Ok Jaanu Review {2.5/5} & Review Rating
With the advent of the year 2017, there have been films which have been queued up for release. This year’s first big release comes in the form of OK JAANU that stars Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor in the lead roles. Will the duo be able to recreate the magic that’s required for the audiences to give thumbs up and say ‘OK’ to the film, or will they fail in their attempt, let’s analyze.
OK JAANU is a love story about a young couple’s live-in relationship and the ups and downs that they face in their respective lives. The film starts off with the ‘alighting’ of Aditya Gunjal aka Adi (Aditya Roy Kapur) and the ‘suicidal threat’ of Tara Agnihotri (Shraddha Kapoor). As luck would have it, these two rank strangers (Adi and Tara) bump into each other at a common friend’s wedding and hit off from there. Right from the word go, both, Adi and Tara are extremely clear about what they want from their respective lives. While Adi wants to make it big as a video game developer, Tara, wants to learn architecture is Paris. Despite being career oriented, Adi and Tara start enjoying each other’s company very much. At the same time, they are in unison with the fact that, despite being in love, they will not get married, for their personal reasons. A few days of knowing each other, Tara moves in to stay with Adi, who is himself living as a house guest with Gopi Shrivastava (Naseeruddin Shah) and his Alzheimer affected wife Charu Shrivastava (Leela Samson) in Mumbai. One fine day, while Adi gets a call to work in USA and Tara decides to go to Paris, they realise that they will be missing each other’s company. On the other hand, when Adi and Tara see the tender love that prevails between Gopi and Charu, the world around them seems to change from practical to emotional. Will Adi and Tara choose love over their careers or will it be the other way round, what happens of Gopi and Charu’s lives in the end, do Adi and Tara change their perspective about marriage and eventually get married or will they remain single throughout, is what forms the rest of the film.
When the promos of OK JAANU were released, it gave a feel about the film attempting a modern day love story revolving around the aspect of live in relationships. The sad part is that, in reality, the film's screenplay (Mani Ratnam) turns out to be confusing, extremely plain and going in one direction (read ‘monotonous’) minus any variations. Because of this, the film loses its pace completely. In a nutshell, OK JAANU seems to be riding only on its moments rather than having a definite story. Despite the film being targeted majorly at the young and young at heart, the narrative tends to get confusing at times as it just keeps going round and round in circles. The film’s dialogues (Gulzar) are decent, if not outstanding. Thankfully though, the film’s dialogues do not resort to any over the top dialoguebaazi.
OK JAANU, which happens to be the official remake of the hit Tamil film O KADHAL KANMANI, has been directed by Shaad Ali. After having directed the disastrous Ranveer Singh-Ali Zafar-Parineeti Chopra starrer KILL DIL, Shaad Ali returns with OK JAANU. Even though Shaad Ali exhibits sincerity with his direction, one cannot help noticing the fact that the film is many ways seems like a rehash of SAATHIYA. On the whole, Shaad Ali fails to build a convincing story with OK JAANU. However, thanks to Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor’s performances, the audience stays glued to the screen. While the film’s first half sets the ambience and the mood of the film, it’s the film’s second half that actually gets the film going. The flip side of the film’s second half is that, the climax looks way too thrusted and dragged in order to highlight the simple aspect of realisation of love between the lead characters. The biggest letdown, however, is the film’s writing. It’s the film’s writing gets convoluted and confused trying to address the concepts of love, live-in relationships and career. In an attempt to do so, the film goes astray, thus, not doing justice to any of the above-mentioned aspects.
The film, however, does have its share of funny moments in the form of scenes like Aditya Roy Kapur’s brother’s arrival in Mumbai and his reaction when Shraddha’s mother reaches his house; also Shraddha Kapoor’s pranks of suggesting engagement and the maternity hospital scene. It is moments like these which keep the movie alive.
Coming to the performances, OK JAANU portrays a good chemistry between Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor. Readers may recall that, prior to OK JAANU, Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor were paired together in AASHIQUI 2, which was a hit at the Box-Office. OK JAANU only enhances the onscreen chemistry that Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor had shared in AASHIQUI 2. Aditya Roy Kapur plays his part well, though he struggles with the emotional scenes. His portrayal of an urban career oriented boy who is madly in love, is very believable. Shraddha Kapoor, on the other hand, plays her part with extreme conviction and ease. What really takes the cake is the chemistry between Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor. The veteran actors Naseeruddin Shah and Leela Samson, on the other hand, play their part with utmost ease. Theirs is the old school classic love that lasts forever. In fact there are times when their story overshadows that of Aditya and Shraddha’s even. The casting of the other character actors is equally good.
Despite the presence of tracks like ‘Humma humma’ and the title track, OK JAANU’s music (A. R. Rahman) is extremely average. The picturisation of the 90s hit song ‘Humma humma’ seems forced into the film. Ironically, the film’s background music (A. R. Rahman) is impressive and ‘in sync’ with the film’s narrative.
The film's cinematography (Ravi K. Chandran) is good. The way in which he has shot the locations of Mumbai is top-notch. The film’s editing (A. Sreekar Prasad) is decent.
On the whole, OK JAANU is a decent love story which works only in parts mainly because of the chemistry between Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor. At the box-office, the film will mainly appeal to the youth, as it makes for a decent date movie.
