Film Review: Kareena Kapoor Khan and Jaideep Ahlawat shine in 'Jaane Jaan', a predictable thriller

Gulf News

We live in an age of distraction, so if an ominous thriller can keep you invested for 139 minutes without prompting you to check your messages on your phone or scroll through Insta reels, then it’s worth wading into these murky waters.  Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/bollywood/film-review-kareena-kapoor-khan-and-jaideep-ahlawat-are-diabolical-in-jaane-jaan-a-predictable-thriller-1.1695383837367  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #movie #kareenakapoorkhan

Transcript

00:00I know there's nothing called a perfect crime and something tells me there's nothing called a

00:04perfect crime movie either so therefore I think you should just give this movie a stab. I know

00:10the grisly nature of the movie might be off-putting at times but otherwise it's an entertaining film.

00:19This is Manjusha Radhakrishnan from Gulf News. I'm the entertainment editor.

00:23This is my review of the movie Jaane Jaan. It's called Suspect X in this region starring a host

00:32of great talents including Kareena Kapoor Khan, Jaydeep Ahlawat and Vijay Verma. This murder

00:38mystery is directed by Sujoy Ghosh. It's out on Netflix now and it's Kareena Kapoor's streaming

00:46debut. Now here is what I loved about the film. Now we all know that we live in an age of distraction.

00:52If we can watch a movie uninterrupted on our computer or perhaps on our television and it's

00:58streaming without looking at our phones or not looking at our insta reels then I think the movie

01:03is not a shabby one. That's the yardstick I really use to gauge how good this movie is. It's based on

01:10a novel by a Japanese author. It's called The Devotion of Suspect X and we are introduced into

01:18the world of single mother called Maya D'Souza played brilliantly by Kareena Kapoor Khan. The

01:24movie directed by Sujoy Ghosh is set in Kalimpong. It's very very there's a lot of mystery attached

01:29to the hilly town. It's winter and you can see a sense of doom that envelops the entire region.

01:36In fact it's an atmospheric psychological thriller and what we know so far is that Maya D'Souza is a

01:42single mother. She's living an idyllic life almost with her teenage daughter but things

01:48change drastically when her estranged husband enters the scene. Series of events including a

01:53murder cover-up unravels and our Maya D'Souza finds a very unlikely comrade in this entire fiasco.

02:01There's a gruesome crime and her neighbor and mathematical teacher who's a genius says he will

02:07provide her watertight alibis so that she can lead a free life and somehow escape being caught

02:14by the police. But the cop who comes to investigate is this mathematical genius Naren Vyas's classmate

02:20played brilliantly again by Vijay Varma. What works for this movie is not the plot twist. Some are very

02:27predictable. Some will even remind you of the movie Drishyam. So you know what is going to come.

02:32What makes this movie captivating is the entire collective performances by the lead cast. If you

02:38look at Vijay Varma he does not have a very defined role as a cop. He plays this rakish cop who's very

02:44good looking flirts slightly with the prime suspect played by Kareena Kapoor. But what makes this movie

02:50work is that they breathe life into these characters. Even Kareena Kapoor she wears her age

02:56you know like a badge of honor and that's not something that all movie actresses do

03:03especially in Bollywood. She does not wear a hint of makeup just apart from her cold lined eyes.

03:08She wears all these scars on her face and there is this aching vulnerability about her that really

03:14touched our hearts. One who stole the show was actor Jayati Balawat who excelled in the role as

03:19this tortured genius. There's a scene that's particularly aching actually in its way it's

03:25performed. If you look at it there's a scene where he breaks down when he realizes he may not

03:30perhaps be the greatest mathematical genius of all times or perhaps he may not get the girl of his

03:36desire or dreams. That particular scene is etched in vulnerability and I think that's the best parts

03:43about this movie is that you see all the characters in different shades of grey. They are not perfect

03:49perhaps they they are also sometimes morally bankrupt and that works. However one of the

03:54downsides of this film is that although the themes of physical abuse, lack of agency in a woman,

04:02obsession is all explored. It's all done at a very superficial level. I wish director Sujoy

04:07Ghosh had done a better job of delving a bit deeper so that he gives us a more intense film

04:13that could have explored all these darker themes. He had a great script in his hand somewhere.

04:19There were times when you thought it was lost in translation. I know there's nothing called a

04:23perfect crime and something tells me there's nothing called a perfect crime movie either.

04:29So therefore I think you should just give this movie a stab. I know the grisly nature of the

04:33movie might be off-putting at times but otherwise it's it's it's an entertaining film. Don't think

04:39too much about it. Just go with the flow and perhaps just revel in some good actors and an

04:45engaging plot being played out on the big screen. I've gone with three out of five. For my full

04:51review go to gulfnews.com

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