And Suddenly She’s A Star!

When newspapers and news channels finally started splashing her face twice a day and everyday of the week, it was too late – She was dead.

But it is not in our inherent culture to let bygones be bygones or the dead rest in peace.  Suddenly the forgotten Jia Khan, has become the adopted daughter of our society whose fragile life was cut short and the culprits are being dissected.

Was it a failing career or was it defeat in love?

Every word of the 6 page letter that she left behind is being put through an acid test.

I wonder how much of this information should have stayed only between the bereaved family and the investigating cops. Surely abuse, abortion, cheat are not topics of threat to national security that every detail of the deceased needed to be divulged.

Media waits for the first crack in your wall, before it can bulldoze it down and trample all over your private space.

I agree there are some cases where sharing information is in public interest, to prevent someone else from living your hell, but this, this was a suicide case, a girl whose moral had been defeated, whose confidence had been trampled, self respect and trust snatched away. It takes more than nerves of steel for someone to take away their own life – try it!

So don’t sit there judging, contemplating and commenting as to why even today modern literate woman suffer abuse in silence. Some industry veterans are shocked beyond belief cause ‘she always put forward a strong confident handshake’, they understand though, cause this industry is a cruel place, a feeding ground for vultures, where pure talent is not the wind in your sail. I guess the deep understanding stems from the fact that most somewhere somehow, have been responsible for some Jiah Khan to wither away.

Every third page of the paper today is an ode to her sad situation

‘ why do actresses subject themselves to abuse?’

‘Break up with a gift – a new fad’

‘Are you an anxious lover’

‘Be a friend in need’

‘To date or to wait’

The glamour industry as many rightly say is like termites, it eats you hollow from within, but for the few hours when the spotlight is on you, it lets you live a life as compared to nothing else, you don’t mind melting away unnoticed later, cause you were a star, if even for once! 

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani - dont ask what part of it, or how or any other relevant questions!

After being in labour for a year and a half, Ayaan Mukherji together with Dharma productions finally delivered Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani.

 A story about Naina (Deepika), a girl who has never taken chances in life. She bumps into an old school friend Aditi (Kalki) and for the first time decides to do something spontaneous by signing up for a trip to Manali.

And thus is set the premise for the story of our film - memories of a forgotten journey.

On the trip Naina forms a special bond with carefree Kabir (Ranbir). Not having left home much, Kabir’s zest for life shows Naina a side she’s never experienced before and needless to say falls madly in love.

But Kabir wants to fly, he wants to run, he wants to fall, but never stop. A ‘no responsibility or commitment’ kind of role model for all our boys out there.

Naina realizes that Kabir’s ambitions for life are only a ticket for one, and does the wise thing by keeping her feelings to herself.

Trip over, every one moves on in life, and Kabir being the hero of the film obviously gets the best part of the pie. He moves over to the US to live the famous and foot fancy life of a photographer, who is either filming drug deals from behind a car, getting shot at, living on the edge -in his spare time making out on streets and hosting travel shows (I can already see men signing off their souls to trade lives)

Cut to 8 yrs later. Aditi is getting married, she sends a message to Kabir wishing he’d attend her wedding, come in mysteriously late, appear from behind the stage and steal the show by performing a Badtameez number that has no relevance to the situation whatsoever.

What’s also bizarre is the human interactions shown between people meeting for the first time or after 8 long years of no contact!

So the second half of the film is about bizarre situations, Kabir rediscovering what is important in life, Nanina launching off into a typical I love my India and its Gajar ka Halwa dialogues, the three friends Kabir, Aditi and Avi rebonding, Kabir and Avi sharing some hard to convince emotional breakdowns, and Aditi happily marring a complete mismatch (that bit was cute actually)

Except for a few helicopter shots the cinematography is not breathtakingly different. Same goes for the music (I don’t think a helicopter could have helped much here!)  Considering  every random situation has a song fit in, it could be a modern day ‘Hum Aapke Hain kaun’ but alas! there’s not too much to write home about. ‘Dilli waali girlfriend’ has some cheezy lyrics but if one is not careful enough, one may end up humming the song in public.

I like Balam Pichkari and Kabira (though it does have traces of Iktara)

Excuse me for bringing up ‘Wake Up Sid’, that too was about a guy running from responsibilities, fighting his own demons with a parallel story about a second protagonist – there was a story.

If we talk about feel good films, Zindagi na Milegi Dobara, Dil Chahta hai etc were all that AND a story.  Please give us a hero who wants to be a CA, a CEO or something boringly successful and chooses a regular life as his path, not a gangster, not a photographer not a cool sadak chaap or a film maker, give us a normal boring guy and make him look desirable, c’mmon!!!!

* I LOVE RANBIR KAPOOR AND DONT THINK THERE HAS BEEN A BETTER ACTOR IN AGES!!!