Nikhat Kazmi, Bollywood reviewer for Times of India, world’s largest circulation English language newspaper, vs. Rachel Saltz, Bollywood reviewer for New York Times, world’s most famous English language newspaper.
Rachel gets the “Ras” or “heart” of this film whereas Nikhat does not.
Nikhat called Jhoom Barabar Jhoom a “no-brainer”. He is right in this respect. The film does not tax the brain at all. It is a simple crazy tale about two people, a hustling fixer and a hoity young woman, who meet at London’s Waterloo station. Forced to share a table, each invents a story about a fiance to avoid the other’s advances. In the middle of the story-telling, they find themselves attracted to each other. A no-brainer story.
But the magic or the “Ras” of the film is not the story but how it is told; the color, the spirit, the choreography and the music. In the words of Rachel, it is a “giddy romantic comedy“.
The story is filmed in Paris and London but is drawn from classically Indian tradition of musicals.
The telling of the tale draws from the style of classic Sanskrut plays of the first millennium CE. These plays featured a character called the “Sutradhar“, a role that can be loosely defined as a “conductor” who props up at appropriate points to offer comments and to direct segues in the story. The “Sutradhar” is not a part of the story but is the embodiment of the bard of the play.
This role has been played to perfection by Amitabh Bachchan, the “eminence grise” of Bollywood as Rachel calls him.
With his costume, his feathers and his double-necked guitar, Amitabh may not look like a classical Sutradhar but plays the Sutradhar role perfectly. He makes his appearance at various points in the film with this song.
The first third of the 20th century was the golden age of Marathi Theater. The plays were drawn from classic Sanskrut tales. These plays created a semi-classical style of music called “Natya-Sangeet” or Theater-Music. The script of the plays served as a medium for introducing the next piece of music.
The plays used to begin at dusk and continue until dawn. The mesmerized audience would demand “once-more”s or encores for their favorite songs. The singers often had to sing a couple of crowd favorites 15-16 times every night before the audience would permit the play to move forward. This era was dominated by great singers like Bal Gandharva, Keshavrao Bhosle and Hirabai Badodekar.
The classic play “Saubhadra” (about the consensual abduction of Princess Subhadra by Ati-Rathi Arjun – a tale from Mahabharat) was reenacted in February 2008 in Mumbai; a complete dusk to dawn affair with all of its 90 songs.
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom is told in this “Natya-Sangeet” fashion with the script as a medium for introducing the next song. The actual story is conveyed by the songs and not by the script. The Sutradhar role of Amitabh Bachchan is a throwback to the role of Narad Muni (“Saint” Narad) in the play Saubhadra.
Each song in this film has a different style and ethos.
The hustling fixer (Abshishek Bachchan) invents a girlfriend (Lara Dutta) in Paris and tells the story of his first meeting in the song “Ticket to Hollywood“.
The sophisticate Pakistani lady invents a Barrister boyfriend (Bobby Deol) and tells the story of their first meeting at Planet Hollywood in London in the song “Stay away from the Kiss of Love“.
At one time, the hustler and the sophisticate start falling for each other. The audience gets the first clue of this development from the song ” Bol Na Halke Halke“
The two walk away from Waterloo station in love with each other but with no ability to tell the other about their true feelings. In a crazy final scene, they meet at a dance competition at London’s Southhall community. The first prize is Two Tickets to Hollywood for the winning couple. The final song that wins the competition is phenomenal.
Lara Dutta said in an interview that it took 17-18 days of 6-7 hours of practice each day to get this final song just the way they wanted it. No You-Tube video can bring you the sheer “masti” or the blast of this song and dance sequence. Get a DVD and watch it.
The reviews by Rachel Saltz and Nikhat Kazmi can be viewed via the links below.
http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/06/16/movies/16bara.html – Rachel Saltz
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/moviereview/2127129.cms – Nikhat Kazmi
Frankly, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom should have been a musical performed on stage and not a film. Get a DVD of this film and see if you agree with me. Whether you do or not, you will have a blast watching it, but only if you watch it as a Rasik.
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom was rated as a NYT Critics Pick.
Mr. Aditya Chopra, bring this film back as a Broadway Musical. It will be a great success.
PS: A couple of years ago, Wall Street Journal described the custom in some parts of Indonesia in which, on the night of her wedding, the bride sits alone in a secret place away from her family and waits for the bridegroom to “abduct” her. This custom is derived from the story (refered above) of the great Arjun abducting Princess Subhadra with her consent. The names of the Mahabharat period (especially the Kaurav side) have not been used in India since that War but are still in wide use in Indonesia. The name of President Sukarno is a derivative of Sukarna, the name of President Suharto is derived from Suharta, both names used in the Kuru Dynasty. Every one of the 100 Kaurav brothers of Mahabharat had a name that was similar; Suyodhan, Sushasan, and so one. It was much later after the Mahabharat war that poets and historians in India started using the derogatory ‘Du” prefixes rather than the original praising prefixes “Su”. So, Su-Yodhan became Dur-Yodhan and Su-Shasan became Du-Shasan.
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