Jawaani Jaaneman Film Honest Review By Peddler Media

Star Cast: Saif Alik Khan, Tabu, Alaya F.

Director: Nitin Kakkar

Fortunately (or unfortunately for us), Jawaani Jaaneman’s ‘Jazz’ is nothing like the one we last saw in Namastey London – instead of a young and attractive Katrina Kaif, this film gives us what Dil Chahta Hai’s Sameer turns into after his midlife crisis. 

Saif Ali Khan plays an unapologetic 40-something ladies man, who lives for nothing but the party, the afterparty and the after-after party – the latter of which usually involves random women that we’re sure he won’t remember the next day, and vice-versa. Saif does what he does best here – whether Jazz makes money in real estate by day or drinks himself silly by night, he’s absolutely convincing in the role and plays it with cool, restrained ease – a unique character that stands out compared to everyone else his age.

The film’s plot takes a unique twist however, when Jazz’s life of endless debauchery suddenly hits a wall as he bumps into the doe-eyed Tia, played by newcomer Alaya Furniturewala. Alaya, who happens to be the granddaughter of veteran actor, Kabir Bedi, does a pretty good job considering that this is her debut onscreen – her acting is promising and brings a refreshing, confident attitude to the scenes she’s in.

Throughout his life, Jazz has stuck to his guns – claiming that ‘family aur responsibilities logon ko chomu bana deti hain.’ Despite his best efforts to run away from responsibility, he finally wakes up when Tia reveals to him that she’s pregnant – forcing him to finally act his age.

The film continues with a fair bit of filler – a side plot unravels where Jazz is looking to sell off his residential complex where he lives on rent to a major builder plan. Only person in the way is an old lady who owns three flats in the same complex, including the one Jazz lives in. She refuses to entertain any request from him – making us wonder where our film runtime was heading.

Throughout the film, Kumud Mishra, Chunky Pandey and Farida Jalal and others carry on dialogue alongside the main characters, but the best of these lines are reserved for Tabu, who is briefly introduced as Tia’s mother Ananya – the hippie ex-lover of Jazz. While her hipster, hashish-meditation persona is extremely cliched, it does inject some comic narrative into the film.

© Pooja Entertainment

Eventually, Jazz learns the value of companionship as he navigates through his guilt and personal ideologies as the film returns back to an old-school message of ‘it’s all about family’. 

We wanted to like this film, but it simply falls short of being a good one.

Our Rating: ⅗ – Your Money Is Your Money, None Of Our Money