Abbas Tyrewala’s Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na was the biggest surprise of 2008. While the film was in production, no trade pundit, or even its cast and crew members expected the film to take such an electrifying start and do a terrific business at the BO. Hence, the curiosity levels were skyhigh for Jhootha Hi Sahi, Tyrewala’s second flick. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t meet all the expectations and falls short of the level Tyrewala had set for himself with Jaane Tu. However, go for the film without comparing it with Jaane Tu or any other film and you are bound to enjoy. Jhootha Hi Sahi has a soul and loads of sweet and simple fun that makes it a perfect bet for this weekend for you and your friends/loved one!
The story of the movie: Siddharth (John Abraham), a shy and introvert guy, runs a bookstore named ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’ along with his Pakistani friend Omar (Raghu Ram) in London. He’s compelled to take the part-time job of a suicide counselor after a suicide helpline agency wrongly publishes his number on their pamphlets. One night, he gets a call from Mishka (Pakhi). And life is never the same again for Sid. Both develop a bond for each other. Sid becomes her nameless and 4AM friend. He encourages her to live her life to the fullest once again. Sid, knowing for sure that he’ll never be meeting Mishka face-to-face brags as to how he has done it all…space travel, mountaineering, shark-taming! However, one day, they accidentally meet. Soon, Sid finds himself falling in love with Mishka. And that’s not good since he has said mountains of lies to Mishka. And not to forget, Sid isn’t single…he is ‘most probably’ the boyfriend of Krutika aka Kuttika (Manasi Scott).
Jhootha Hi Sahi after a point gets clichéd and also predictable, especially towards the climax. However, they are several factors that make Jhootha Hi Sahi an enjoyable fare inspite of the glitches. Firstly, most of the characters are hilarious and you instantly develop a liking for them. Be it Omar, her dominating pregnant sister Aliya (Alishka Varde), Aliya’s desperate-to-marry boyfriend Nick (George Young), Krutika and Sid and Mishka themselves, all are nicely sketched and nicely performed too. There are some more characters but the focus is more on the aforementioned ones who make this entire 2.30 hours film a treat. Secondly and most important, the film has a uniform pace. The film at no point gets dragging that you become restless or too fast that you don’t know what’s going on. It goes ahead with a perfect pace with significant developments happening at regular intervals.
The film begins on a humourous note with Sid receiving 3 calls in need of assistance (with voices of Imran Khan, Ritesh Deshmukh and Abhishek Bachchan). The scene where Mishka calls Sid for the first time was intriguing. The film gets better as Sid (and also the viewers) discovers more about Mishka. The problems faced by characters seem straight out of life and hence very relatable.
As mentioned below, the pace just doesn’t fall even during the 2nd half when most films tend to get drag before the onset of climax. Nothing as such however is to be seen in Jhootha Hi Sahi. Although the pre-climax portion was weird (Mishka breaking off all ties with Sid), the film thankfully gets on track soon. The climax was amazing but too filmy. Still it works! And anyways, even Jaane Tu had such an unbelievable climax and we still liked it, didn’t we?
John Abraham like everytime gives his hundred percent to his role and comes out with flying colours. This role was way different from his previous films but yet comes up with a fine performance. Pakhi was brilliant. Casting a debutant like Pakhi and not any established actress is the best decision taken by the makers. This way, we judge her purely on the basis of her performance in this flick. Also she looks so cute and performs so convincingly that you can’t help but actually sympathize with her even though the problem her character was facing in the film is beaten to death by many other films. A brilliant debut indeed!
Raghu Ram seemed confident and provided lot of laughs in the film. He’ll be seen next in Farah Khan’s Tees Maar Khan. Alishka Varde was excellent as the dominating sis without going over the top in any scene. George Young impresses while Manasi Scott gets it quite right. R Madhavan wasn’t the right choice for the role. Nandana Sen and Anaitha Nair were good in their respective roles. Others do a fine job.
A R Rahman’s music wasn’t the best from his stable but worth listening to. 3 songs - Cry Cry, Do Nishaaniyaan and Pam Pa Ra - have a high repeat value. Pakhi has even written the story which wasn’t fresh and new but the screenplay ensures that you don’t lose interest from the film at any point. If the film touches your heart, it’s also thanks to Abbas Tyrewala’s wonderful direction. It’s unsure whether Jhootha Hi Sahi will get its commercial due but one thing is for sure-Abbas Tyrewala, the director has certainly evolved and is here to stay!
Some of the best scenes:
1. Sid gets 3 mysterious calls
2. Mishka calls Sid for the first time
3. Mishka at Sid’s bookstore (hilarious!)
4. Sid at Mishka’s DVD Store
5. Sid and Mishka go for dinner
6. Mishka at Aliya’s place for dinner
7. Omar and Krutika go out for dinner (funny!)
8. Sid and Kabir (Madhavan) meet for the first time
9. The last 20 minutes
On the whole, Jhootha Hi Sahi is a sweet and cute entertainer that will surely make up for the perfect outing this weekend with your friends or loved one. Go for it!
My rating- ½
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