Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na


Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language coming of age romantic comedy film, written and directed by Abbas Tyrewala. The film stars Imran Khan and Genelia D'Souza in the lead roles. Produced by Mansoor Khan, Aamir Khan, it marks the directional debut of Abbas Tyrewala, the debut of Imran Khan and Prateik Babbar as actors, and the re-appearance of D'Souza in Hindi cinema. Released on 4 July 2008, the film received positive reviews and was successful at the box office. The music is by A. R. Rahman.

Plot

The story begins as four friends travel with a guest to an airport, when Jignesh "Jiggy" Patel, Ravindran "Rotlu" Sahu, Sandhya "Bombs" Sahay and Shaleen Varma offer to tell Jiggy's date, air hostess Mala Mishra, the unique love story of Jai and Aditi, two friends who they have known. Jai "Ratz" Singh Rathore is the most non-violent Rajput to have ever existed, while Aditi "Meow" Mahant, is an aggressive and impulsive girl. Her nickname is the result of her abuse and scratching of people.
Despite their differences, Jai and Aditi are best friends in college. They seem perfect for each other, but everyone except them acknowledge this fact. Aditi often has a bickering relationship with her brother Amit, who seems to hate Jai because of his polite and cool nature, and since Aditi cannot stand any insults against Jai, she regularly picks up fights with him. Aditi dreams of a virile, macho husband, while Jai wants a sweet, romantic girl. Since they do not believe that they are in love, they search for a perfect life partner for each other after finishing college. Jai falls in love with Meghna Pariyar after spotting her in a club where two rough men were misbehaving with her. He rescues her by tricking the duo, thus winning Meghna's heart. When Meghna and Jai get close to each other, Rotlu, Jiggy, Sandhya and Shaleen are happy for Jai, but nobody notices that Aditi is missing Jai's company. Meghna informs Jai that her parents squabble but cannot live without each other. Jai visits Meghna's parents and sees that her father, Mahesh, is an alcoholic who has much friction with his ex-wife Sheela. Due to the meeting, he misses Aditi's surprise birthday party. Aditi's feelings are hurt, so he goes late at night to wish her but is sent back.
Later, feeling deserted, Aditi gets engaged to her father's friend's son, Sushant Modi. She sees in him the macho man she always wanted. However, Sushant is also a spoilt playboy whose ex-girlfriend, Richa, has landed him in trouble twice. Amit, upon having a word with Sushant in person, tries to make her see Sushant for who he really is but Aditi continues her relationship, considering that Jai is still with Meghna. At Jiggy's birthday party, Aditi introduces her fiancé to everyone. Both Jai and Aditi are upset with the other's relationship. During the dance, Sushant finds that Aditi is crying and kisses her, which upsets Jai further.
Meghna tries to cheer him up, but Jai becomes angrier, shouting at her and chiding her for being ignorant of the friction between her parents. She breaks down and tells him about her parents' divorce due to Mahesh's extra marital affair which affected her psychologically, leading her to imagine a perfect world and be childish so as to not be burdened with the reality of being a forced thread between her parents. The next day, Jai breaks up with Meghna whereby she is shattered to learn that he loves Aditi and leaves with a goodbye kiss. As for Aditi, she is under duress from Sushant, who, after realizing she loves Jai, slaps her on her face, leaving a bruise. She decides to break the engagement and go to New York to study alone, while actually wanting to return to Jai. When she meets Jai, he spots the bruise on Aditi's face, and contrary to his usual non-violent nature, thrashes Sushant for daring to lay a hand on her.
Inspector P.K. Waghmare, who is at odds with Jai's mother Savitri Singh Rathore, arrests Jai for thrashing Sushant and puts him behind the bars. There, he meets again the two men who were found harassing Meghna at the club, finding out their names to be Kuber "Bhalu" Singh Rathore and Vinay "Bagheere" Singh Rathore. The three in jail discover that they are closely related cousins, separated in childhood, and Jai finally comes to terms with his legacy, realizing that his father, the late Amar Singh Rathore thrash someone 2.) get arrested 3.) and ride a horse, among which the first two had already been completed by Jai. Meanwhile, Aditi makes her way to the international airport to depart for the USA. Bhalu and Bagheere, who are sons of Amar's cousin, now an MLA, use their influence to bail Jai out, after which Jai rides to the airport on a borrowed horse to stop Aditi from leaving. This makes him fulfill the final condition, and an initially worried Savitri, after spotting him, decides to return home, dejected that Amar's dream has come true.
He finds Aditi at the airport lounge, and sings her a song which he had confessed earlier as the one he would sing for the love of his life. Aditi, delighted, hugs him and cancels her travel plans.
In the present, Rotlu, Jiggy, Sandhya, and Shaleen conclude the story and welcome Jai and Aditi, who return from the U.S. after 5 years, at the airport. Mala gets extremely delighted to see them and introduces herself as Jiggy’s girlfriend, and they leave the airport together.

Cast

The film was released on 4 July 2008. The premiere of the film was held at the PVR Cinemas in Goregaon, Mumbai where many Bollywood stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Shekhar Kapur, Kabir Bedi, Raveena Tandon, Juhi Chawla, Jackie Shroff, Ashutosh Gowariker, Minissha Lamba, Shamita Shetty, Subhash Ghai, Sridevi, Boney Kapoor and Yash Chopra were present. The film was released with 473 prints worldwide, which includes 282 analogue prints, 81 digital screens and 110 prints overseas. In its second week, the number of shows at multiplexes were increased while 100 more centres were opened.

Reception

Critical response

The movie got positive responses from critics. Rediff.com gave it a 4 out of 5, "a rock-solid ensemble cast that is mouthwateringly perfect". Movie Talkies has given it 4 stars, "the coolest, warmest, hippest and funniest musical romantic comedy in years has arrived, and a new Khan is born." Glamsham gave it another 4 out of 5, "another fruitful outing for Aamir Khan. This man certainly knows what he is doing." Planet Bollywood gave it 4 stars, "a fresh breezy entertainer which undoubtedly is the best the year has seen so far." AOL India reviewer Noyon Jyoti Parasara gave it 3.5 out of 5 and said, "Jaane Tu... weaves in a lot of emotions right from friendship, love to insecurity. Every character is shown to have a definite backing. Which means a very good job by the writer." Taran Adarsh of IndiaFM gave it 3.5 stars, "a breezy entertainer which will be loved by its target audience – the youth".

Box office

Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na was an early success, with 80% or more in morning shows and 100% by the noon shows across India. Monday usually witnesses a drop in business for films in India, but Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na had strong showings on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The first week all-India gross was with an average of per print. For the second week, the number of shows were increased and it started the week grossing almost 100% at several screens. The film grossed in its second week, taking its total to. It grossed approximately in full run.

Music

The music of Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, composed by A. R. Rahman and lyrics by director Abbas Tyrewala, was released in India on 20 May 2008 with producer Aamir Khan presenting the first audio CD to veteran actor Shammi Kapoor. The soundtrack held the number one spot on the music charts for several consecutive weeks. The soundtrack was well received by the audiences and the critics, with "Pappu Can't Dance" becoming one of the major hits of 2008.
Rahman was awarded with the Filmfare Best Music Director Award and the Star Screen Award for Best Music Director for this soundtrack. The track "Kabhi Kabhi Aditi" was nominated for Best Playback Singer and Best Lyrics at the Filmfare awards. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 15,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's eighth highest-selling.

Awards

Star Screen Awards