The stories and movies to which a person best relates, often become their most cherished. Well this adage though applies here... not fully... though u see one often advertises himself but u don’t see bollywood actors often advertising condoms. Do you???? Well I do advertise myself and also like ’’Jhankaar Beats’’.
Of late the Pritish Nandy Communications has been churning out real great flicks to enjoy. I don’t know how many of you liked Sur but many of you would who did not like it and all of you who did would surely have liked ’’Jhankaar’’ plainly for the simplicity of the plot... Deep (Sanjay Suri) and Rishi(Rahul Bose) form a band without a guitarist and aspire to win Jhankaar Beats which is definitely the most coveted music prize in the whole world (for them at least). Well this does not end it.... some great performances by the lead actors including three of the four mentioned (well as u know this is a bollywood flick and the actresses go without mention) i.e. Juhi Chawla (as Shanti, Deep’s Wife and in a great surprise role in a fairly low-budget film). Though Rinke Khanna (as Nikki, Rishi’s Wife) impressed in parts she was not as great as the others....
Sanjay and Rahul are great in the initial part of the flick that I accidentally happened to force my mom to see with me......
Enter Neel (in real life Shayan Munshi) into their band and their office and they seem to have achieved one path of having Jhankaar in their kitty... But then once Man proposes God disposes... Though this is exactly what we’ve seen in a helluva lot of films but then this seems so fresh... Right out of a Mumbaikar’s true life... Out of a city or rather I would say of a country that this film is set in...
Rahul Bose (again after his great role and direction in ’’Everybody Says I am Fine’’) is hilarious in his parts with Rinke... though many of them are in flashback and as I think it naturally gives the edge to the narrator as it is his point of view that is being put through.... Even then these are great and don’t interrupt the actual flow of the movie... Neel has his own problems with the girl he loves (Preeti – in real life: Riya Sen) in that he doesn’t have the courage to even propose her... So much like a real collegiate of India..... The way his band-mates help him out is really good especially the scenes after Shanti forced them to help... Well nonetheless Preeti gives in after a great performance by the band at a local church that she regularly used to visit…
What really remains to be seen is that if they finally win Jhankaar and what do they really sacrifice to do so..... I don’t think revealing the whole plot would be good even if this was not a big hit and has already been aired on TV..... The fun just doesn’t stop here... The film goes on with their lives rather than “Jhankaar” bearing the sole responsibility giving all of the characters (except so much for the third couple) a mightier shock than winning or losing the trophy itself. Well as usual in Hindi films it ends with everyone feeling good out of some achievement except of course Deep’s Mom and mine (after “Muskaan” does ask that oft repeated question during one’s childhood)
And oh yeah... as far as the soundtrack of the film goes... tell me just how many of you who have the music of Jhankaar Beats have not played it again... The songs have a ’’feel good’’ factor going with them and enjoy their place in the film… It is not like other films where you have songs in something called ’’Dream Sequence’’..... This is a great soundtrack and a really beautiful effort by second time music directors Vishal-Shekhar after Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi (accidentally starring Rinke again in a horrible role in a simple film handled beautifully). Well one wonders if it is their good luck to chance upon such great situations to set their songs in or Rinke’s good luck to chance upon such scripts…
To be true, I didn’t expect such a great entertainer out of a debutante director (Sujoy Ghosh) that it turned out to be... And this seems to be a fitting tribute to the musical greatness of the “Boss” (better known as Panchamda in the Bollywood music industry). The sequence right below his residence wherein Deep and Rishi explain to Neel as to who is their actual Boss is (if you leave their office wherein Neel’s father is their boss...) also great wherein the underused Amit Kumar lends brilliant vocals with the music director duo themselves making a cameo on the mike to make up for another of the many hilarious sequences...
Great... keep the work going Sujoy...
All of my life is in brackets…
Imperious but not Immortal... ;)