Personally, I thought Adhyayan Suman managed to hold his own in Raaz 2 and honestly, possesses potential to become a renowned name in the industry. Along with Suman, Shahana Goswami also takes the stage in Jashnn, who has also impressed audiences in the past with all her performances, Rock On!, Ru Ba Ru and Firaaq. Add to that Anjana Sukhani, who still needs to prove herself followed by Humayun Saeed from Pakistan who is making his debut in Bollywood, and you have a young bunch of actors all waiting for their big breaks. Directed by duo Raksha Mistry and Hasnain Hyderabadwala, the film depicts the musical life of a wannabe rock star and interestingly, whose promos bare a slight, and uncanny, resemblance to Rock On! However, giving the film the benefit of the doubt, and some credit to Adhyayan Suman for taking an alternate route so early in his acting career, one only hopes it has no similarities in the plot to the 2008 hit. Read on to find out if this Jashnn is a celebration to the Bhatt’s pockets… or not.
Meet Akash Verma (Adhyayan Suman), an aspiring singer who has dreams in eyes and hope in his heart to eventually make it big as a singer. Then there is his sister Nisha, (Shahana Goswami) who is the mistress to Aman (Humayun Saeed) and whose sister Sara (Anjana Sukhani) plays Akash’s love interest. Of course, brother Aman does not agree because of Verma’s negligent financial status. After many heated conversations between the two sets of siblings, Akash is reminded that he is in fact living off his sister while Aman is told by his sister that Akash is in fact talented and just lacking in connections. All’s well that ends well, and overnight the singer becomes the nations favorite while proving to all those who didn’t believe in him, that he in fact could do it all and how.
Jashnn is not a bad film. Yes, it does seem and look at a lot like Rock On! And honestly even holds similar situations from the successful film but still does manage to hold its own. The film loses the hold it has on the audience in the second half and additionally, with the exception of ‘Aaya Re’ and ‘Nazrein Karam’, the music of the film does not engage either. Additionally, the romantic scenes between both couples are extremely ineffective as is the long overdrawn scenes where the protagonist is seen unhappy with his progress. Those are the ideal times to take a popcorn break. The directors and screenplay writers show spark and intelligence even with their execution. However, there is much space for room. Personally, the simple dialogues worked for me— long and exaggerated phrases would have killed the youthful theme Jashnn holds. From the first screen to the last, you can tell the film belongs to the Bhatt camp.
Performance wise, Adhyayan Suman shines and even outshines the rest of the cast. Every expression was wisely chosen on his behalf and was cast correctly by the Bhatt camp. As an actor, Suman has only gone from strength to strength. Shahana Goswami is her usual awesome self although this is not her best yet – I feel like she can do so much better. Humayun Saeed is a good find and shows immense potential. Anjana Sukhani too is a surprise! Who would have known she actually possessed the acting bug? Now if she can find more roles like this one to show her true potential.
Some scenes to watch out for are the ones between Adhyayan and Shahana—the fun and confrontation scenes are equally indulging. As a sibling pair, they really are amazing. The climax will have you in tears as much as it is expected and clich
