JAI HO :: Movie Review

Although,much was expected from Jai Ho but unfortunately it has turned out to be an outdated, cliched, ham fisted attempt at a hero fighting for the common man. Salman, plays an Hulk Hogan version of Arvind Kejriwal who bashes up corrupt politicians, saves damsels in distress, writes exams for amputees, helps injured beggars, restores lost children to their parents. Jai Ho has tried to reach a new milestone in marriage between boredom and non-sense. It is strictly hackneyed fare about a wronged man who goes berserk in his mission to rid his own life – and that of the nation – of a very powerful tormentor. He growls at the film’s halfway point: the aam aadmi is a sleeping tiger; don’t provoke him or else…Should we say jai ho to that? We might have felt inclined to lend our voices to that cry of jubilation if only the film had a little more to offer by way of common sense. Jai Ho is a sluggish film with a preponderance of action sequences thrown in at regular intervals. It also has a painfully pedestrian romantic track (involving a girl whose unmentionables form an integral part of the storyline). But a superstar vehicle that runs on a single wheel – even if that wheel happens to be box office dynamo Salman Khan – cannot go very far. The other three wheels of Jai Ho – story, screenplay and characters – are terribly wobbly.

STORY & SCREENPLAY                              :          The story for the movie has been penned down by A. R. Murugadoss but i was unable to figure out a storyline throughout the movie's playtime. It is only an armory of characters, situations and fight scenes that compile the whole movie.  The male protagonist of Jai Ho, suspended army officer Major Jai Agnihotri, is a comic-strip superhero that resembles a runaway armoured tank rather than a recognizable human being. But he is no ordinary do-gooder. He doesn’t take a mere ‘thank you' for a response. He exhorts the grateful beneficiaries of his acts of bravery to keep the spirit going by helping three other people each. Make no mistake, Major Jai Agnihotri is no Gandhian crusader, and the only method that he is comfortable with is sickeningly violent. Evil is rife in the form of bad politicians, policemen and goons and hell hath no fury like a Salman Khan scorned.  The Jai Ho plot has one upright policeman, one well-meaning politician, one henchman who has a change of heart, one auto-rickshaw driver who goes out of his way to be of help, a reformed alcoholic and, of course, an prim and proper elder sister who espouses all the right values.  Even, die hard Salman fans will be bored to death with the painfully drab romantic subplot  between Sallu Bhai & Daisy Shah. Apart from this we have jokes about women's underwear, horny neighbourhood MILF'S and excessive usage of Gujarati word Gando. As if not enough, you have to suffer artificial emotional wrangling and above all even Army tanks come on streets to save Bhai. That is when you begin to say, " God save us from Boredom ". 

STARCAST                                                    :         As a casting director Mukesh Chhabra has made Jai Ho a virtual parade of actors whose movie careers are in desperate need of assistance – Ashmit Patel, Yash Tonk, Mohnish Behl, Nauheed Cyrusi, Tulip Joshi, Bruna Abdullah, Sana Khan, Aditya Pancholi, Sharad Kapoor, Varun Badola, Santosh Shukla,Sudesh Lahiri  and the like. Each of them gets his or her few flashes of fame in the film. But eventually none of them rises above the din to be seen and heard which is expected as its Salman's movie, after all . When Salman Khan flexes his muscles and bellows with all his might, nobody stands a chance in hell of standing out. Undoubtedly,this is one of Salman's better performances and if the movie fares well, it will be cause of him only. As the female lead, Daisy Shah has played the pesky girl next-door who keeps barging into Salman’s sprawling household comprising of any number of kins and their visitors/lovers/associates and has given very average performance. Tabu, whom we have seen onscreen after a while has fared well as per her character. Mahesh Thakur as Salman's bro in law has done well and so has Mahesh Manjrekar as an auto driver. Danny Denzongpa has been wasted and could have been utilized more. Mukul Dev has looked good in his brief appearnce as a baddie and gets to hit all over by Salman. But two actors stand out : One is Nadira Babbar as Salman's mother who has delivered an outstanding performance and other is Pulkit Samrat as a honest cop. 

TECHNICAL FINESSE                                    :      The credit for the music of this flick has been given to Sajid-Wajid, Amal Mallik and Devi Sri Prasad. The irony is that despite of so many music composers having composed the songs are close to being unbearable - it seems as if they are punching our ears with cactus embroidered gloves. Santosh Thundiyil’s cinematography and Sandeep Shirodkar’s background score are almost affable extensions of Salman’s messianic hero-giri. The visuals and the sound nail his crusade down to a cohesive if not comprehensive cinematic statement. The movie has been edited by Ashish Amrute who has kept the run-time to 2 hours 23 minutes which seems a bit too long. To his credit director Sohail Khan has spun a credible and often compelling anti-corruption yarn that succeeds in justifying the need for Salman’s stardom to monopolize the entire length and breadth of the footage but His rhetorical rowdyism brings the house down. There is an unmistakable sense of desperation in Jai Ho as if the the director has tried to put in every available commercial trick including characters to hold on to audience's interest.

CONCLUSION                                              :          Jai Ho tries to make for an engaging if somewhat incomplete view of present-day corruption-ridden India. Seize the moment, and you’ll probably make a difference to society...This is the mantra Salman adopts in Jai Ho. This formula of instant socio-political remedy seems quite appealing, though the vigilante insinuations are also dangerous. So, overall it comes out as a very inconsistent piece of cinema.

 ROHIT SHARMA.

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, Jai Ho time travels back to the ’80s and delivers an outdated, clichéd and ham-fisted attempt at showing a hero fighting for the common man. Bhai plays Jai, a Hulk Hogan version of Arvind Kejriwal, who fights corrupt politicians, saves damsels in distress; helps injured beggars, amputees write exams; restores kidnapped children to their parents and beats up goons who dare to lay a hand on his sister (Tabu).

Read more at: http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/jai-ho-a-marriage-between-boredom-nonsense-1357357.html?utm_source=ref_article

Jai Ho time travels back to the ’80s and delivers an outdated, clichéd and ham-fisted attempt at showing a hero fighting for the common man. Bhai plays Jai, a Hulk Hogan version of Arvind Kejriwal, who fights corrupt politicians, saves damsels in distress; helps injured beggars, amputees write exams; restores kidnapped children to their parents and beats up goons who dare to lay a hand on his sister (Tabu).

Read more at: http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/jai-ho-a-marriage-between-boredom-nonsense-1357357.html?utm_source=ref_article