Director Nitin Kakkar’s Jawani Jaaneman which clocks five years today featured Saif Ali Khan trying to cope with the shock of discovering a daughter he never knew he had. The film offered the unique experience of watching Saif recreate his own 1990s hit, ‘Ole Ole’.
Saif Ali Khan sang and danced to success with the chartbuster ‘Jab bhi koi ladki dekhun mera dil diwana bole Ole Ole’ in the Akshay Kumar-Kajol-Saif starrer Yeh Dillagi in 1994. The film, directed by Naresh Malhotra, had a number of chartbusters composed by the uncle-nephew duo Dilip and Sameer Sen, like the Lata Mangeshkar –helmed Hothon pe bas tera naam hai and Dekho Zara dekho.
But it was the Abhijeet rendered ‘Ole Ole’ filmed and choreographed on Saif which broke records and became Saif’s anthem song.
Twenty-six years later, the song was recreated for Saif in Jawani Jaanemann. This was the first time that the same actor was seen performing a song in two films separated by generations.
In a throwback interview, Saif said, “It’s funny to do your own remix. I’ve been around for a while. It’s not performed. Since this new version of ‘Ole Ole’ is only part of the background music. So, it’s been done in post-production. We haven’t done a full-on item based on the song ‘Ole Ole’ in Jawani Jaaneman. Maybe we should have. It’s been used more in the background, really.”
Saif says he prefers not to perform to old hits. “Instinctively, I’d prefer a new song or maybe an interesting version of an old song.”
Going into Jawani Jaaneman, expecting one more film showcasing Saif Ali Khan’s roguish charms, you come away surprised at the walloping punch that this punch-drunk celebration of a midlife crisis brings to the table. Jawani Janeman is a whole lot of fun. It’s like a casually but immaculately cut suit designed to fit and flatter the wearer without looking over-tailored. It’s a story that opens its heart to human flaws, an over-sexualized (okay, horny) 40-plus Londoner who thinks life is a bed of….well, just a bed where you ‘sleep’(actually not a wink) your way through as many women as humanly possible.
Saif Ali Khan is a delightfully self-deprecatory actor. He is never afraid to look ridiculous on screen. If you’ve seen him in that dark, underrated satire on hedonistic mortality Kaalakaandi, you will know exactly what I mean. Here in Jawani Jaaneman when Saif’s Jazz Singh launches into an impromptu jig in his London apartment(oh, didn’t I tell you the film is set in London, though it could be any city of the world) to the ‘inspiring’ beats of Husn hai suhana, that upbeat Govinda number from David Dhawan’s Coolie No.1, Saif moves with an aphrodisiacal androgynous ambivalent stealth. Is a cat on the prowl. It is a stunningly inspired improvised moment of self-adulation rendered slightly kinky by the fact that unknown to him, Jazz’s biological daughter(the very lovely debutante Alaya) is watching him move to his own groove.
Jawani Jaaneman is a beautifully curled-up comforter about a hedonistic man finding his bearings when a daughter, 21 years after ‘sambhog’ (a word that perkily crops up later on in this craftily written cocktail) suddenly pops up, part pristine and pregnant. So poor Jazz must curb his libido, ration his hedonism, and deal with becoming a father and a grandfather at the same time.
It’s a classic notion for a rom-com. Director Nitin Kakkar blends a streak of wickedness with a bedrock of unalloyed intelligence in the storytelling. Hussain Dalaal and Abbas Dalal’s writing is bang–on, and rightly so, as so much bang-bang is going on.
Saif and Alaya, as the newly-bonding father and daughter, are so comfortable in their camaraderie that I forgot they have just got to know each other. Their scenes together are choreographed like a shadow dance, tantalizing but restrained, suggestive but spiritual. Reminded me of Sanjeev Kumar and Sharmila Tagore in Mausam.
I would go back to see the film just to see this father and daughter together. While Alaya is hands-down the best discovery since her namesake (Bhatt, seriously!) Saif holds the nubile narrative together, lending a blend of irony and charm to the role of an eminently unlikeable Lothario. His closing monologue with his newly-born granddaughter is moving in its sincerity. Sadly, the ever-dependable Tabu playing a flower child long after the flowers have withered is woefully miscast. But the rest of the cast, including Fraida Jalal as Saif’s mom, are not short of any brilliance. Watch out for the beautiful model Rameet Sandhu purring her way into Saif’s bed as one of his conquests. She is priceless.
Special mention must be made of the very evolved Kubra Sait as Saif’s confidante and hairdresser …It’s a performance to ‘dye’ for.
There is a marvellous subplot about an octogenarian, Kamlesh Gill, who relents and sells her property to real estate sharks Saif and gang on condition that a large green tree on her property won’t be uprooted. That tree, a symbol of the Saif’s Jazz’s endangered conscience, becomes a variation of Terence Mallick’s Tree of Life.
Don’t let the surface prettiness of Jawani Jaaneman fool you into believing that this is a film awed by its own glamour and gloss. This is actually a much more thoughtful and relevant film than it would appear to be at first sight. Like its frivolous protagonist, the film hides a huge heaving heart. All you need to do is look for it.
