{mosimage}When 'Niram' was released in 1998, critics tend to wite it off as a "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" rip off. But a decade later, in 2008 'Jaane Tu.." came in Hindi, which was literally a rip off of Niram and this time, critics lauded it because it was an Aamir Khan Production. I just saw "Jaane Tu.." and through out the movie I had a sense of deja-vu with every scene reminding of "Niram", despite the fact that I sat to watch it without any preconceived notions. Funny part is that Genelia D'Souza, the leading lady of "Jaane Tu" made her Bollywood debut in 2003 with a movie called "Tujhe Meri Kasam" which ironically was an official remake of "Niram" but was a box-office dud. After seeing "Jaane Tu.." my heart started longing for "Niram" so much that I might end up buying one more copy of its VCD. I can bet that "Niram" is thousand times better than "Jaane Tu..". I had already wrote about "Niram" elaborately in my old post, so let me not waste time in reviewing it. What in "Jaane tu" & "Niram" worked for me and what not?....
Jaane Tu..
The story of both the movies goes like this "The lead players - say Hero and Heroine are very close friends that often people mistake them for lovers. They resent being thought so and decide to find out suitable pair for each other. During the process one of them realise that he/she is in love with other person and decide to go with the flow as the other one might hate for being in love. Hero's girlfriend realises that there is love between these boy and the girl and makes it explicit to other. Meanwhile, unable to bear the seperation, hero / heroine decides to leave the city and the movie ends up in the transportation junction atlast.
{mosimage}I could list a lot of scenes where there were similarities. There are mere gender reversals in "Jaane Tu". Example - in "Jaane Tu.." it is the heroine who realises the love first and ends up yearning whereas in malayalam "Niram" hero does that. The scenes like the girl friend of the hero being from parents with a broken marriage and she playing a major role in the hero & heroine realising their love for each other, the cinema hall scene, heroine leaving abroad to heal the pain of seperation and the climax ending in the airport (railway station in malayalam)... But the rest of the scenes were cleverly camaflounged that it ends up looking like original. Still we should credit for the rewriting of the scenes with an urban touch. Also the performances from the lead players were bit underplayed and realistic when compared with the Bollywood standards.
Another way "Jaane Tu" differs from "Niram" is not only in its sophisticated upper class ambience, but it also takes into a bit more detailed consideration of factors that makes the lead players realises the true love that lies behind their friendship in the form of heroine's brother. Unfortunately it falters and ends up just like an extra insertion. Also that "Jaane Tu.." to be too young and hip, modern that people with small town sensibilities like me feel it alien.
However "Jaane Tu" is salvaged by rich production values and an ample support from AR Rahman in the form of beautiful melodies. Seriously I don't have much to say about "Jaane Tu.." as I find "Niram" very much better than it. Let me list down why I am biased towards "Niram"
{mosimage}I could list a lot of scenes where there were similarities. There are mere gender reversals in "Jaane Tu". Example - in "Jaane Tu.." it is the heroine who realises the love first and ends up yearning whereas in malayalam "Niram" hero does that. The scenes like the girl friend of the hero being from parents with a broken marriage and she playing a major role in the hero & heroine realising their love for each other, the cinema hall scene, heroine leaving abroad to heal the pain of seperation and the climax ending in the airport (railway station in malayalam)... But the rest of the scenes were cleverly camaflounged that it ends up looking like original. Still we should credit for the rewriting of the scenes with an urban touch. Also the performances from the lead players were bit underplayed and realistic when compared with the Bollywood standards.
Another way "Jaane Tu" differs from "Niram" is not only in its sophisticated upper class ambience, but it also takes into a bit more detailed consideration of factors that makes the lead players realises the true love that lies behind their friendship in the form of heroine's brother. Unfortunately it falters and ends up just like an extra insertion. Also that "Jaane Tu.." to be too young and hip, modern that people with small town sensibilities like me feel it alien.
However "Jaane Tu" is salvaged by rich production values and an ample support from AR Rahman in the form of beautiful melodies. Seriously I don't have much to say about "Jaane Tu.." as I find "Niram" very much better than it. Let me list down why I am biased towards "Niram"
