‘Jaane Jaan’ On Netflix Movie Review: Kareena Kapoor Khan Disappoints But Jaideep Ahlawat-Vijay Varma Salvage This Sujoy Ghosh Thriller

‘Jaane Jaan’: Cast & Crew

Director: Sujoy Ghosh

Cast: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Jaideep Ahlawat, Vijay Varma, Saurabh Sachdeva, Karma Takapa, Naisha Khanna, Lin Laishram

Available On: Netflix

Duration: 2 Hours 19 Minutes

‘Jaane Jaan’: Story

In Kalimpong, a single mother (Kareena Kapoor Khan) tries to cover up the murder of her estranged husband (Saurabh Sachdeva) with help from her neighbour (Jaideep Ahlawat). Will the police (Vijay Varma) catch up to the antics? Or will the single mother and the neighbour escape from it all scott-free? Well for all that you’ll have to watch ‘Jaane Jaan’.

‘Jaane Jaan’: Performances

At first glance, you’re wondering why Jaideep Ahlawat agreed to take up such a sombre character when he is known for playing outlandish and loud characters which instantly hit and stay in your memories. But once you are about to reach the climax of the film, you are thanking your stars that it was Jaideep Ahlawat who played this character, and it was he alone who could have managed to pull this off. Not only did he trick you with his strikingly different look, but his body language was impeccable and made you totally forget his real-life persona. You’re just left looking at this character. Jaideep Ahlawat’s sense of the camera is so brilliant that he makes sure even in a passing shot, he leaves his impact. He was solely the reason why the film was still worth the watch.

Vijay Varma once again proves why he is so much in demand. I wished he had much more screen time, but even in the lesser screen space, he does justify his worth. He brings in that quirkiness that you would usually expect from Jaideep Ahlawat. But considering Jaideep Ahlawat is playing a complete reversal of what he usually plays, Vijay Varma picks that up and excels in it superbly. The antics that he does, the facial expressions he brings, and the kind of mystic aura he creates were very much necessary to build that friction in the audience’s mind about who is good and who is actually bad.

The film may have been released on Kareena Kapoor Khan’s birthday, but in all honesty, she has the least to contribute to the scheme of things that’s happening in the film. The entire plot revolves around her, which usually would be a great thing, but in this case, it just ends up making her character a damsel in distress who cannot survive alone without the support of the two other characters. There should have been a much bigger sinister reveal at the end which would have justified an actress of the stature of Kareena Kapoor Khan playing this character. Sadly, that never happened, making you feel that this could have been played by just about any other actress. The character just left a bad aftertaste.

‘Jaane Jaan’: Script, Direction & Technical Aspects

Sujoy Ghosh’s direction creates intrigue but leaves you high and dry with a climax which isn’t worthy of his genius. The direction was devoid of many twists and turns which is Sujoy Ghosh’s trademark. It’s this factor that keeps you guessing till the very end as to what’s going to happen. Here you’re just left hanging with not much of a satisfactory closure to your inquisitions. The climax was a big letdown. The entire motive behind a killer or someone trying to save the killer cannot be brought down to simple mathematical equations. Even if it was to be as simple as a maths equation, there needed to be a lot more psychotic feel to the actions or body movements of the actors.

The writing by Sujoy Ghosh and Raj Vasant leaves you high and dry at the end. In a murder mystery, you’re looking to go through numerous twists and turns which keep you on the edge of your seats. Here that gripping factor was missing, and it felt like a mundane story of a hillside Indian town. In a thriller like this, a lot more twists could have been sewn into the plot. And not to forget, the revelations in the climax could have been much better weaved into the screenplay. If you’re adapting from a book as popular as ‘The Devotion Of Suspect X’, at least try and put in a lot more necessary plot points rather than delving into a romantic alliance among the lead actors, which felt rather unnecessary.

Avik Mukhopadhyay’s cinematography is pretty much the best thing about ‘Jaane Jaan’. The way he has explored the exotic locales of Kalimpong and introduced us, as audiences, to this entirely new field of view was mind-blowing. From the early morning cloudy long walks to the intricate climbing of a roadside staircase, everything was so serene. He tried to build in the intrigue factor by the brilliant usage of low lighting in numerous scenes. It’s only because of him in the technical department that the film is not a complete dud.

The editing by Urvashi Saxena could have been tauter. There are a few scenes in the middle between Kareena Kapoor and Jaideep Ahlawat which felt unnecessary to the plot of the film. That didn’t lend a lot to the twists and turns and therefore could have been chopped. Probably a little more trimming could have brought the length of the movie as well to below 2 hours, which would have been ideal considering it’s a thriller genre.

The music by Sachin-Jigar is hardly there. The songs are mostly promotional and haven’t created the necessary impact that they should have done till now for the pre-release buzz. On the contrary, the background score by Shor Police is good and helps to transport you to the locales and gives you a semblance of a thriller feel.

Lastly, who the heck keeps the name of the movie ‘Jaane Jaan’ when there is hardly anything to do with the original song or the words in it? Being adapted from ‘The Devotion Of Suspect X’, it could have just named itself ‘Suspect X’, which would have made more sense to the story. Terrible naming of the film.

‘Jaane Jaan’: Can Kids Watch It?

Yes

Outlook’s Verdict

There were loads of expectations that ‘Jaane Jaan’ would be a cracker of a thriller murder mystery. Sadly, the twists and turns in the plot aren’t enough. To add to that, the final plot reveal in the climax wasn’t too soul-satisfying. As a fan of the thriller murder mystery genre, a kickass climax could have changed everything in favour of the movie. But sadly, that didn’t happen. Jaideep Ahlawat and Vijay Varma’s performances are kickass, which saves the movie to quite an extent. Kareena Kapoor as the damsel in distress is a big letdown. Overall, it’s a Below Average film. I am going with 2 stars.