The much awaited film Jab Harry Met Sejal is finally out and it has been ages since I have seen a film on the first day. And for the first time, in a long, long time, I was excited and looking forward to this as it was a dream star cast with a fabulous director. Adding to that, were the songs that have all been appreciated and so all they had to do was to get a story together worthy of the people involved in the project. Well, that is what the issue here is if you consider it to be one, to begin with.
Written and directed by Imtiaz Ali, Jab Harry met Sejal is the story of how two people who are extremely different from each, at very different points in their lives, come together for an unfathomable purpose.
Sejal (Anushka Sharma) is on a Europe tour where she gets engaged and manages to misplace her engagement ring. At a point where she should be on a flight back to India with her extended family she decides to take a stand and go back and look for the ring across the countries she visited, over the last month. Harry (Shahrukh Khan) plays their tour guide and is the one stuck with Sejal as a result of his unfortunate timing and the fact that he wishes to keep his job. This ensues in a saga that is quite unreal, flawed and most definitely extremely loosely thought out as the concept of going in search for a wedding ring, literally on the roads, across the world is as basic as it can get in terms of looking for something that you wish to find. You are on foot, literally.
So now the deal is that the story and the concept of the film is understood by anyone who watches the first 20 mins of the feature film and so is aware of how the rest of the 140 mins are going to unravel. If you are going to be someone who is going to keep the film with you as you were shown on the screen, chances are that you are not going to come out happy at the end of the 2 hours 25 mins reel. However, if you are someone like me who wants to understand what is it that the director is trying to convey, you might leave a little less unhappy and more with your thinking caps on. And of course with a lot of unanswered questions but a lot of emotions.
The direction and dialogues are kept earthy and desi, which is very typical and also the style that Imtiaz Ali’s goes by. It is how his movies stand apart giving them a modern rustic feel all at once. Following his previous ventures, he always likes to play on the emotions and ideas of characters in his film that are shaped by their surroundings, their upbringing and of course, the monetary back ground they belong to. This has again been explored in Harry and Sejal beautifully.
Harry who is tied down by his basic desires and need is coupled with Sejal who wishes to explore these same emotions of hers that she never even knew existed until she was on her own, not to be corrected and told by her family as to what ought to be done or felt. This ensues in a behavior that is out of character for both the characters which is again a conflict in itself adding to the one that already exist between them. However, I think this time I have seen a little more intensity and rawness in his characters and the fact that he has used extreme close ups so generously in the film to portray their desires through their eyes was a good move.
Shahrukh and Anushka have done a fabulous job. Each is looking their attractive character and have managed to pull of the spoken accents perfectly giving their characters further authenticity. The on screen chemistry works and that is exactly what is constant throughout the film which does compel you to sit there even if you believe that what you paid for was not a treasure hunt and definitely not a one that you’d enjoy watching. Again, it’s the extreme close ups and the emotions captured in the eyes that deliver and manage to salvage what little there is off the script. And if you are someone who likes watching Shahrukh and Anushka on screen, you are definitely in for a visual treat.
So there are many moments and ideas during the course of the film that are going to be flung at you and you would wonder how did they get here, from that? There are also times when you have multiple scenes playing one after the other that the director has not been able to properly sync with what comes before it and after, making you wonder and sufficiently confusing you at the same time as well.
But all in all, what I took away from the movie was that the premise of the film is made to look silly and insignificant but on purpose. Something so bizarre that you initially think that, is this what gets funded, executed and sold? I could write a better story.
But then you understand that it is a metaphor on life. On how as human beings our hunt and importance for materialistic things in life in way is insignificant and silly, magnified by our attentions and priority given to them. And while looking for these in an environment that is not conducive to their findings you tend to stumble upon the real you and understand what you have been looking for is not what you thought you did, when you initially started on this journey.
Imtiaz Ali does have a story he wants to tell but the length and pace of the film dampens the mood along with the scenes and song sequences thrown in, that he loves to rip apart and play piece by piece, I have no idea why, does little to bring out that clarity in his confused characters and the profound emotions that they experience when attracted to one and another in way that cannot be explained. My favorite part about his movies however, is that his characters are all grey and not black and white as they are portrayed in the beginning of the film, highlighting the flaws of the human nature and how they can be attractive to another who understands them as a trait but not a personality as whole.
So the verdict, life has a way to surprise you when you least expect it and present you with opportunities and situations that you never thought you were seeking in the first place, but find yourself being attracted to just that. What you make of those, whether you take them and find out what it is that is in store for you or walk away knowing that you don’t want the trouble that comes with it is what matters at the end of the day. Jab Harry met Sejal is like that. You know you want to watch it and you are most probably going to, too. So just bear the consequences and see what you end up with at the end of the experience.
Because everything is perspective and perspective, is everything. Nothing more, nothing less.
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