Jhoom with JBJ

Never ever have I seen a movie so whole-heartedly rejected by the audience and critics alike and still loved it so much. Jhoom Barabar Jhoom has to be the most pleasant surprise of the year since nothing prepares you to expect its dazzling brilliance. To start with, JBJ stars some Bollywood biggies hithertho only known for their eye-candy power (also known as star power) and not their 'acting talents'. The director Shaad Ali is the one responsible for such regular bollywood stinkers such as Saathiya and Bunty-Bubli. And to top it all, which really is a deal-breaker for many movie lovers, the movie is a product of Yash Raj stable who is to the genre of bollywood NRI movies which Ford was to the assembly line production of automobiles.

Jhoom Barabar Jhoom is one of those movies for which the term 'Ahead of its times', if it did not exist already, will need to be invented. The movie dares to be different, too different for its own commerical good perhaps, and in the words of Baradwaj Rangan 'takes the Bollywood song and dance routine to its most logical conclusion--surrealism'. The movie is a joyful ode to the bollywood musicals and you can feel the joy that has gone in its making. Just about everything in the movie shines- the direction is brilliant, performances from the stars are game with Lara Dutta being the biggest pleasant surprise in a movie full of pleasant surprises, music is fitting and choreography is sensational. Most significantly, JBJ is another sign of growing maturity and adventurous spirit among big-budget bollywood film makers; perhaps, a harbinger of even greater things to come in coming years. It is one of those gems that make you fall in love with bollywood again, in true bollywood ishtyle.