It's almost a month since Yash Chopra, the "King of Romance" has left for his heavenly abode leaving Bollywood a much poorer place. So vast has his contribution to the Hindi film industry been that's its impossible to mention about Bollywood without a reference to his legacy. After having reached the ripe old age of 80 a month back, Yashji had announced that "Jab Tak Hai Jaan" will be his last directorial venture & with SRK back in the romantic avatar, the hype surrounding the film had gone through the roof. So will it be a befitting swansong???

Major Samar Anand (Shahrukh) is the daredevil of the bomb defusing squad of the Indian Army having disarmed scores of bombs, 98 to be precise with as much insouciant attitude as licking a lollypop earning him the nickname "the man who cannot die". His sobre demeanour attracts the attention of Akira (Anoushka Sharma), an aspiring documentary film maker of the Discovery Channel. Having obtained the permission of the authorities she joins Samar & his team to film them for her project. In due time, she stumbles across Samar's diary which lays bare the person behind the Aviators. So who was actually Major Samar & what made him treat death with disdain???
Yash Chopra has given us scores of memorable films through the decades be it "Deewaar", "Silsila" or "Darr" to name a few. His latest venture "Jab Tak Hai Jaan" was meant to be the perfect swansong to draw curtains on a glittering career. However, the film has come short of expectations mainly owing to a inconsistent script revolving around the character of Meera (Katrina Kaif). Her role seemed so immature & illogical that it failed to create any sense of emotional chord with the audience.The romantic sequences between SRK & Katrna seemed quite a drag at many places which could have been edited to impart a more telling effect.

SRK was fantastic as Major Samar but seemed quite a misfit in many of the sequences as the younger lover boy. He uses his charm to good effect to convey his romantic side but his age kept showing thanks to a botchy make up pretty much like Aamir's lover boy image in "Ghajini". Anushka was equally impressive while Katrina Kaif's role lacked sense & she lacked the capability to enact the emotional scenes with conviction. Another surprising aspect is that the collaboration of Yashji, Gulzar & Rahman turned out to be a damp squid. The music album as such was commendable with impressive tracks like Jiya Re, Challa & Ishq Shava but it failed to gel with the picturisation except for Jiya Re & stuck out like a sore thumb throughout the whole film which is quite unlike Rahman's music.

Verdict: The film will be a blockbuster in the overseas market while in the domestic circuit it will do well in Multiplexes but not so in single screens owing to an inconsistent romantic track. I believe it will earn a lifetime collection of 200 crores but wont threaten the records of "3 Idiots" or "Ek Tha Tiger". In short, there are individual brilliances but the film fails as a cohesive unit!!!

Rating: 2.5/5

Regards...Ben

I have much respect for Yash Chopra's body of work because in Bollywood's world full of copycats, he was an original. I cherish many of his heart tugging classics but sadly this one doesn't make that list. First, the chief premise of the lovers' separation is completely unconvincing and out of line with the mini-skirted, British bred punjabi kudi's characterization. She doesn't even have a 'Bauji' from DDLJ for a dad, so why would she be so foolisly superstitious and timid is beyond me. Second, there are plenty of younger actresses with whom SRK had convincing screen chemistry, but Katrina as Meera is not one of them. So the age defying, era defying love story doesn't work at all. Anoushka is trying too hard to top everyone in the camera's frame which makes her an annoying third wheel. Some of the better moments in the film were Neetu Singh's cameo as Meera's estranged mother and a few interactions between Shahrukh and Anoushka. But overall, the film lacked imagination and the Yash Chopra quality of an epic love story. I refuse to call this his swan song because this is not how he would've chosen to bow out.