Movie: Jab Harry Met Sejal
Direction: Imtiaz Ali
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Sayani Gupta, Evelyn Sharma, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Aru Krishansh Verma, Paras Arora
Music: Hitesh Sonik
Cinematographer: KU Mohanan
Editor: Aarti Bajaj
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Drama
Rating: ∗∗
What is it about: It’s a romantic comedy, which has Sejal (Anushka Sharma) in search of her lost engagement ring, and Harry (Shahrukh Khan) is forced to help her find it, what happens during this forms the crux of the story directed by Imtiaz Ali.
Why it’s disappointing: Europe backdrop, a soul searching hero encounters a confused to be bride in search of a lost engagement ring. Sounds about familiar, that’s right pretty much the story of Bollywood. And this time it’s been capped by director Imtiaz Ali. It was disappointing to see him delivering a film this stale and colourless. You go in with an expectation due to the previous films, but this came as surprise. The wait keeps prolonging for 144 minutes, but at no point it manages to engage the audience.
The film goes on and on and on, ranting on how cheap Harry is and how Sejal is trying to break the character. In spite of the film having stars like Shahrukh Khan and Anushka Sharma, it is literally handicapped by the screenplay which is so lazy to buck up. The central characters were on vacation, and I think so was Imtiaz, he seemed too relaxed to infuse entertainment.
The characters Harry and Sejal had a forced chemistry which looked fake and that factor brought down the viewing experience for the audience. The jokes were pretty lame, there were few which cracks you up, but they’re seasonal. SRK and Anushka couldn’t take this on their shoulders, not because it was heavy but too light that it flew away in to thin air.
Anushka trying to play the Gujju girl didn’t fit the attire and SRK’s egoistic character was too stuck up. First I would say it was a miscast, if at all someone else would have done it might have seemed different, but still the story didn’t have much to offer.
What to watch out for: Exotic locations, which were beautifully captured by KU Mohanan. And of course the music by Pritam which was really good so was the background score Hitesh Sonik. Aarti Bajaj tried her best to cut this one to best in spite of a sloppy screenplay.
Verdict: Imtiaz Ali’s wafer thin screenplay had shallow characters which could not do justice to their potentials. And this will mark third flop for SRK in a row. With a heavy heart, I have to say definitely not worth a watch.
