Sukanya Verma feels Jab Tak Hai Jaan is nothing more than lovely fluff that could have been shorter, snappier but is definitely worth watching once for the man whose name appears against the bright blue sky - Mr Yash Chopra
A rookie documentary filmmaker discovers a diary storing a ten-year-old romance of a man who cannot die and decides to shoot a movie on him.
The man in question has lost his heart to a flawless beauty while shoveling snow outside a grand cathedral in United Kingdom and now diffuses bombs in the Indian army.
The concerned pretty woman is in the habit of trading with God by making small-scale sacrifices (will give up chocolates, fur) in order to realise her wishes. And how this practice costs her (and us) heavy forms the crux of the plot.
Their lives and loves are interconnected through a kiss, two road accidents and a dramatic shift of backdrop from the swish streets of London to the striking landscapes of Ladakh and Kashmir, which unfolds an old-fashioned love story plagued by prolonged complications.
Welcome to world of grand romances in Yash Chopra's breezy, signature treatment that distracts us from son and fellow filmmaker Aditya's farfetched story.
Jab Tak Hai Jaan is an elegant, harmless entertainer for most part until the latter's obsession with generating larger-than-life passions by rehashing the
Veer-Zaaraesque scenario -- lovers forced to stay apart over mandatory misunderstandings or foolish reasons (like in this one) relegate it to a not quite.
But for all its contrived elements and climatic predictability, Chopra Senior's swansong starts out with a spring in its step. Like in any film of this genre, the viewer is primarily concerned with just three things how they fall in love, what comes in their way and how they overcome those obstacles and get back, if they do, together.
Phase one goes about like a dream what with Anil Mehta's soap-washed, sparkling visuals. It's wintertime in London 2002 (although a clumsy detail reveals the recently hosted Olympics event in the city courtesy a prominent cut-out in the background) even as Shah Rukh Khan's Samar, a waiter and part-time singer and Katrina Kaif's rich heiress Meera banter and bond over few weeks of tuition.
He volunteers to teach her a Punjabi song as a birthday surprise for her daddy (Anupam Kher in a now-you-see-him-now-you-don't brand of appearance. The actor just vanishes without explanation in the second half). In return, she gives him a lesson in English Vinglish like the difference between constipation and conversation.
SRK-Katrina's brand new and torrid chemistry hits its peak during a fantastic dance duel against A R Rahman's thumping
beats titled Ishq dance. And then comes the most authentic display of affection from an actor who's romanced a bevy of beauties in dozens of mushy flicks and famously refused to get intimate on screen. Although the spoiler is all over the internet, let's just stop at saying it involves Katrina's textbook pout.