Director: Raj Mehta
Writers: Rishhabh Sharrma, Anurag Singh, Sumit Batheja, Neeraj Udhawani
Forged: Varun Dhawan, Kiara Advani, Anil Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor, Prajakta Koli, Manish Paul, Tisca Chopra
Cinematographer: Jay Patel
Editor: Manish Extra
In an interview with me final week, Varun Dhawan described Raj Mehta as “at the moment’s business director.” Which I interpret to imply that Raj is a storyteller who can take thorny topics comparable to the problem of being unable to conceive and the issues of IVF (which he tackled in his first movie Good Newwz) or the problem of sustaining a nourishing marriage (the topic of JugJugg Jeeyo) and marry them with Bollywood staples comparable to stars, massive blow-out track numbers, broad comedy and high-decibel drama.
It is a robust tight-rope act as a result of it requires juggling a number of tonalities without delay. The narrative should embody each – crass jokes in regards to the sexual urges of a senior citizen and emotionally resonant conversations about how marriage turns into a behavior slightly than a partnership. JugJugg Jeeyo drunkenly swerves between these polarities and virtually crashes. However with the help of 4 screenplay writers, six music composers and a stellar forged, Raj one way or the other manages to make this contradictory movie land.
JugJugg Jeeyo is the story of two {couples} – Bheem and Geeta who’ve been married for thirty-five years and their son and his spouse, Kukoo and Naina who’ve been married for 5. Kukoo and Naina met in 5th grade, after which he pursued her relentlessly. As somewhat child, he screams at one other boy who’s chatting with Naina as a result of he’s so possessive of her (seemingly oddly like a junior Kabir Singh). He additionally proposes to her 5 instances, ultimately befriends her brother and finds a option to her coronary heart. The movie positions this as cute slightly than creepy. However Kukoo’s grand ardour frays as Naina turns into extra professionally profitable – Karan Johar’s 2006 infidelity drama Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna additionally offered an analogous state of affairs with a wedding slowly coming aside as a result of the spouse’s profession soared because the husband turned a bitter failure.
Kukoo and Naina are NRIs who come residence from Toronto to Patiala for Kukoo’s sister Ginny’s wedding ceremony. There, Kukoo finds out that he and Naina aren’t the one ones with divorce on their minds. His father is within the throes of a severe flirtation and hoping to dump his mom as quickly as the marriage is finished. The story by Anurag Singh (director of Kesari and the Punjabi movies Jatt and Juliet 1 and a pair of and Punjab 1984) presents glowing prospects, which Raj isn’t absolutely in a position to mine. Principally as a result of the movie is so afraid to take any actual dangers.
JugJugg Jeeyo presents a cosmetically enhanced, airbrushed model of divorce. Don’t go searching right here for the uncooked messiness of Marriage Story or Kramer vs Kramer and even a number of the surprises that Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna sprung. Sixteen years in the past, Karan was courageous sufficient to have his A-list stars, Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukerji, play characters who verify right into a lodge to have intercourse. Against this, Raj makes positive to inform us that Bheem’s extramarital dalliance is sexually chaste. And any need that Geeta may need is rarely addressed – actually, by way of the primary half, we barely have any sense of who this girl is other than being a smiling, bejewelled Punjabi aunty.
Regardless of the presence of Anurag and Raj, who can be Punjabi, JugJugg Jeeyo leans closely into the usual Bollywood Punjabi tropes, together with the strong dancing, kulchas, parathas and makkhan. Bheem is loud. He cracks PJs (one is about an alcoholic pigeon) and drinks an excessive amount of. So do Kukoo and his brother-in-law Gurpreet, who’s wearing designer labels from head to toe. The background music brims with dhols. And the ladies, resplendent in designer wedding ceremony put on, are feisty however inside fastidiously prescribed limits.
Ginny does photographs along with her associates at her bachelor social gathering however agrees to an organized marriage as a result of she needs to calm down. Naina’s flourishing profession is talked about typically however till the tip, I couldn’t determine what her job truly was as a result of it’s so sketchily handled. And Geeta stays the long-suffering spouse who compromises continually to make the wedding work. Geeta’s unstinting nurturing of her egocentric, mendacity husband routinely provides her the ethical higher hand over Meera, the girl Bheem is curious about. Meera is a working girl who tells Bheem frankly that she likes residing alone a lot that she by no means even introduced residence a canine. Meera is likely to be sturdy and extra fulfilled in her life but it surely’s very clear whose facet this movie is on.
The writing by Anurag, Sumit Batheja, Rishhabh Sharrma and Neeraj Udhwani stays largely broad and generic. Even the leads Kukoo and Naina aren’t imbued with sufficient specificity to develop into flesh and blood people. Raj is just too invested in making a four-quadrant entertainer so the plot stays resolutely upbeat. However within the midst of it, he phases a number of key scenes which give the narrative emotional depth. Like one between Naina and Geeta. Within the time-honored custom of Karan Johar protagonists (bear in mind the brothers reuniting in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham or the opening sequence with Dev and Maya in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna), the 2 ladies are sitting on a bench. And Geeta bares her coronary heart to her daughter-in-law telling her about her marriage and the way within the first yr itself, she puzzled if her husband was the best man for her. Her recognition of the vacancy in her life’s most enduring relationship is heart-breaking.
Regardless of the fault strains, JugJugg Jeeyo stays watchable due to moments like this and since the actors are uniformly good. Anil Kapoor makes Bheem each weak and, regardless of his shenanigans, likeable. Watch him in a scene by which he first tells his son that he needs a divorce. His eyes immediately go silent as if he himself can’t consider what he’s saying. With each movie, Anil appears to be delivering a masterclass on how an actor can develop into classic wine and age with panache. Raj can’t resist enjoying up Varun Dhawan’s stardom – so Kukoo proposes to Naina by writing Will You Marry Me on his washboard abs and he additionally will get to strut his stuff in nightclub numbers. However fortunately, we additionally see Kukoo’s insecurities and his selfishness. Varun toggles convincingly between these contradictory elements.
Additionally Learn: Anil Kapoor On The Mistake He’s Seen Different Actors Make That He Received’t Repeat
Aside from that one key scene, Naina and Geeta don’t get the identical consideration from the writers that Bheem and Kukoo do. And but, Neetu Kapoor and Kiara Advani add flesh to those characters. Neetu brings to the position an innate dignity. Her character is inconsistent however Geeta has such a sensible disappointment about her that I stored rooting for her to find a life past Bheem. And Kiara provides Naina a steely loveliness Particularly in a raging combat scene with Kukoo – this isn’t a lady who suffers silently. I additionally loved Tisca Chopra’s saucy math instructor and Manish Paul, who’s hilarious because the bumbling brother-in-law who inadvertently places his designer shoe in his mouth. And maintain a watch out for Prajakta Koli as Ginny, who once more doesn’t get sufficient depth however brings sweetness to an under-written position.
JugJugg Jeeyo has the aesthetic of a blingy Punjabi wedding ceremony. This isn’t a movie that may make you gasp with the fantastic thing about its composition and frames. Although early on, Raj creates an fascinating distinction between the dazzling colors of Patiala with the greys of Toronto. The vibrancy is actually leached out of Naina and Kukkoo’s partnership. However the sweet colors are again as quickly as we land in Punjab once more.
That is inevitable as a result of JugJugg Jeeyo is a sanitized and purposefully crowd-pleasing view of what occurs between women and men. There’s sufficient right here, together with some very catchy remixed songs, that’s pleasurable. I want it had transcended to memorable. However I’m grateful to Raj for bringing again the beautiful Nadeem-Shravan track ‘Do Dil Mil Rahe Hain’ from Pardes again into the dialog. Once more, I’m hooked.
