Jab Harry Met Sejal Movie Review: While the whimsical
plot fails the star cast, Shah Rukh Khan Anushhka
Sharma outlive Harry and Sejal
Jab Harry Met Sejal is a romantic drama helmed
by the ace filmmaker Imtiaz Ali. It features Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma
in the lead role. Ever since the teaser came out, people’s expectations were
soaring high around this SRK-style rom com film. After all, it’s been years
since Shah Rukh Khan has donned his full-fledged romantic avatar in his films.
No wonder his fans were waiting for him to make a comeback in the genre he has
expertise in-Romance. So the film finally hits the theatres on 4th August. Let’s
see if this new Imtiaz Ali venture and Shah Rukh-Anushka romance manages to
floor the audience.
Jab Harry Met Sejal
Synopsis
Jab
Harry Met Sejal is a romantic comedy carrying to lead character Harinder Singh
Nehra and Sejal. Harinder aka Harry is a tourist guide in Europe who has no
place to call his home. Sejal is a docile Gujarati girl who has cloaked her
desires with her ‘adarsh naari’ guise. After losing her engagement ring on a
Euro trip, she decides to stay back and look for it. Harry becomes her ally in
the mission. Having the contradictory personalities, Sejal and Harry find their
refuge in each other. But things are complicated right from the beginning.
Sejal is engaged to a Gujarati guy back in India and is scheduled to marry him
the same year. Harry, on the other hand, is a drifter. After leaving his home
in India, he never stood at one place. Will Sejal call-off her marriage just to
spend life with a tour guide? Will Harry let her go for the sake of her better
future?
Jab Harry Met Sejal
Review
The
beginning of the film gives the audience the kind of adrenaline rush you get
before bungee jumping. Shah Rukh Khan makes the grand entry in a
never-seen-before style. He’s a bilious tourist guide who’s fed up of his
fast-paced life. During the first few sequences of the film, there were hooting
for SRK’s spot-on Punjabi accent. Sejal’s entry is lesser grand than expected.
Perplexed, clueless and distressed Sejal seeks Harry’s help to find the ring, a
glimpse that we already saw in the trailer. The hotel room conversation between
Harry and Sejal is slapstick and it’s Anushka Sharma who’s stealing the thunder
from King Khan in that very sequence. Her Gujarati accent never stumbles at any
instance throughout the movie.
Audience
will have to be patient to see Shah Rukh Khan in his complete starry-eyed form
for few moments in the movie. But the wait is worthwhile. The moment when Harry
realises his love for Sejal is spectacular and amazingly filmed, kudos to the
makers! With the soothing number ‘Hawaayein’ in the background, Anushka Sharma
and Shah Rukh Khan scattered love all around. The exchange of love-loaded
glimpses between Harry and Sejal will give you butterflies. The film has its
moment when you spot the Imtiaz Ali touch in the scenes. The ace filmmaker and
the maestro of subtle romance gives you the kind of love story the world has
forgotten.
Jab
Harry Met Sejal’s first half is eventful and action-packed. You will get the
most of the film in the first half itself. Stuffing the first half with too
many moments is what led to the slow asphyxiation of the second. Right at the
intermission, you’ll see the impending end and with utmost ease, you can deduce
what’s going to happen in the climax. Redundant incidents jam-packed in the
second half makes the movie a drab while its approaching its end. But it’s
Anushka Sharma-Shah Rukh Khan’s sizzling chemistry and scenic beauty that keeps
your eyes glued to the screen. There’s no surprise element in the script as the
movie buffs could easily deduce the happenings in the movie.
Shah Rukh Khan and
Anushka Sharma's Acting
I
would like to talk about Anushka Sharma first as the actress has totally nailed
the Gujarati girl character like she was living through it. Her accent,
childlike instincts and go-with-the-flow demeanour is totally relatable. In the
first half, the movie was going all about Sejal and a tour guide totally
smitten by her unobtrusive ways. Comparing her to the last role she played,
that was in Phillauri, Anushka is seen in delightfully new form. The actress
has been experimenting a lot for past few movies and Jab Harry Met Sejal is a
successful one on her part.
It’s
a visual delight to see Shah Rukh Khan back in a lover boy form again. The
hooting were self-explanatory when Shah Rukh Khan took deep breaths while
glancing shakily away from Sejal in the movie. The actor had the moments when
he floored the audience with his trademark eye-to-eye conversations. The way he
transcends from a slightly-bipolar tour guide to lovelorn ‘Sejal Ka Harry’
is commendable and no one other than SRK could have pulled out these two
roles with such a finesse.
To watch or not?
If
you’ve ever been an Imtiaz Ali fan, you’ll have high hopes from the movie with
his magnum opus ‘Jab We Met’ in your mind. But take my advice and drop your
expectations as the movie somewhat failed on the screenplay part to live up to
the hype. Needless to say, people have been expecting a lot more from Imtiaz
Ali, the great filmmaker who gave us marvels like Jab We Met, Highway, Tamasha and
Love Aaj Kal.
If you’re going to watch the movie, drop all your preconceptions
about it and experience the romance with an open heart. If romantic movies are
close to your heart, you’re surely going to adore Jab Harry Met Sejal.
