It’s ‘JUST OK’, Jaanu!

Cast: Aditya Roy Kapur, Shraddha Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Leela Samson

Rating: 2.5/5

Love is eternal...

...but the way emotions are portrayed on screen is constantly changing with every passing decade.  From Aji sunte ho, ae ji, jaaneman, to now ‘Jaanu’, only the term have changed, not the feeling. National award winner Mani Ratnam has been a pioneer in this genre and has given us many memorable love stories to watch, and with his recent release, he tries to stir the emotions of the ones who have or are cherishing their newly found love.

Can two people truly develop a feeling for each other, with terms and conditions?

Is it really tough for people today to balance love and career?

Ratnam seems to have answers for these and this is precisely the theme of OK Jaanu.

Adi (AdityaRoy Kapur) and Tara (Shraddha Kapoor), by chance exchange eye contact on one of the stations in Mumbai. Call it coincidence; they then come across each other at a wedding. In what I call an awkward conversation, they share some messages, eventually end up exchanging the digits.

What follows then is the very predictable infatuation which blossoms to love. They move in together by convincing Gopi uncle (Naseeruddin Shah) and Charu aunty’s (Leela Samson). The terms are quite clear for the budding lovers. Tara plans to study in Paris and Adi plans to continue his gaming career in the US. But something close to their life helps them realise the importance of love, emotions, feeling and more. Would the terms separate the couple or would love win again? How do they convince each other? What do they compromise? Find out, Jaanu!

The trailer fairly reveals the plot of the movie, except some key elements which complete it. The storyline of the film is juvenile. The acting to an extent is also on the same lines. There are many sequences where the acts are absolutely childlike, so much so that their expressions and their mere addition to the film, makes it unfortunately disappointing to watch.

Naseeruddin Shah is the best to watch, throughout the film. He is totally lovable. Complementing him is Leela Samson. Her character of an Alzheimer’s patient deserves an appreciation. Both Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor look great throughout the movie, but do not deliver with excellence. Their efforts to convince you seem unsatisfactory. It is disappointing to see that the supporting cast as a couple shares a stronger onscreen space than that of the lead, which is expected to persuade.

Music by AR Rahman is not outstanding, but not the one to be disliked too. Gulzar sahab’s lyrics are also impressive only in parts. Besides the screenplay and acting, even the editing here deserves some blame. Both the halves – pre and post intermission – are long, with repetitive sequences, which could have been avoided.

Overall, the efforts to make OK Jaanu from the popular tamil film OK Kanmani is not up to the mark and every aspect of the film – acting, story, music, dialogues and more – will leave you unsatisfied. If you insist on watching, I’d suggest you choose OK Kanmani (with subtitles) over this release.