Hope floats

Chopra makes the impossible look effortlessly possible

Malini Bhupta gives five reasons to see Yash Chopra’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan

The verdict is out on Yash Chopra's swansong, Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Even the most vitriolic of critics have found something nice to say about the film. Despite all the flaws in the script, (yes, suspend disbelief before entering the theatre), there is something heart-warming about the film. You had to be outside the multiplex after the first show ended on November 13 to see it. Die-hard Shah Rukh Khan fans (read, women of all ages) loved the film and movie buffs liked the dishing out of the same old romantic mush in a more contemporary setting. But there are five reasons why this film is a-must see.

1) Even at 80, Yash Chopra was, perhaps, more contemporary than directors half his age. Look at how he effortlessly repackages the same masala romance of Chandni and Dil To Pagal Hai in an era of “instant make-out and instant break-up”. Anyone who has grown up seeing the angry Amitabh Bachchan in Deewar and Sridevi in Chandni, must watch Chopra’s last directorial venture, especially if he is looking for hope. Because only in a Chopra flick does the daughter of a really rich dad — she travels in a Bentley — fall in love with a street performer who spends half his time singing in Trafalgar Square and the other half cleaning snow and attending tables. Chopra does not disappoint with his last — he continues to make the impossible look effortlessly possible.

2) SRK’s awkward kiss makes you realise that Katrina Kaif can actually act (going by her rather intense reaction). For all those women who have swooned at the sight of SRK romancing his leading ladies by doing little other than mouthing over-the-top dialogues, his first on-screen lip-lock with Katrina is reason enough to see JTHJ. The awkwardness, though, makes you question SRK’s self-proclaimed ability to romance even an inanimate object.

3)Because Bollywood finally gets real and does not espouse the perfect family. Whether it’s Chopra, Karan Johar or Sooraj Barjatiya, Bollywood has been all about perfectly manicured families. But Chopra in JTHJ gives the middle-class morality a break. Katrina, called Meera in the film, has a mother (Neetu Singh) who abandons her daughter and husband because she finds true love (in Rishi Kapoor) after marriage.

4) Because a modern-day Devdas can live happily ever after. Unlike the Devdas of yore, Khan’s character, Samar Anand, finds refuge in the Indian Army’s bomb squad and not in a bottle, after his rich girlfriend ditches him. A guilt-ridden Katrina promises never to see the object of her love again if he survives his rather designer injuries. So, the waiter from Punjab becomes Major Samar Anand — the man who cannot die. Major Anand meets his Chandramukhi in Anushka Sharma (Akira in the film), who has a burning ambition to “have sex” with as many men as there are accents, besides making documentaries. But all that Major Anand promises her is another life time.

5) Because JTHJ will spark new fashion trends such as a quilted jacket worn with a Manish Malhotra lehenga. While Chopra has not given chiffon a miss, the sari has made way for flowing maxi dresses (the cream and lavender one that Katrina wears in the “Saans” song), Burberry trenchcoats and cargo pants that Akira wears.