Sunday, December 8, 2013

Jab We Met (live action movie), via Netflix

Jab We Met is a Hindi romantic comedy.

A depressed businessman meets a feisty motormouth of a woman on a train. The man, Aditya, has watched his girlfriend marry another man and has walked out on his corporate business. He has nowhere he wants to go and is even a little suicidal. The woman, Geet, barely even notices. She's going to visit her family and plans to sneak away at some point to elope with her secret boyfriend. Geet, worried, goes after Aditya when he leaves the train during a brief stop. She's stranded when the train leaves without her. After she's accosted by some men, she forces Aditya to get her back to the train or, failing that, back to her family's home. Aditya slowly finds himself enjoying and appreciating life again, and it's all due to Geet's bubbly nature. He falls for Geet, but, unfortunately for him, Geet still plans to elope with her boyfriend.

I almost quit watching this soon after I started it, because Geet was aggressively annoying. I'm not a fan of cheerful people who think everyone around them should be as cheerful as they are. Also, when I called her a motormouth, I meant it. She even kept talking to Aditya while she was asleep. Or maybe I should say “talking at” Aditya – he barely responded, and there was absolutely nothing about the way he held himself that signaled “yes, I'm interested in what you're saying, please keep talking.”

Both times Geet missed the train, it was her own fault. Especially the second time. But both times she insisted that it was Aditya's fault. Considering the mood he was in, he did an amazing job of putting up with her.

The latter half of the movie was better, even if it did make me roll my eyes more than a few times. Geet's great big happy bubble was burst, while Aditya morphed into the most perfect guy ever. For a good portion of the movie, I thought I was watching my very first Hindi romantic comedy without musical numbers, but there were actually a few songs once Aditya warmed up a bit.

The shift in the story, involving Geet's boyfriend, wasn't entirely a surprise, but it was still fun to watch. Geet's family's misunderstanding was worth a few laughs, especially since it put Geet's boyfriend, who I disliked, in an uncomfortable position.

All in all, this was an okay romantic comedy, but I wish Geet hadn't grated on my nerves quite so much at the beginning. Also, I was more than a little annoyed by the repeated reference to women who travel alone being “like an open treasure box” (aka, an attractant to would-be rapists). The men who accosted Geet said it, as did, I think, Geet's grandfather.

My favorite quote, said by Aditya to Geet: “I like you a lot, but that's my problem. You don't have to worry about it at all.”

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