An ordinary love drama of a video game designer Boy & an architect Girl, in a live-in relationship.
‘OK Jaanu’ in other words ‘OK Darling’ is an official remake of the Tamil film ‘OK Kanmani’. Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor continue their onscreen romance of ‘Ashiqui 2’ with new characters in ‘OK Jaanu’ except that this time their characters lacked charisma and purpose. ‘OK Jaanu’ which is an emotional loving comment by the girl to the boy is not a delight to watch for the viewer who has shelled out hard earned money expecting an entertainment of his money’s worth. A few minutes into the film and you foresee great disappointment.
Story: Adi Gunjan(Aditya Roy Kapur) is a video game designer migrated from Kanpur to Mumbai with an ultimate aim to head to the USA. Tara Agnihotri(Shraddha Kapoor) is an Architect planning to pursue studies in Paris. Adi and Tara happen to meet at a friend’s wedding and move on into a physical relationship. They are independent shameless grown up adults who do not believe in marriage as they quote ‘Marriage is for Fools’. Adi and Tara decide to live in together till they depart to their respective destinations abroad. Tara moves in with Adi who is a tenant of Shrivastava(Naseeruddin Shah), a High Court Lawyer. Chaaru(Leela Samson), wife of Shrivastava is a second stage Alzheimer patient. The old couple do not have kids but their love for each other is still strong and committed. Six months have passed and just 10 days left for Adi and Tara to part ways when realization strikes that they are so habituated to each other, it was difficult to differentiate between ‘habit’ and ‘love’. A decision was eventually taken which was not of much interest to the viewer.
Cast Performance: There are only four characters that are core to the script and aptly supported by the actors - Aditya Roy Kapur, Shraddha Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah and Leela Samson. The characters of Adi and Tara were self-indulging and uninteresting. Their love drama was boring and a drag.
Pros: Cast, Direction, Cinematography, Editing, Songs.
Cons: Remake of Tamil film without improvements, Bland & outdated script, Boring screenplay.
Songs: Though the music was composed by A. R. Rahman with lyrics by Gulzar, the songs came across as average & passable in this bland and lifeless film, and this includes the repeat version of ‘Humma Humma’.
Direction: Shaad Ali is a skilled Director and have enjoyed watching some of his films – ‘Saathiya’, ‘Bunty Aur Babli’ and ‘Kill Dil’. The success of his films mainly attributed to the script and relatability of the characters to the viewer. He has the requisite capabilities but it was underutilized by the lame script in ‘OK Jaanu’. Of all his Directorial ventures, this film would feature at the bottom of the list along with ‘Jhoom Barabar Jhoom’ in terms of entertainment or impact it leaves on the viewer. Improvements could have been made to the Tamil version as the screenplay at several places appeared nonsensical.
Conclusion: ‘OK Jaanu’ is kind of run of the mill with no value addition to the viewer. This film being a product of big banners - ‘Dharma Productions’, ‘Milan Talkies’ and ‘Fox International’, only ensures quality in cast, direction and camerawork, but lacks the content to drive, entertain or benefit the audience, hence not recommended.