Jhoom Barabar Jhoom - Notepad

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.

Plot Summary

Rikki Thukral (Abhishek) meets Alvira Khan (Priety Zinta) at a Railway station where they have come to receive their respective fiance. The train is delayed by 2 hours and the duo share a table in a crowded café. They recite their ‘How I met my fiance’ tale to each other, Rikki saying he is betrothed to Half Pakistani -Half French Anaida(Lara) and Alvira saying she is engaged to Half Indian-half Brit Steve Singh (Bobby Deol). Both Rikki and Alvita are actually reciting concocted stories, and actually fall in love during the two hour wait. With aid of Laila (Lara in non-concocted avtaar) and Satwinder (Bobby in non-concocted avtaar), the couples are re-aligned: Rikki with Alvira and Satwinder with Laila.

What Worked

• Aki Narula’s Costumes are very apt and happening. Never mind the Jack Sparrow angle, Big B looked fabulous.
• The tinge of Punjabi accent in Abhishek’s dialogue delivery was surprisingly smooth, reminded me of Ranvir Shorey’s exploits in Khosla Ka Ghosla.
• Exchange of expletives between Lara and Priety was fun.

What did not

• The gross overdose of drama whilst Rikki and Alvira are reciting their ‘Harry met Sally’ episodes.
• Big B is used only for the title track, he does not play any character, his presence has no link with the progress of the story, and his only dialogue in the movie is a 10 second laugh. Add to that his dance steps, especially the ones at the stroke of interval, are a mere caricature of his 70s avtaar.
• Why on earth did the censor wallas pass this movie uncut? They should have edited the sequence where Rikki dares Alvira to play the game of ‘Run your way up on a down-moving escalator.’ Just like Tridev’s Oye Oye became the National Anthem for Eve teasers and the bike mania of Dhoom lead to a spurt in road accidents, I suspect this wreched sequence might actually trigger a few accidents inside shopping malls.
The first half is boring, and a few minutes into the second half you realize that the entire first half was unnecessary! May be Shaad is trying for a slot in Ekta Kapoor’s group, for with a movie such as this, Yash Raj is surely going to dump him and plots such as this can only work with Ekta!
• Bobby’s dialogue delivery is almost as bad as the mumbo-jumbo that Hritik Roshan ususally dishes out. Bobby’s pre-kiss dialogues with Zinta are barely audible.

Nitty-Gritty

How come a Britain bred Alvira pray to Jesus in Hindi, when a French bred Anaida speaks French most of the time?
• Why does the shop where Hafeez Bhai is munching jalebi bear the STD code of Jalandhar(0181) and not that of London, Paris, Bombay or Karachi?
• Why does Rikki plead with Satwinder to lead him to Alvira;s place? Was it just to recreate history of ‘Deol & Bachchan in side-car’ a la Sholay, because Rikki did have Alvira’s mobile number anyway.
• Why does the lottery ticket mention the first prize in small font and the second prize (7 days in Hollywood) in extra-large fonts?