Jabariya Jodi Movie Review: Sidharth Malhotra and Parineeti Chopra's wedding pulav
By Gayatri Nirmal | Mumbai
Updated: Aug 09, 2019, 10:02 IST
"Surprise party sune ho?" If not, well, then you are in for a surprise and no prizes for guessing what that surprise is. As the name suggests, the premise of the story is about eligible bachelors in Bihar who are forcefully married to girls who can't afford to pay dowry. The story builds up with a young Abhay Singh (Sidharth Malhotra) and Babli Yadav's (Parineeti Chopra) love for each other - the innocence and purity portrayed in that love is touching.
Babli is, however, separated from Abhay when her parents shift base to another city. Later, the fearless Babli gains infamy for beating her boyfriend black and blue, which is telecast on a television channel. This, in turn, leads to a situation where nobody wants to marry her. Babli completes her education from the city and returns to Bihar to live with her father Duniyalal, played by the dynamic Sanjay Mishra. His character as Duniyalal won't disappoint you even for a second. The father-daughter duo's bitter-sweet relationship is fun to watch.
Sidharth Malhotra as Abhay does justice with his persona. From his lingo to his dress sense, from his mannerisms to the way he chews betel leaves, he plays a Bihari effortlessly. When it comes to Parineeti Chopra as Babli, she's done a decent job of playing a fierce Bihari girl.
The other actors are the life of this film. Jaaved Jaaferi is the perfect political personality, who drags his son into the wedding mess - the chaos of 'Jabariya Shaadi'. There's another surprise element in the film, actor Sharad Kapoor, who is best remembered for playing Prakash in the film Josh (2000). Aparshakti Khurana (Santosh Pathak) won our heart with his cute act; he plays the perfect friend to Babli and secretly loves her with everything he's got.
When it comes to the soundtrack, the film's Punjabi songs against a Bihari backdrop will leave you confused. Khadke Glassy is a great party number but it looked like a misfit, as did Ki Honda Pyaar. No doubt, the songs are great, but they didn't do much for this film.
Also read: Parineeti Chopra opens up about the emotional turmoil she went through post-breakup
The film has its fair share of comedy and also a dash of romance. As a whole, Jabariya Jodi is a feel-good film; a movie you won't mind watching once.
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Jabariya Jodi: Movie Review
Starring Siddharth Malhotra, Parineeti Chopra
Directed by Prashant Singh
Rating: ****(4 stars)
For a film that has not been shot Bihar/Patna at all, Jabariya Jodigets the details right, including place names and even random public places.Also everyone is drinking all the rhyme in ‘dry’ Bihar. Groom-kidnapping which form crux of this splashy, gaudy, riotous saga , is no more that prevalent in Bihar.
For a film that has not been shot Bihar/Patna at all, Jabariya Jodigets the details right, including place names and even random public places.Also everyone is shown drinking all the time in ‘dry’ Bihar, although there is a passing reference to alcohol-free Bihar. But what the ‘hic’.
Groom-kidnapping which form crux of this splashy, gaudy, riotous saga , is no more that prevalent in Bihar. But you know what? Jabariya Jodi is nonetheless an endearing slice -of-laugh raucous ode to rusticity with the lead pair and supporting cast hellbent on having fun. So who are we to resist?
The film wraps its head in a swirl of mischievous mayhem, making the whole cult of anti-dowry groom-kidnapping syndrome seem like a cauldron of conflicts simmering in a scintillating seductive stratosphere. The director knows how to control mob incidents. He plunges into rumbustious wedding events to wiggle out the ironies that control such festive opportunities.
In an all-out image-building exercise, Siddharth Malhotra plays Abhay Singh a loud aggressive overdressed Biharilout whose family business is groom kidnapping. Abhay has his own bullying issues with his father(JavedJaffrey,intimidating) . The whole nexus of violence greed abduction and seduction spirals its way from Abhay’s character into a kind of edgy out-of-the-box anti-romance between Abhay and the village bombshellBabli(Parineeti Chopra) who has tried everything to get away from her smalltown ennui. Babli is Kriti Sanon inBareilly Ki Barfi, Kareena Kapoor in Jab We Met and Parineeti in Hansi To Phansi.
She can’t be controlled. Though her story can.And is.
The two principal actors have a whole lot of infectious fun with their parts. The writing gives them a chance to banter without the fear of falling. The free-fall feel is amply supported by the dialogues which are sharp and naughty .In one sequence someone reads out the item ‘haath gadi’ in an elaborate dowry list.
“Haath ghadi(watch),” corrects a know-all.
Writer Sanjeev K Jha knows his Bihar and director Prashant Singh knows how much the actors can be pushed into shaping the final destiny of a film that falls short of story-content somewhere midway. In the second-half the narration tends to get repetitive and more than a a little petulant.
Malhotra as the groom-whisking goon tries very hard to blend into the smalltown environment. His efforts hit some right notes specially when ‘Babli’ Parineeti get too cuddy-feely for his comfort.
There is a prevalent chaos in the mood of this know-your-Bihar-on-google smartass fable of fiscal avarice masquerading as social service. It is an opportune subject to allow its two principal actors to shed their urban plumes and strut in an entirely different environment. Malhotra and Chopra do well, though their urbane personality keeps impinging. The supporting cast is impressive, though not in an exceptional way , specially Aparshakti Kapoor as Parineeti’s on-hold love interest Santo ,Chandan RoySanyal as Siddharth’sright-hand man ,Sanjay Mishra as Babli’s empathetic father and Shiba Chadha(wish there was more of her) as Siddharth’s oppressed mother.
The climax at a wedding where everyone is shooting at each other seems to go out of control. But otherwise director Prashant Singh does an admirable job of controlling the riot of colours,sounds and flamboyant visuals that assail our senses in a film about Bihar which is not shot in Bihar.
The film wraps its head in a swirl of mischievous mayhem, making the whole cult of anti-dowry groom-kidnapping syndrome seem like a cauldron of conflicts simmering in a scintillating seductive stratosphere. The director knows how to control mob incidents. He plunges into rumbustious wedding events to wiggle out the ironies that control such festive opportunities.
In an all-out image-building exercise, Siddharth Malhotra plays Abhay Singh a loud aggressive overdressed Biharilout whose family business is groom kidnapping. Abhay has his own bullying issues with his father(JavedJaffrey,intimidating) . The whole nexus of violence greed abduction and seduction spirals its way from Abhay’s character into a kind of edgy out-of-the-box anti-romance between Abhay and the village bombshellBabli(Parineeti Chopra) who has tried everything to get away from her smalltown ennui. Babli is Kriti Sanon inBareilly Ki Barfi, Kareena Kapoor in Jab We Met and Parineeti in Hansi To Phansi.
She can’t be controlled. Though her story can.And is.
The two principal actors have a whole lot of infectious fun with their parts. The writing gives them a chance to banter without the fear of falling.Writer Sanjeev K Jha knows his Bihar and director Prashant Singh knows how much the actors can be pushed into shaping the final destiny of a film that falls short of story somewhere midway. In the second-half the narration tends to get repetitive and a little petulant.
Malhotra as the groom-whisking goon tries very hard to blend into the smalltown environment. His efforts hit some right notes specially when Babli get too demonstrative for his comfort.
There is a prevalent chaos in the mood of this know-your-Bihar-on-google smartass fable of fiscal avarice masquerading as social service. It is an opportune subject to allow its two principal actors to shed their urban plumes and strut in an entirely different environment. Malhotra and Chopra do well, though their urbane personality keeps impinging. The supporting cast is impressive, specially Aparshakti Kapoor as Parineeti’s on-hold love interest,Chandan RoySanyal as Siddharth’s friend ,Sanjay Mishra as her empathetic father and ShibaChadha(wish there was more of her) as Siddharth’s oppressed mother.
The climax at a wedding where everyone is shooting at each other seems to go out of control. But otherwise director Prashant Singh does an admirable job of controlling the riot of raucus sounds and flamboyant visuals.
KRK likes the movie? But hates Sid who is probably in every scene of this movie. Hates Parineeti also and has dragged poor Sonakshi into it 🙄😂😂
https://twitter.com/kamaalrkhan/status/1159535446558425088?s=21
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If any of these are repeated it’s not on purpose 😁
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Banners: Balaji Motion Pictures, Karma Media & Entertainment
Producers: Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor, Shaailesh R Singh
Director: Prashant Singh
Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Parineeti Chopra, Jaaved Jaaferi, Aparshakti Khurana, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Sanjay Mishra, Sheeba Chaddha, Sharad Kapoor
Writers: Sanjay K Jha, Raaj Shaandilyaa, Neeraj Singh
Music: Tanishk Bagchi, Vishal Mishra
Everyone knows about surprise parties but what would you do if there was a surprise wedding? This is the unique and fresh concept that debutant director Prashant Singh explores in his Sidharth Malhotra-Parineeti Chopra starrer Jabariya Jodi. And this uniqueness of the idea mixed with a healthy dose of humour and drama works for the most part.
Set in Patna, the story begins with childhood sweethearts Abhay Singh and Babli Yadav being separated in their teens. Coming to the present day, you see Abhay Singh as the local guardian angel-cum-gangster who kidnaps dowry-hungry grooms and forcibly gets them married to their brides. Then there is Babli who is looking for own groom and her only criteria is that the guy should have ‘jigra’. The two have a mushy reunion at one of the jabariya shaadis organised by Abhay and resume their romance. Babli realises she still loves Abhay but he does not feel the same. To avoid commitment, he orchestrates a jabariya wedding for Babli as he fears his overpowering father. What ensues is a lot of drama along with revelations, regrets and realisations, which form the crux of the film.
Love stories are generall devoured by a wide range of audience. But in this day and age, the rom-com genre cannot have a textbook approach. Filmmakers are always looking for that unusual twist in the story to set it apart from the monotonous fare and Singh has played on that.
The concept of a surprise wedding is a unique one and the script would doubtless be hilarious on paper. The writers, Sanjay K Jha, Raaj Shaandilyaa and Neeraj Singh have balance the sentiments and humour well. Coming to the execution, the director tries a linear approach to the storyline, which gets a tad complicated.
The first half sails through as the characters and basic concept is established. The second half dips slightly as a myriad of sub-plots are woven together. Just when the audience might be wondering where the plot is leading, the story promptly realigns itself. There are moments when one feels that the USP of the film is not explored to its full potential although the one-liners, the several puns and some situational comical incidents add a nice flavour to it.
But, the writers have aced in subtly underlining some social messages through the film. Their core plot of Sidharth Malhotra’s character being a groom stealing Robinhood talks of a real issue without sensationalising it even though the intention behind it is good. The scene where he questions the eunuchs dancing at a wedding function about why wouldn’t they bless him with a baby girl instead of a boy, is well-placed and refrains from going into the preachy zone.
Jabariya Jodi celebrates Bollywood in all its glory. It is peppered with colourful song and dance sequences throughout, right from the desi dance number, Zilla hilela to the soulful Ki honda pyaar. It is like a nostalgia trip that takes you down the memory lane where boy meets girl, sparks fly, families oppose, their relationship gets strained and then there is the question of whether there is a happy ending or not. And all this is based on a theme which is the right blend of classic-meets-new age-cinema.
Editing is not a strong link of this film. Despite a linear screenplay, it is difficult to keep track of the flow of events. There are so many sub plots that are packed in the film that they do not get enough time to breathe and bloom. Some of them such as the equation between Abhay's parents or even the one with Babli's fiance whom she abandons moments before tying the knot do not get a neat finish.
Abhay's fear of getting married and settling down with the girl he loves is not clearly established, which might leave you perplexed. And while the emotions of the characters are brought to the forefront often, the confusion in the latter half of the film doesn’t let it connect as well as it should, for instance the lead actor breaking down and being reduced to tears on his mother’s lap.
Vishal Sinha captures the colours and festivity of the big fat Indian weddings well along with the cosy essence of a small-town. The old havelis and the charming kothis give the film the right feel.
Kudos to the makers to attempt a concept which is unheard of in the romance genre but even with the rawness of the backdrop it is set in, Jabariya Jodi needed a little bit more finesse and a crisper edit so that it could live up to its potential.
Performance-wise, Sidharth Malhotra is surely making an effort to step out of his usual urban-guy mould. The actor does catch the lingo correct and is good when it comes to romance and humour but the intensity of his emotions as Abhay struggles to come through. The brash and unapologetic avatar of Parineeti Chopra complements her lead actor just right. The actress is sassy yet manages to bring out the vulnerability in her strong character. Jaaved Jaaferi is the bad guy but he does that with his signature comic style. Sanjay Mishra is impeccable as usual. Aparshakti Khurrana should have been given a meatier role but he does full justice to his part. Chandan Roy Sanyal is amazing as the supportive friend. Sheeba Chaddha is good. Sharad Kapoor is seen on screen after a long time in an extended cameo and is decent. The other supporting cast is okay.
Verdict: A fun watch!
Rating: **1/2
Originally posted by: IAmLuvBolly
https://twitter.com/kamaalrkhan/status/1159638023526658050?s=21
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He's so right about these two though and it's weird because both these ladies were once tooted their gen' best performers.
ENTERTAINMENT09/08/2019 2:04 AM IST | Updated 9 hours ago
Jabariya Jodi Review: Parineeti Chopra, Sidharth Malhotra's Film Is Painful To Sit Through
BALAJI MOTION PICTURESSidharth Malhotra and Parineeti Chopra in 'Jabariya Jodi.'
Among the many things unique to Bollywood, there’s one trope that’s peculiarly insipid. It involves the protagonist or any key character from a film going through an intense internal conflict which is visible only to the audience as if the character has forged a private relationship with people outside of the film’s universe.
For instance, there’d be celebrations around and the protagonist would appear to be woefully disoriented but nobody, absolutely nobody, notices their very visible pain, as they go about their business with utmost normalcy.
In Prashant Singh’s Jabariya Jodi, a romantic comedy starring Parineeti Chopra and Sidharth Malhotra, this trope is generously employed, especially when the two characters are getting married to different people. Everything slows down and both, Malhotra and Chopra stare at a distance with a melancholic gaze, as oblivious (or emotionally cold?) family members enthusiastically apply haldi on their arms.
Based on the bizarre real-life phenomenon where young men are abducted by the bride’s family and then forcefully married - a practice highly prevalent in the Indian state of Bihar - Jabariya Jodi is based on a solid premise but fails to exploit it to the hilt. There was room for terrific satire, given how absurd the entire exercise is, but Singh’s inept direction and Sanjeev Jha’s wobbly, laborious screenplay weigh the film down, making it a tedious, boring watch.
Childhood sweethearts Abhay (Sidharth Malhotra) and Babli (Parineeti Chopra) are separated after the latter moves cities but are later reunited in adult life. While it isn’t specified what Babli does, Abhay, son of an influential politician (Javed Jaffri) has grown up to be a local goon, who is hired by the families of young women for kidnapping potential grooms.
It’s love at gunpoint, quite literally.
When Abay and Babli meet, sparks fly. She wants marriage. He’s scared of commitment. Because? He has his father’s blood running in his veins. And father didn’t quite treat the wife well. “Baap ka khoon hai, par Maa ka doodh bhi to hoga?” Babli retorts and the audience’s collective horror is reflected in Abhay’s mournful face. Yep, this is the film that has dialogues so melodramatic, they often sound parodical except that they are said in earnest without any hint of irony.
Abhay sabotages his own happiness because he feelshe’s destined to disappoint his romantic partner, like his shady father. Babli owns up to her love for him but wants him to want her sincerely, not in a jabariya (forceful) way. So the rest of the film, which roughly takes an eternity to finish, is about Abhay and Babli devising various kinks to emotionally torture each other before they resign into romantic submission while the audience slowly slips into a state of coma.
It’s hard to tell what the film really wants to be. It has several laugh-out-loud moments, one hilarious Bappi Lahiri joke and in many instances, the dialogues capture the delightfully absurd humour specific to Bihar’s milieu quite well, but the film can’t make up its mind. As a result of this, Jabariya Jodi wrestles with itself and oscillates between genres, its tone shifting so frequently that one cannot sift the humour from seriousness, heartfelt emotions from satirical moments, melodrama from self-aware hilarity.
What’s even more annoying is the manner in which the film tries to forcefully insert progressive politics in random situations (a trans person is scolded when they say that they hope the couple has a baby boy). Parineeti Chopra’s character is shown having autonomy over her life decisions and in more than one instance, she also calls out patriarchy with swag but these elements appear superficial as if they’ve been incorporated to give spunk to her character and not deliberate intent.
Because ultimately, the idea of marriage as a ‘be all and end all’ is central to everyone in the film. For all her mettle, Babli still weighs her self-worth on how and when she can get married, whether out of love or submission. Sure it’s her choice but raised in a society as deeply patriarchal as Bihar, how real is that choice, given the absence of a career, a vocation, or literally any other aspiration? In sharp contrast, Abhay’s ambition to be a politician is reinforced several times. For him, it’s kursi (a political post) over bistar (bed used as a metaphor for womanising)
(minor spoiler ahead)
When Abhay refuses to marry, she abducts him and gets him to marry her when he’s in a state of semi-unconsciousness, a deeply problematic device. Inverting the genders doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a messed up thing to do. Although the film recognises this failing towards the end but not compellingly enough.
If there’s anything that makes the film worth watching, it’s the supporting cast led by Sanjay Mishra who, as Babli’s endearing father, is appropriately hilarious. Chandan Roy Sanyal, as Malhotra’s sidekick, too is reliably good and so are the other actors that complete the ensemble. However, it’s Aparshakti Khurana, who’s tragically becoming another Jimmy Shergill, who is the most endearing in the film. His sincere performance gently reveals the character’s tenderness and emotional vulnerability. Seriously, we need filmmakers to utilise Khurana’s talents more robustly.
An ensemble of gifted supporting actors, however, cannot compensate for the dull, uninteresting performances by the lead cast. Malhotra’s performance is arduous. He appears to be parroting his lines as if still in the rehearsal room. For a part that demanded earthy ruggedness and an effortless fluidity with dialect, Malhotra, who needed some serious de-poshing, carries an air of urban sophistication. Wooden and devoid of depth, it’s hard to root for a character when you don’t feelwhat he’s feeling.
Chopra, the go-to Bollywood girl from spunksville, recycles traits and patterns seen in her past films such as ishaqzaade and Shuddh Desi Romance. Predictable and generic, there isn’t any moment in the film where the actress, who seems to have become a victim of her own image, surprises or delights.
Nothing, though, prepares one for the mind-numbing climax which turns into such a colossal cluster-mess it’s hard to think of a film that so rapidly went from being non-offensively boring to what-in-the-name-of-Jabariya-Jesus-is-going-on here. I’m convinced that the ending was improvised with characters doing as they pleased. In a scene where Malhotra’s Abhay is getting brutally bashed up, Aparshakti Khurana just nods in disagreement. It’s likely that he got so fed up, he fled the sets never to return again as he isn’t seen later on.
Bullets fly and swords are unleashed as crisp Manyawar kurtas are slowly ripped apart. Then, all of a sudden, fighting stops and scheming, patriarchal Dads turn into woke bros extolling the virtues of organic love and romantic commitment. Whattttt?
Is this seriously not a parody?
“Let’s make a social commentary but in a like, fun and entertaining way, what say?” the film’s producer probably said, delighted by their own idea.
Now, that’s an easy brief to give but a difficult one to live upto.
And that’s Jabariya Jodi’s problem. It’s neither a well-made social commentary, nor an entertaining romantic comedy.
What it is is a Jabariya headache to sit through.
Jabariya Jodi Movie Review: Sidharth Malhotra and Parineeti Chopra starrer is an overlong mess
Gaurang Chauhan
Updated Aug 09, 2019 | 00:56 IST |
Critic Rating:
Jabariya Jodi Movie Review
Based on the infamous practice of Pakadwa Vivah in the parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Jabariya Jodi is about Abhay Singh (Sidharth Malhotra), scion of a crime lord Hukum Singh (Javed Jaffery) in Patna, who runs the business of groom kidnapping and is an aspiring politician. He believes he is doing social service. His life changes when he is reunited with his childhood lover Babli Yadav (Parineeti Chopra).
Throughout the first half, I found myself entertained by what was transpiring on the screen. Right from the interesting storyline, performances to incredible dialogues, Jabariya Jodi is one hilarious ride in the first hour. But, it all comes down crashing in the second half and how. First time director Prashant Singh fails to capitalise on the good first half.
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There is no rhyme or reason for anything that happens in the second half. From the lead pair's romance, the characters' motivations, screenplay to the writing everything is highly confusing.
As the title suggests, the movie is about Pakadwa Vivah, but for most of its runtime, it has been glamourised and glorified. It is only in the climax, the makers abruptly realised that it is a bad practice and they have to give the audience a message and condemn it. Another problem is with the lead character of Sidharth Malhotra. He is shown to be doing questionable things in the film and again these things are either played for laughs or have been glorified. Even when he finally has a change of heart, that whole scene is not earned, everything just seems forced.
Javed Jaffery's character is a menacing crime lord, who oppresses his wife and sleeps around. But, by the end, all of a sudden he has been given a redemption, which is questionable.
Moreover, the whole romantic angle between Sidharth and Parineeti fails to work. Abhay's reason for not marrying Babli isn't that big of a conflict that it needs a 2 hour and 23 minutes run time to resolve.
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Talking about the run time, the movie should've been under 2 hours and it still wouldn't have made much of difference to the plot. Many scenes in the second half are not required at all.
The songs are all forgettable and far too many. The cinematography is good. As mentioned above, dialogues are the best part of this film.
Sidharth Malhotra plays his character with earnestness and he carries it off with ease. He carries the film on his able shoulders and surprises with the way he has performed this character which is unlike anything he has played in the past. He impresses. Parineeti Chopra again plays a feisty character. While she is of the first-rate, this is the kind of role she can perform to perfection in her sleep. The supporting cast is great. Sanjay Mishra, Javed Jaffery, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Neeraj Sood, Gopal Dutt, Mohit Baghel and Aparshakti Khurrana all the actors have aced it. Sheeba Chaddha is wasted. It was good to see Sharad Kapoor on the big screen after more than half a decade but he has a thankless role which ends with unintentional laughter.
Jabariya Jodi shows promise in the first half but crashes post that and ultimately becomes an overlong mess despite the best efforts of its star cast and the dialogue writer.
Rating: 2 stars
Review By: Gaurang Chauhan
Jabariya Jodi Movie Review: Each Minute Of Parineeti Chopra, Sidharth Malhotra's Film Feels Like A Lifetime
Entertainment Saibal Chatterjee
Jabariya Jodi Movie Review: Sidharth Malhotra does not look the part of a dreaded muscleman. Parineeti punctuates her perky, no-nonsense girl persona with moments of demure docility.
Updated : August 09, 2019 09:11 IST
Jabariya Jodi Movie Review: Parineeti and Sidharth in a still from the film. (Image courtesy YouTube)
New Delhi: Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Parineeti Chopra, Jaaved Jaaferi, Sanjay Mishra and Aparshakti Khurana
Director: Prashant Singh
Rating: One Star (out of 5)
The male protagonist of Jabariya Jodi, a goon who revels in abducting dowry-seeking boys and compelling them to do marry against their will, takes eons to figure out that, be it pyaar or shaadi, the use of force should be a strict no-no. But no force in the world can stop the makers of this nondescript film from gravitating towards the pits. Not that they make any effort at a reversal. The audience, on its part, does not have to wait for two and a half hours to sense how disastrous this haphazard Bollywood take on Bihar's forced marriages is going to be. Each minute of Jabariya Jodi, one as baffling as the other, feels like a lifetime wasted.
The utter lack of chemistry between the lead pair of Sidharth Malhotra and Parineeti Chopra, both completely out of sorts in this milieu, aggravates matters. Jabariya Jodi takes the wrecking-ball approach to filmmaking, which entails setting up a premise and quickly proceeding to pull to pieces the very next moment to make way for another listless, formless, short-lived plot detail, which is just as doomed as everything else in the film. Over 143 minutes, that leaves a hell of a lot of ugly debris around. The script, authored by Sanjeev K Jha, bears the imprint of a plethora of cooks (at least two other writers are credited for "additional screenplay"). Devoid of focus and logic and riddled with acting that borders on the shockingly amateurish, the film opts for the pursuit of concentric circles as its favoured narrative mode and ties itself up in countless unseemly knots in the process. The storyline is so convoluted that an attempt to make sense of it would be futile.
Jabariya Jodi has been filmed entirely in Uttar Pradesh. A raunchy version of Zila Hilela is bunged in early on in a bid to establish the Bihar setting. Soon enough, however, we hear good old Punjabi intrude into the mix by way of a love ditty, Ki Honda Pyaar. By the time the end credits roll a full-on Bhangra number is unleashed on the soundtrack. If this film keeps us guessing as to whether it is a comedy, a love story or an earth-shattering probe into a social malaise, it is also hopelessly clueless about its cultural moorings. The spaces where it has been shot, the places where it is supposedly set and the sounds that it employs in order to create an ambience are all at odds with each other.
The film opens in 2005 in a small town called Madhopur, the home of a feisty schoolgirl Babli Yadav and a cocky, entitled teenager Abhay Singh. The former pushes the latter into a river when he makes a pass at her. The two light-eyed kids develop a bond, but the girl leaves for the big city. Fifteen years later, the lightness of their eyes is gone - the love-struck youngsters have now been replaced by Parineeti Chopra and Sidharth Malhotra - and so is their bonding with each other.
A still from Jabariya Jodi.
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Distance, it is said, makes the heart grow fonder. Here, it doesn't. The hero, unable to come out of the shadow of an oppressive father, Hukum Dev Singh (Jaaved Jaaferi), leads a pack of wastrels in the business of kidnapping prospective bridegrooms and forcing them into marriage with girls whose fathers cannot afford to cough up a dowry. That might, on the face of it, seem like a noble mission until you realize that nobody has any time at all to sit the girls down and ask them what they feel about the racket. A payment from the girl's father is enough to get Abhay Singh and his gang to swing into action.
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Somewhere along the way, Abhay and Babli meet again, but so conflicted is the man about his feelings for his childhood sweetheart that he hums and haws his way through the rest of the film. In fact, at one point, the exasperated Babli gives him a taste of his own bitter medicine but stops short of the seventh vow. Amid all this, Jodi makes stray allusions to Abhay's political ambitions, while his father makes occasional overtures to a rival (played by Sharad Kapoor).
At one point in the film, when the hero revives his long-dormant relationship with Babli and his pals taunt him, he 'manfully' asserts: "Hamara focus bistar se zyada kursi pe hain (My focus is more on the seat of power than on the nuptial bed)." Are we supposed to laugh or simply marvel at the sheer 'originality' of that line? The film has a surfeit of such excruciatingly laboured one-liners that are meant to be funny. They are funny all right but for all the wrong reasons.
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The acting is steeped in mediocrity. Sidharth Malhotra, too chocolaty, does not look the part of a dreaded muscleman who can put the fear of God into dowry-seekers. Parineeti punctuates her perky, no-nonsense girl persona with moments of demure docility. All the effort that she makes to traverse the gamut quickly ceases to convey any meaning in the absence of cohesion and clarity in the character's motives. Aparshakti Khurana also has a role in Jabariya Jodi but he is never allowed to be anything more than being a part of the backdrop.
Much worse is in store for actors of the calibre of Jaaved Jaaferi, Sanjay Mishra (playing the heroine's somnambulist, history teacher father), Sheeba Chaddha (the hero's doormat mom) and Chandan Roy Sanyal (in the role of the hero's principal partner in crime). They are rendered so ineffectual that one is left wishing that they hadn't strayed on to the sets of the film and had instead used their time more gainfully elsewhere.
It is the hero's long-suffering mother who gets to spout the home truths that all the difference for her boy struggling to make the distinction between right and wrong. On one occasion, she says: Socho dimaagh se aur nibhaao dil se (Think with your mind but follow your heart). On another, she turns into a shrink. Kuch rishton mein izzat aur darr ka farq nahin pata chalta (In some relationships, the line between respect and fear is blurred), she tells her wayward son. Bingo, it works like magic.
Parineeti and Sidharth in a still from the film.
If only there was a conjurer's trick that could turn Jabariya Jodi into a coherent whole. But even if any such sleight exists somewhere in the world, the director clearly isn't aware. Steadfastly puerile, Jabariya Jodi, a film that appears to have been made under duress by a group of people playing blind man's buff, is a big splotch of utter nonsense.
Don't think twice (thinking won't take you anywhere anyways if you decide to watch Jabariya Jodi): give it a miss.
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