Starring: Preity Zinta, Salman Khan & Akshay Kumar
Director: Sajid Nadiadwala
Straight off the success of Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, Sajid Nadiadwala is back with his next venture and this time under the direction of debutant director Shirish Kunder. The movie still contains the awesome-duo of Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar. As for the leading lady, the pretty Preity Zinta steps in.
Jaan-E-Man has a lot of excitement, expectation and eagerness to its name. The big question is Will Jaan-E-Man deliver? Will the Salman-Akshay duo rule once again? Will Akshay score another hit at the diwali box office? Will Preity finally get a good role outside the Yash Raj and Dharma Production camps? You’re about to find out, but before that let’s take a look at the storyline.
The movie starts with Agastya Rao (Akshay Kumar) telling his story. Agastya was a nerd in college, but had a crush on one of the most beautiful girls in the school. Piya (Preity Zinta) was one of the popular girls, who had the punk edge to her. Piya often gave off the wrong impression to Agastya and finally ended up breaking his heart.
Years later, Piya marries Suhan (Salman Khan). Suhan was the rockstar of college; he ruled the school and he loved Piya very much.
However one day, Suhan had to decide between Piya and his career, and yes he picked the latter. But he left her at such a time, when she needed him the most. According to Indian Hindu Marriage Law, the husband must provide alimony to his wife, unless she re-marries. Then comes in Agastya who becomes the scapegoat of Suhan. Suhan wants to unite Agastya with his love so he can stop paying the alimony.
What happens next is the real twist. Does Salman fall for Preity once again? Does Akshay get his love? Who does Preity choose, the guy that loves her or the guy who left her but still loves her? Well we can’t give everything away right, you gotta see it for yourself.
The movie has some very interesting songs. Every single song in this movie is needed. Every song contributes to the story, they aren’t just put there for the sake of it. However Humko Maloom Hai stands out the most. Watch for the interesting picturizations.
Salman and Akshay’s duo worked. However it was not as strong or effective as it should have been. Their scenes were perfect, the content was perfect, yet something was off. Nonetheless, they were not so bad. The biggest disappointment of the movie was Preity Zinta. How can a accomplished star like Preity sign such a non-talent requried role. More on that later.
Shrish Kunder directs well. However he needs to learn to make every scene more impactful. There are some very major scenes that just go by as if they are nothing. For a debutant he was good, but he could have been a bit better. Anu Malik’s music is up to the par of the movie. But one wishes a beautiful song like Humko Maloom Hai was not messed up with the weird music and awful English lyrics.
It seemed that everyone had done their job partly. I mean the music was good but at the same time something was very “regular” about it. The direction was good but still we desire for more. Everything about this movie is like that, we feel as thougth something is missing, something is off. The funny thing is, it’s a damn hard task trying to figure out what exactly is missing. I still don’t know. Maybe next week.
Now to the performances…
If there is any role in this movie which requires any skill it’s the role of Agastya Rao. Akshay Kumar slips into the character with perfect conviction. His body laungage, dialogue delivery, and everything else was right on. The convicition he has shown is excellent. The portrayal of the nerd, the hunk, and the lover is done very well. Akshay certainly deserves every compliment he gets. It’s amazing how the other stars of the movie are getting the credit for their roles, when the real star here is Akshay. Watch out for his hilarious laugh.
Salman Khan gets the chance to show some acting in the last 45 minutes of the movie. Does he act good? Yes he does. But the performance doesn’t stay with you. Salman had all the things he needed, glycerine, good makeup and good gel, but still the chemical reaction wasn’t working. However, it’s an overall improvement from his past nonsensical roles.
Anupam Kher tries a little bit too hard to be funny.
Preity Zinta looks disturbingly weird in the beginning of the movie. As for her acting, one wishes there was room for it. Zinta is one of the top three best actress of the country, and she signed something like this? In a recent interview she said she signed this movie because of the intensity of KANK. Okay if you say so, you only had 5 scenes in KANK (she probably has a little bit more here). Anyways, she is definitely the worst thing in the movie.
Overall, it’s just one of those movies you will forget about later on. Honestly, Jaan-E-Man is okay. There is no need to get your pants in a bunch to go watch it at the cinemas. Wait for it on video.
