Ok Jaanu Review

Expectations

Right from the black and white era we have seen many of South-Indian films being remade into Hindi films. Mani Ratnam is one of those big directors whose many films have been officially and unofficially remade into Hindi films followed by the series of his dubbed films.

Many of his dubbed films and a few of his remakes have managed to create wonders in Hindi films and 'Saathiya' is among one of those films.

The director of 'Saathiya' returns back with one of remake of Mani Ratnam's film 'O Kadhai Kanmani' in the form of 'OK Jaanu' and also brings back the hit lead pair of 'Aashiqui 2'. Thus, the expectations are high and being the first big release of 2017, all eyes are on 'OK Jaanu'.

Story

'OK Jaanu' is a story of a young gamer Aditya (Aditya Roy Kapur) whose dream is to make a Mumbai based video game for a top American company. Aditya meets Tara (Shraddha Kapoor), an aspiring architect whose dream is to seek specialization from Paris. Love blooms between Aditya and Tara and they decide to move into a live in relationship as both of them want to focus on their respective careers and do not agree with the institution of marriage.

The 'Glitz' Factor

The original film worked mainly due to its sweet and wonderful moments and beautifully woven screenplay.

In case of 'OK Jaanu', the first half of the film has some of those sweet moments involving Aditya-Shraddha-Naseeruddin and Leela Samson. The romance part in the first half is cute and enjoyable along with the whole track of Naseeruddin and Leela.

The cinematography is good and works as one of the key elements of the film. The locations of South-Mumbai are used brilliantly.

A.R Rahman's score in the Tamil version was mind-blowing. Sadly, out here 'OK Jaanu' and 'Enna Sona' are strictly average. 'Sunn Bhavara' was nice. The background music on the other end was superb and went well with the flow of the film.

There's no doubt that 'OK Jaanu' is much better than director Shaad Ali's last film, but nowhere in comparison to his debut romantic film 'Saathiya'. He manages only to recreate some of those many wonderful moments due to which the movie falls flat in the second half.

Aditya Roy Kapur is sweet in parts due to his goofy antics. Shraddha displays a decent performance and does justice to her character. Naseeruddin Shah and Leela Samson do full justice to their track, which is one of the strongest positive point of the film.

The 'Non-Glitz' Factor

The curse of second half strikes out as the screenplay keeps dragging for a long time with minimal happenings in the film. The scenes were forced and the finale part was over stretched with the lack of conviction factor in it.

The whole casual bonding in the initial part of the film also was less impactful followed by the technical glitches and continuity jerks. 'The Humma Song' lacks the original magic. 'Kaara Fankaara' was bad.

Shaad Ali's last few films failed miserably thus, the expectations were very high with 'OK Jaanu' as it marked the return of Shaad into his safe and comfort zone.

The movie could have been much better if only the second half had a few good moments and the connect factor. It's not even close to the intensity of its original.

Aditya Roy Kapur fails to connect in the dramatic portions. Aditya and Shraddha look great but fails to recreate the magic of 'Aashiqui 2'. Kitu Gidwani was wasted.

Final 'Glitz'

'OK Jaanu' is a half-hearted love story just like its confused young couples and would instead recommend the original Tamil film.