Jab Harry Met Sejal Review: The Search of a Ring or Something More?

Sethumadhavan

On the one hand you have SRK who has acquired a legendary status of sorts with romantic films and on the other hand you have Imtiaz Ali who has more than made a mark bringing interesting romances on to the big screen, time after time. And now when you have the two of them collaborate together for the first time it wouldn’t be too much to expect something special of sorts isn’t it? Added to it is the fact that they have the company of a talented actress like Anushka Sharma who has shared screen-space with SRK quite successfully in the past (Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Jab Tak Hai Jaan), making the equation look even more exciting indeed. Announced with the tentative title of “The Ring” before receiving its official title “Jab Harry Met Sejal” much later, the film has been in the news right from the start. 

Be it the response and the debate generated over the title announcement, the promotions kicking off with a mini-trail of promos to start with, the songs being unveiled one by one etc. the film has had people talking about it in some way or the other. With the possible clash over the release date with Toilet Ek Prem Katha being avoided, it was also a matter of curious concern for a lot of people to wonder as to what kind of release the film would manage to fetch and of course what would be the response from the audience, critics and trade. To be honest I wouldn’t say that I was overawed by the promos of the film, they did not promise anything too different as such. But then the songs seemed to be working and I am someone who always feels that a filmmaker can still surprise the audience; hence I was keen to see what Imtiaz Ali finally has in store for us.

Unless you’ve been in a time-wrap of sorts, seriously unwell and/or not following any media reports about the film you would very much know what Jab Harry Met Sejal (JHMS from hereon) is all about. Harinder Singh Nehra or Harry (Shah Rukh Khan) is a tour guide in Europe while Sejal Zaveri (Anuskha Sharma) hails from a rich business family in Mumbai who gets engaged to her boyfriend while vacationing in Europe with her family. She loses her engagement ring & gets into a fight with her boyfriend over the same, hence she decides to cancel her plan of returning back home, wanting to go back instead only after finding her ring. She forces Harry, her tour guide to help her and go along with her in this journey. Although reluctant at first, he is eventually forced to agree and thus begins theirsearch for the ring. What happens in the process, what eventually happens to Harry and Sejal etc. are not stuff that anyone would find difficult to predict, after all this is a simple romantic film.

Imtiaz Ali’s writing strangely does not offer anything new to the audience; hence it is left to the execution to ensure that it makes for an engaging outing at the cinemas. Interestingly the film has only 2 primary characters (who else but Harry and Sejal) and of the secondary characters, again it is just a couple of them who manage to get noticed. This means that the film completely rests on the shoulders of SRK and Anuskha & of course they put up an appealing show on screen. The first half of the film is actually fun of sorts, with both Harry and Sejal managing to appeal not just to the audience but also to each other. But it’s the post interval portions which get predictable and after a while it appears as if Imtiaz Ali was either trying to play it extremely safe or that he lacked novelty or perhaps a bit of both.

The film has fantastic visuals, K.U.Mohanan’s cinematography doing great justice to the lovely locations in Europe. Imtiaz Ali’s films have always worked in terms of the music and in case of JHMS too thankfully the track record continues. The songs by Pritam (except for the catchy“Phurr”which is composed by Diplo) have turned out well, easily one of the highlights of the film. At a run time of 144 minutes JHMS thankfully is not a lengthy tale and it does not test your patience. But if only the second half had more meat the film would have left a better impression on the mind of the viewers as it ends. Chandan Roy Sanyal as the Bangladeshi don leading a group of illegal immigrants is not bad (but that whole track looks out of place and way too convenient) while Aru Krishnansh Sharma playing Harry’s colleague and friend manages to impress. It’s not too unusual for a film to be more or less only about 2 individuals and in case of a film like JHMS where the novelty factor is missing to a large extent, it takes the lead pair to make up for the same.

And here thankfully we have Anushka Sharma & SRK pulling off their roles with competent ease. The chemistry between them is clearly visible on display and don’t be surprised if you find yourself actually enjoying the Gujju act of Anuskha as she plays Sejal. For SRK this is something thatwe could expect him to perhaps even deliver in his sleep by now, in fact Imtiaz Ali even makes a reference to SRK’s legendary romantic acts in the past through a moment where Harry is seen telling Sejal to go back home soon or else face the prospect of the inevitableJ. Sigh! If only there were more such moments to cherish in the film. So Imtiaz Ali’s biggest film so far doesn’t really push the envelope. It’s got some things to cheer for, but that’s just about it.

Bottomline:

Fantastic visuals, some good songs and a lovely lead pair notwithstanding, Imtiaz Ali fails to capitalize on the SRK factor and delivers a slightly disappointing film.

Rating: 2.5/5