Jhootha Hi Sahi (2010)

When the director of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na comes up with his second directorial venture, you are bound to have high expectations but the only way you can survive through Jhootha Hi Sahi is to have no expectations at all. Otherwise you’ll end up being majorly disappointed. You have been warned already.
Jhootha Hi Sahi tells the story of Siddharth [John Abraham], a geek who runs a bookshop and stammers in front of good looking girls. By mistake, his number gets printed on the leaflets of a suicide helpline [How I wish there wasn't any mistake like this in the first place and we wouldn't have to tolerate such a movie] and that is when he starts receiving calls from different people who need help and motivation to live life and not commit suicide. Then Mishka [Pakhi] comes into the scene, who also wants to end her life after breaking up with her boyfriend [Madhavan].

Siddharth or Sid, as he is called throughout the movie, puts on the role of a patient listener and stops her from committing suicide. However, he doesn’t reveal his real identity to her and becomes her anonymous friend, “Fidatho”. Then onwards starts a telephonic friendship between these two. During these phone calls, Sid helps Mishka realize that life is beautiful and worth living. He makes her move on in life. Their phone calls continue and the two meet without Mishka knowing he is the one. Siddharth falls in love with her and how things get entangled with all the ‘double-role’ he has to play, forms the rest of the story.

If it looks interesting right now, trust me, it is just so on paper. In the movie it looks like an extremely lame effort of western screenplay meeting British humor to form a Bollywood movie.  The screenplay of Jhootha Hi Sahi is boring and lacks moments which engross you and bring a smile on your face if not make you laugh! The plot of the movie revolves around the two leading actors but the screenplay is so much about their friends as well that it ends up making the movie lengthy and verbose.

Also, there are parts of the movie which don’t convince at all. The female lead is shown as an extremely confused person who cannot decide what is it that she actually wants? She starts liking Sid for without any strong grounds but then goes back to her ex for no good reason only to realize that’s not what she wants. Aargh! But wait; there are more aargh moments in the movie. Such irritating characters don’t do any good to movies! The dialogues are clichéd. A few of them do bring a smile on your face but not for long. Soon they become dull and boring and don’t help stifle that yawn either.

The actors don’t really save the sinking ship either. John tries his best to come out naturally in the movie but his attempts are too hard and can be seen. Maybe it is just that he can’t get out of his “hot dude” status, which isn’t required by the script of this movie. Pakhi really needs to take acting lessons. Also, she doesn’t even look apt for the role in scenes because of her maturity. The director must know that casting his wife in the lead role is not a great idea especially when she isn’t even leading lady material. The chemistry between Pakhi and John in the movie is almost nonexistent. If you are making a love story, you should make sure the lead actors at least look good together. Clearly, Abbas needs to learn that. I wonder what happened to the director who brought out Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na.

Coming to other actors of the movie, Raghu Ram [MTV Roadies fame] has done a good job in the little scope provided but Madhavan needs to understand that such short roles where he can’t stand out won’t take him anywhere. The sooner he realizes this, the better it will be for him.

The music [although done by A.R Rehman] is a weak point too. For a while I couldn’t believe it is done by the master of Bollywood music. Agreed, some of the tracks might be melodious and soulful but nothing that would make your foot tap or even sing along for that matter. When the plot of the movie doesn’t please the audience, they look at the music to make themselves feel better about spending their time. This one disappoints on both counts.

All in all, Jhootha Hi Sahi is one of those movies, which you should avoid at all costs. It is such a bummer that it won’t make you feel good for spending your time and little money on the pirated DVD [since it didn't make it to Pakistani cinemas, thankfully!]. If you are a John Abraham fan and really want to watch this one, I’d suggest you to watch Dostana again because watching this one will only make you feel bad for your favorite actor.

P.S. Kids, Jhootha is NOT Sahi!  – Hafsah Sarfraz

Rating:- 2 out of 5

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2010, Genre – Drama/Romance, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Madhu Mantena, Abbas Tyrewala, Director – Abbas Tyrewala, Music Director – A. R. Rahmann, Cast - John Abraham ,Pakhi Tyrewala, R. Madhavan, Raghu Ram, Manasi Scott, Anaitha Nair, Nandana Sen

3 Idiots (2009)

3 Idiots has to be the most anticipated film of the year (2009) and will most certainly bag the coveted award for best film, as most Aamir Khan starrers do. With all the hype that Aamir created for a movie that was overtly simple and understated, one really couldn’t sense how successful the film would be just by the promos and songs, that although catchy, didn’t seem like A list music. After all there have been numerous films centred on college life such as Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na, which was produced by Aamir Khan. But what sets 3 Idiots apart from the rest is the perfect blend of effortless comedy, brilliant acting and chemistry between all the characters and a script focusing it’s three main characters, leaving enough room for the message to peek through the humour. It may have given off a Dil Chahta Hai vibe, with three friends in their element of buffoonery, but 3 Idiots is a film with a very grave undertones beneath the various layers of humour: a message that many in the academic structures of higher education are alarmingly all too familiar with – student suicide, or as Hirani questions throughout the film, murder.

Other than the three leads, Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi there is a fourth sub-character who is pivotal to these main three – Omi Vadiya (who some may recognise from the US version of The Office).

Hirani depicts the vagaries of college life and how each character deals with the various pressures of young adulthood, it’s accompanying responsibilities and burdens alongwith academics. Omi is the annoying geek who believes in mental Xeroxing and regurgitating, Madhavan is the student pushed by his father, striving to take an interest in a subject that he does not have a passion or inclination for (sound familiar?), Joshi the scholarship recipient whose family life is a pothole of problems, Aamir, the refreshing free thinker and challenger of all rules who attends college to learn and assiduously quotes throughout the film, “seek excellence and success will follow”, and Boman Irani as the irrepressible Virus; the college director who emblemises the patriarch of pedagogy.

Using each character to depict a facet of the education sector, Hirani brings forth a powerful debate of what constitutes education in the true sense and ultimately tries to show the triumph of creativity and innovative thought in the film’s hilarious concluding scene with his two opposing characters.

But to give credit where it is due, the film is as much about Madhavan, Joshi and Omi as it is about Aamir. With each passing film, Aamir seems to have reduced the verbosity of his characters and focused more on expressive acting, allowing those sharing his screen frame to share the glory. The film sees the rise of Madhavan and Joshi as talent to reckon with.

3 Idiots is an endearing story that leaves one in convulsion upon convulsion of laughter, Hirani scores by bringing forth a story identifiable and real not only for the audiences, but also for himself. With a director who has made films on his own terms with the most bizarre story lines (the loveable don Munna Bhai as testimony), and a leading actor, Aamir Khan who reigns the industry on his own terms, 3 Idiots comes off as a strong commentary on the mantra ‘believe in your self and do only what you can do best, and happiness and success will follow’ – Hani Taha Salim

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2009, Genre – Comedy, Drama, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Director – Rajkumar Hirani, Music Director – Shantanu Moitra, Cast – Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani, Mona Singh, Parikshit Sahni, Javed Jaffrey, Akhil Mishra, Rahul Kumar, Omi Vaidya, Rajeev Ravindranathan, Sanjay Lafont, Achyut Poddar, Amardeep Jha, Farida Dadi, Jayant Kriplani, Arun Bali, Supriya Shukla, Atul Tiwari, Ali Fazal, Michael Joseph, Madhav Vaze