Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na (2008) review
Our story begins at the airport. With a story.
When Rotlu, Jiggy, Bombs and Shaleen offer to tell Mala the tale of Jai and Aditi-a match made in the pastry shop of heaven – Mala is convinced that she is in for yet another clichéd love story with joys and sorrows, happiness and heartbreak, laughter and songs, fights… and a climax at the airport.
And indeed, Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na is all of that. And more!
Meet Jai Singh Rathore (‘Rats’), the most non-violent Rajput either side of the Aravallis. And meet, if you dare, the violent and passionate Aditi Mahant (‘Meow’). Whatever you do, do not pick a fight with her. She scratches. And abuses. If you do get into a scrap, take cover till Jai arrives, as he alone can calm our snarling wildcat.
Never was there a less likely couple. Jai thinks Aditi’s parents should have rinsed her mouth with soap when she was a child. Aditi thinks that Jai is the biggest coward she has ever encountered. Heaven, it seems, has mixed up its apples and oranges.
More nuts in this fruitcake scenario: Rotlu weeps secretly for Aditi. Bombs’ heart explodes for Jai. Jiggy applies golden mascara to his hair. Shaleen… well, she’s probably the only one who doesn’t seem a few notes short of a concerto.
So, to come back to our story: Jai and Aditi are perfect for each other (in some odd, distorted way, impossible to understand). Friends know this. Parents know this. Everybody knows this. But do Rats and Meow know?
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Can two people ever, truly, know the secrets of their hearts? And how do you know it’s the real thing?
When do you know it’s love?
Add to this quandary a quarrelling portrait, strange dreams of a desert warrior, a dope-head brother and his pet mouse, two Rajput “cowboys’, three ancestral conditions, a fateful night in jail, a climactic ride to the airport… … and there, you have it! Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na. The coolest, warmest, hippest, funniest musical-romantic-comedy of the decade.