Jawaani jaaneman
*ing: Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Alaya Furniturewala, Kubra Sait, Chunky Pandey, Farida Jalal, Kiku Sharda
Rated: 7/10
Saif Ali Khan, guys, is out to have fun. That too as the solo Punjabi munda with a high libido ji and a low commitment yaraa, selling property-shoperty in the heart of little India in London. His nights are lit up at his friend’s night club where women flow in and out of his bed as smoothly as the peg-sheg, notwithstanding the hair-dye and kala chashma for the girl-shirls.
Does he have a heart too? The film, knd of makes it its business to find out and insert one when all you think will be lost on this fiercely anti-marriage all fun old man with young drives.
It is a fun film with Saif hogging the show with his demeanour till, of course, his daughter from a Norwegian one night stand appears at his doorstep, with a being human worksheet.
Star child Alaya Furniturewala is a beauty not just because she looks good but because she acts well too and has her own kind of screen presence which is obviously young and also refreshing.
Tabu is a let down because she is no good but because she is on the sidelines with a 10-minute presence as a gonner hippy mom of the Alaya, who incidentally is 21 and pregnant.
In one go, Saif becomes papa and nana from being this cool dude engaged in alcoholic downer campaigns in his singleton life.
Chunky Pandey as the friend who gives him life lessons, Farida Jalal as the silent mom and Kiku sharda as the doctor who gives him DNA proof of Alaya being his daughter are all short-shrifted and could have added many more moments in the film.
But then Jawaani Jaaneman is only about Saif’s journey from haze and daze to a phase of responsibility and familyhood, to realisation and humanness. Thanks to the director, this journey is punctuated with laughter and jokes, making the mount an unlikely candidate for a hit film. Must go and enjoy with your popcorn, cola and, of course, the old time songs that add lots to the film.
