyed? : Kabir from Chakde India, Aryan Khanna from FAN. Manipulative? : This can be said for every single Aamir blockbuster post 2001 barring Talaash, Dhobi Ghat, Dhoom 3. The mediocre actor that is Aamir Khan is the least versatile and goes on to play characters with similar arcs and sketches his entire career..while the REAL world's biggest superstar is a million times more versatile and has played characters which are dynamic and that have a wide arc/development through out the plot. He has even played variations of Raj/Rahul which are different from each other.. Give credit to those who are worthy of it. Aamir's emulation of ideas which were ahead of their times: Rang De Basanti- Phir bhi dil hai hindustani Dangal- Chakde India PK- OMG Fanaa- Dilse.. Haven't you figured it out yet? Are you that naive? Choosing patriotic, social-message laced overrated preachy scripts is the cause of his Box Office as well as critical success. Imagine the average Aamir pulling off complicately layered characters in Raees and FAN..he couldn't even have done a better job in Dear Zindagi and Jab Harry Met Sejal, forget about world's biggest superstar's other layered characters...the last four films are a clear indication of who is the most versatile actor in Indian film industry after Amitabh Bachchan..
Could you watch again Chakde India, Swades, My Name Is Khan, Dilse.. ,Devdas, Veer Zara or Om Shanti Om? I hope you liked Fan which has a magnificent double lead performances like in Stephen King's Misery and Martin Scorsese's King of Comedy; and Raees which is like Indian Narcos where the lead character dies for the crime he didn't commit. You will also love Chakde over Dangal, Dilse.. over Rang De Basanti, Swades over Pk and Taare zameen par, My Name Is Khan which is as classic as Forrest Gump and Rainman over 3 idiots. You should check out DON series for some good action and psychological thrill. There are martial art techniques like WING CHUN, TRAPPING, KRAV MAGA in Don series. Extremely realistic fights. If you have watched The Notebook, you will love Jab Tak Hai Jaan over it and Om Shanti Om over La La Land. Paheli is a fantasy with women empowerment which is like a live action Disney- Pixar movie. Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani is a comedy satire on media and journalism and politics which was way ahead of its time and similarly Oh Darling Yeh Hai India which is on Netflix is the first bizarre musical thriller and a parody movie of Bollywood, Maya Memsaab is a adaptation of the classic Madam Bovary and a researchgate paper is written analyzing the implications of western influence on Indian women titled "Colonization of Madam Bovary: Hindi cinema's Maya Memsaab".You will love others like Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Josh, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Dear Zindagi, Kal Ho Na Ho(you will love this over Fault in our Stars, A Walk to remember). Asoka is a wonderful historical fiction and also a biopic on a 250 BC ruler. You will enjoy it because it was actually made keeping international audiences in mind but unfortunately Lagaan got selected for Oscar nomination instead because of bias. The lead performance in DARR is an actual realistic portrayal of a disturbed obsessed person in love. It is a great psychological thriller and doesn't become a parody like Robert Deniro's Cape Fear. You must absolutely watch Baazigar and Anjaam. You will love the laugh in Baazigar, it is more reminiscent of the Joker and Anjaam is a true blue psychopath movie with no scope of rooting for the lead character. Like American Psycho. You didn't know Ra.One is an cross-cultural Indian superhero movie with an advanced futuristic virtual reality technology which is not explained similar to technologies in the Black Mirror show and musical dance numbers? The chase scene of Captain America Civil War seems to be inspired from Ra.one, Also Electro's look in Amazing spiderman 2 and Adam Sandler's Pixels ripped off Ra.One...you will find many pop culture beauties like very different and realistic VFX and H.A.R.T which is like Ironman's arc reactor. And sense of humour is similar to Deadpool's. It is better than its Enthiraan and Krrish counterparts, with a futuristic advanced virtual reality technology that goes haywire. I think you should give them a chance rather than being biased towards specific film makers and actors. You talked about how you love feelings-driven, light hearted, hangout movies. You should watch Jab Harry Met Sejal. It is made in the style of European slice of life romcoms. Like the Before Trilogy. Have a great Diwali!
Dangal (2016)
Watch Chakde India instead. This is just a worse recycled version..
Dangal: This overrated masterpiece? lol. 9 years ago we had a much better, a brilliant and progressive Chakde India. And now we have a regressive tale of a dominant male who physically tortures his daughters, turns them into sons, chooses their career without asking what they want to be which is exactly opposite of the great message given by 3 idiots, steals their childhood and youth and turns them into slaves against their wishes to fulfill a personal ambition? Meh. It is a no-risk same old story with just an average to good performance by Aamir. Nothing great. Anybody could have played Mahavir Singh Phogat. Eating cakes and going to gym isn't great acting. Lol.
Ra.One (2011)
Sense of humour like Deadpool, original superhero origin, possible science fiction, brilliant effects, action and international entertainer
As far as I remember most children in India tend to pick up wrong habits at an early age? How about the character Perpendicular in Gangs of Wasseypur?He doesn't smoke? In India at least, students start jerking off since 6th grade. I think they have all the knowledge and generally forward non-veg SMS's to each other and also laugh at them? Don't children use that name "main part" at an early age? Don't children read Deadpool comics? Most children must have watched that movie which also has a crotch holding scene and similar sense of humour. Though it is rated R, children still watch by torrent hiding from their parents, right? I really don't understand what is the criticism here? Acting? Really? The only other virtual character played in the history of world cinema is in Virtuosity by Russel Crowe apart from SRK and Arjun Rampal. Isn't G.One like Neo from The Matrix only instead G.one retains powers in the real world? I don't think there is even the slightest flaw with VFX except a car being blown up in mid air? It doesn't even feel like VFX, it actually feels real it feels like this is happening for real unlike the cartoon in Krrish3, Baahubali2, Enthiraan. Ra.One's special effects have clearly inspired the character of Electro who wears a hood unlike his comic costume which is green and yellow? And the concept is ripped off in Adam Sandler's Pixels? I think it has fantastic characters, and original idea and VFX though it is reverse TRON, a little spy kids. The loud music VEERAAA is also used similarly in Baahubali 2 for goosebumps effect. Also kids are more attracted towards evil because it is powerful and seductive. So the movie has a wonderful message. I have never seen some of the unique shots during the action sequence in Azad Maidaan at the end of the movie. The concept is quite interesting owing to the real world research in fields of Internet of things, Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence. So I think it is logical to say such a technology is possible. I think the same mixture of commercial genres is used in Ghajini, Baahubali2, and most blockbuster Indian movies. So tell me dude why it is so underrated in India and has 4.8 rating on IMDb? Why are Indians hypocrites? Was the progressiveness of the characters too much to handle? Do Indians hate caricatures of South Indians and Mr. Bean himself? Do they not have a sense of humour to laugh at themselves? So what if it is a personal choice to eat noodles with curd? My friend once poured missal(Indian food) into his ice cream. Why are all the cuss-words centered towards females and their reproductive organ? Please google and find out that such thesis papers actually exist. So I really don't understand what is Indians' problem whenever SRK does something interesting and Aamir again comes up a cynical 5 star script with patriotism and social message that is bound to be successful owing to the same hypocritical Indians who would rather watch a man torture his daughters physically and turn them into sons and make them slaves to fulfill his goals?? I am really very clueless right now. I think Ra.One is still underrated and ahead of it's time for the Indian industry. It has original, wonderful characters with different powers which should be motivated and encouraged instead of overrated stuff that is making so much money. Krrish and all other Indian superheroes including Chitti look like cartoons in terms of special effects and how wonderfully Ra.One manages to make it seem all too real. It is a technical wonder. It would have been an international hit giving rise to India's own pop culture superheroes and comic books. But no, hypocritical Indians wouldn't allow it. But mediocre stuff like Baahubali2 gets such motivation. Why?
You don't like Ra.One. Big deal. I love it. It is one of the few movies including Darr, Baazigar, Don, MNIK, Asoka where you will see an amalgamation of two cultures of film making -the east and the west. If Spy kids and Tron are ignored, Virtuosity is the only movie which has a virtual character played by Russell Crowe. And since the characters in the game in Ra.One were self-aware and adaptive owing to the artificial intelligence, the robot plus humanoid acting was to the point. Thesis on cuss words which are actually based on women and their body parts is actually progressive. The sense of humour like crotch jokes is similar to Deadpool. Also a video game character being a superhero is an original origin story which none of DC and Marvel has. The fight scenes are also quite original, and uses multiple bullet time shots as in Matrix which is justified here and also the end with ten RaOne's is a nod to the mythology where the demon Raavan had 10 heads. The technology is actually possible because of research in Internet of things, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual and Augmented Reality concepts. For example Google VR and Pokémon Go respectively. Also it has original special effects of cube formation and blasts which are different from IronMan but closer to Dragon Ball. In fact similar special effects are used in The Amazing Spiderman 2 where the character Electro is nothing like in the comics. Adam Sandler's Pixels basically ripped off the concept of Ra.One although it may have been an idea formed out of Wreck it Ralph. The message is quite wonderful because considering the attraction and indifference of kids towards violence in games, movies, TV shows and bad-ass characters is alarming. Cheers!