There were many reasons why I picked up a ticket for Jab We Met – I loved the promos and songs, I loved the previous movie from its director, Imtiaz Ali, it had been quite a while since I watched a movie in a theater, etc etc…I did enter the movie hall with some expectations and the movie lived up to all of those and more.
The story is simple. Dumped by his previous girl friend and lost in business guy, Aditya (Shahid Kapur) meets an overtly talkative and bindas gal Geet (Kareena Kapoor) on a train. She irritates him to the core and he makes her miss the train. She insists he drop her home – ‘Sikhni hoon main Bhatinda ki’. Their road trip to reach Bhatinda is filled with many enjoyable sequences – like the ‘Decent Hotel’ one. Family is overwhelmed and arrange wedding bells for Geet with her childhood love Manjeet. Geet loves another guy and plans to run away. Aditya helps her and returns to his life, with new found enthusiasm. Months later, family comes to Aditya asking for Geet. Now our hero has to find her and get her back home.
What makes the movie wonderful is the script and the direction and the actors and the characterization and the chemistry and just everything. Even the ending has no rona dhona, its just simple and lovely. Some memorable scenes include – the Decent Hotel one, the badbad of Geet in the train (Mujhe bachpan se he na shadi karne ka bada shauk hai by God), the way Anshuman is treated when he reaches Geet’s place, Geet acting that Aditya is her boy friend and many more.The music also is great and all songs are lovely. My favorite is Tumse hi and Yeh Ishq hai.
Kareena for once is lovable. She is the life of the movie and you get a little depressed when she is quite. Shahid is great and supports Kareena well. The only chink in the armor is Tarun Arora. He is a pathetic actor, but I laughed at his stupid looks on screen.
I put this movie among the sweetest love stories made by Bollywood. The list now is – DDLJ, Maine Pyar Kiya, Jab We Met, Love Story and QSQT.