jaane tu.. ya jaane na

this is not going to be a popular post. i tried to like this film, i really did. and i did like watching some of the supporting cast. the lead pair is also sweet and good in parts and there is nothing really wrong about the film except that it begins in sweet nothingville and ends up pretty much as a ride around the block with nowhere to go. i wish the characters had more to do than be nice. i was also annoyed that i was supposed to identify with the girl who screams excitedly as the story is told to her while waiting at the airport. with her getting all worked up about silly pointless details of a wafer thin plot, i was also supposed to work up a sweat about ‘why does he not just say it?’ or go ‘how sweet’ and wait with expectant ardor at the next nothing in the story. and honestly i just did not get it. get the fluff, the comic timing, the clever writing, or fall for the chocolate boy hero; or the perky girl (i did actually). not that it is in any way offensive or annoying. in fact it goes out of the way to be as nice as it possibly can. understated to the point of bland. and though ‘pappu cant dance’ is a cheap crowd pleaser (and fun as that) the hit song is ‘kabhi kabhi aditi’. the rest of the music is 80s english pop with hindi words. the ballad (not the faux jazz title track) is like a hindi reject from a chicago album. the blandness was so overwhelming that even the sexual frission of a teenage love story between two fairly attractive people was sapped of all energy- the looks across the dance floor were more vapid than longing and when the boys girlfriend walks into his bedroom o find him sleeping and shirtless- a great situation for some stolen looks and shy glances away- he puts his shirt on like she is an aunty visiting. mostly boring, sometimes funny, rarely charming- and all because it tries so hard with its ingratiating niceness that you feel like giving it one tight slap. where has old tasteless tacky bollywood gone?