The film has neither the glib snap of a sitcom nor the depth of a drama nor the giddiness of a ‘Birdcage’-like farce.
Spoilers ahead…
In an industry more attuned to sequels, Nitin Kakkar’s Jawaani Jaaneman would be called Salaam Namaste Part XVI: From Rocker to Rocking Chair. Saif Ali Khan plays a perennial playboy named Jaswinder Singh. People call him Jazz, but he seems more of a rock guy, given the series of tees he wears — with logos of Metallica and Iron Maiden and Freddie Mercury. But at home, in London, he has a disco glitter ball, and when no one’s looking, he lip-syncs and dances to Husn hai suhana. Is this just a cheap laugh at the character’s expense? Or is this who Jazz really is, “cool” on the outside and a Coolie No.1 fan on the inside?
It’s hard to care in this snoozy narrative that revolves around Jazz being visited by Tia (the endearingly open-faced Alaya Furniturewala) and finding out — to his utter horror — that he may not just be a father but may be about to become a grandfather, too. Haha, right? But not really — despite some high-profile (and very promising) casting like that of Tabu as a hippie-earth goddess. The film has neither the glib snap of a sitcom nor the depth of a drama nor the giddiness of a Birdcage-like farce. (For my money, the latter is what they were going for.)
Jawaani Jaaneman has too many nightclub sequences, and too few scenes that build these characters into people we actually give a hoot about. There’s no consistent tone, no rhythm. A supposedly funny doctor’s visit is directed so flatly, you practically hear the hiss as the air leaks out of the scene. And nothing is at stake. Everything seems so easy as to be preordained, whether it’s a tetchy old woman signing away her house (Jazz is in real estate) or Jazz realising that family is important if you fall ill and need people to fuss around you at the hospital. The writing is that basic.
Kubbra Sait grabs a few good moments as Jazz’s very grounded hairdresser-friend. But Saif seems lost. He doesn’t have the conviction he did when he put himself through these very motions in Salaam Namaste. (Or maybe he’s just older and trying to hide his contempt for a pay-cheque part. Who can say?) But most painful of all is the stilted language. A 21-year-old brought up in Amsterdam says things like “Aapke ghar ki keys” — instead of, you know, “Here are your keys”. If you have to have a lot of Hindi in your Hindi film, why not set the whole damn thing in Mumbai? I swear, if I hear a Londoner talking about “havas” one more time…
Copyright ©2020 Baradwaj Rangan. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Baradwaj Rangan 
(Original) venkatesh
February 5, 2020
FWIW, we do say ‘havas’ BR , though ironically and with tongue in cheek.
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awkshwayrd
February 5, 2020
@BR: I’m glad your review is out so I can vent on a theory I formulated (while wondering if you would review this movie) – Saif’s whole cool, low key, clueless, charming persona was never strong enough to be the focus of a movie. It only worked when the movies themselves were ‘Bollywoody’, allowing Saif to be ‘cool’ by contrast. The Saif persona (as opposed to Saif the actor) is viewed through rose coloured glasses by a certain generation of film-makers – though perhaps not the audience – which would explain this movie and Happy Ending.
Consider the movies where it worked. The Saif was born in DCH and Kal Ho Na Ho, and in both he’s basically 3rd lead, playing straight man to showier performances. In both Hum Tum and Salaam Namaste, which solidified The Saif and let him play ‘the funny one’, he’s paired opposite strong leading ladies (screen presence wise) and great YRF funded supporting casts – great scene partners to play off of. The Saif got to be the froth, the rest of the movie (including Saif the actor in dramatic scenes) brought the milk and the coffee.
Consider the movies it doesn’t work. The new agey movies just trained the camera on Saif playing The Saif and hoped we would be entertained. Cocktail dragged anytime one of the DPs was not on screen. It has a horrendous ‘comedy’ scene with Boman playing straight man to Saif (at which point I shut off the movie and never finished it). Happy Ending is just all froth, so fatally light weight and boring you don’t care to finish the movie. The Saif always needed some other actual drama going on.
Only Imitiaz Ali really managed to make The Saif work in isolation, but he used to make scenes pop even with lesser actors. He knew exactly how to make the tossed off non-sequiturs work. Plus he did so much with Love Aaj Kal – Rishi Kapoor, globe and time hopping, actual biting drama. If he’s regained his touch with the new Love Aaj Kal, he promises to pull off a miracle – he may just make dramatic scenes work with Kartik Aryan in them.
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brangan
February 5, 2020
awkshwayrd: That is such an excellent POV/comment. Thanks so much.
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MANK
February 5, 2020
Saif Ali Khan never worked for me. Period!. I never ever get pass his terrible voice and even more horrible dialogue delivery. Ditto Varun Dhawan
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hakimokimo
February 5, 2020
I found him fantastic in Kaalakandi last year ( actually the best thing about that film ) and I really loved what he currently does with his career
In the last 6 months we got Sacred Games, Laal Kaptain, Taanaji and this. Definitely the best Khan right now.
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