Dr Khusi Pattanayak
Sujoy Ghosh’s latest crime mystery Jaane Jaan (Hindi, 2023) is about mohabbat, mehboob, and murder.
It has an intriguing plot; some solid performances by Jaideep Ahlawat, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Vijay Varma; and a story which is both its strength and weakness.
Set in the misty town of Kalimpong, Jaane Jaan is self-absorbed both as a craft and as a movie. There are many filmy references – Darr, Mithun Chakraborty, Amitabh Bachchan, Harry Potter, Pets 2, Bruce Lee, not to forget the clipping of Helen waltzing to ‘Aa Jaan-E-Jaan’ (Intaqam, 1969) the song from which the film borrows its title.
The enigmatic mood is set in the opening sequence itself. We already know doom is not far away. In the first few minutes we are informed who killed whom and why. In that sense, Jaane Jaan is not the conventional whodunit, rather it is catch-me-if-you-can; giving the police investigation an interesting twist.
Kalimpong takes a shape of its own and transforms into a key character in the narrative. Ghosh seems to have developed some affinity with the location. He had previously shot Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh (2016) in this very hill station.
The sleepy small town is both welcoming and mystifying at the same time. The camera and visual effects team have done a fabulous job in capturing a happy yet haunting Kalimpong. The town that mimics the lives of the central characters who much like the hill station they have landed in, look innocent on the surface and yet their intentions always remain under wraps. For example, while mornings are filled with warm greetings, good food and spicy gossips the night are reserved to ‘kill cockroaches’, an euphemism for murder.
The sound and music department together offer a refreshing ambience that makes Jaane Jaan’s setting thematically strong. The editing by Urvashi Saxena is smart; and the make-up department deserves a special mention for making Ahlawat’s physical transformation so believable.
The dialogues are rather inconsistent. They range from minimal, to evocative, to repetitive. While most of the sassy dialogues are reserved for Vijay Varma and Lin Laishram, Verma is made to utter ‘super-hot’ way too many times making it sound silly and ruining the overall pun.
Kareena Kapoor Khan as the single mother with a teenage daughter, who is running away from her inglorious past, is impressive. Her Maya D’Souza is the queen bee and the femme fatale and she never lets anyone steal the thunder (both as Maya and as Kareena). Flaunting a rough textured puffy eyed bare skin Kareena easily owns each and every frame she appears in.
Vijay Varma’s Inspector Karan has the least layered existence. He is a straight forward cop with no interesting back stories or motives. Yet his sheer camaraderie with camera and co-stars is a joy to watch. Hope Sujoy Ghosh will offer him a better script next time (this and Lust Stories 2 does not do justice to Varma’s talent).
Saurabh Sachdeva is delightful as ever. Even though he does not linger on screen for long, he, as always, manages to leave a mark.
But the real star of Jaane Jaan is Jaideep Ahlawat. A mathematical genius who has adopted a philosophical approach to life after his back-to-back heart breaks (first by mathematics; second by the next-door neighbour). He is the ubiquitous “teacher” who everyone recognises, but no one knows. Ahlawat proves once again why he is one of the best in the contemporary times. His nuanced performance keeps you glued.
The two major problem that plagues Jaane Jaan are the pace (even at just over 2 hours it feels long) and the climax. This is not Ghosh’s Ahalya (2015) or Kahaani (2012), there is no element of shock or surprise in store at the end.
Based on Keigo Higashino’s international bestseller The Devotion of Suspect X (2005) the film’s timing is rather question worthy. Over the years, The Devotion has been retold in numerous versions across the globe, and has one super successful franchise in India – Drishyam. Thus, by the time Jaane Jaan decides to wrap up one feels cheated, and is consumed by a sense of déjà vu and wonders why Ghosh did not take liberty with the ending.
Despite the familiarity, Jaane Jaan is a fair one-time watch especially if you like a thriller without theatricality. It is currently streaming on Netflix.
(The author is an internationally published writer & corporate communication specialist. Views are personal)