Business rating: 0.5/5 stars
Cast: Sunny Gill, Simran Mundi, Samar Virmani, Achint Kaur, Aly Khan, Mansi Multani.
What’s Good: Songs are fairly nice.
What’s Bad: The routine story; the twisted screenplay that doesn’t involve the audience; the ordinary performances.
Verdict: Jo Hum Chahein is a boring and weak fare which will find the going very tough.
Loo break: Several.
Watch or Not?: Watch it if you like to watch love stories with newcomers.
Gill Pictures Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.’s Jo Hum Chahein is the love story of Rohan Bhatia (Sunny Gill) and Neha Kapoor (Simran Mundi). Rohan joins a stock broking company and dreams of becoming a rich man. He has no time for anything else as his ambitions drive him to give priority to his work over all else. To climb the ladder of success, Rohan can do anything. He cares little for others’ feelings, even if that means hurting his own father! Rohan is a womaniser and has no qualms of sleeping around with girls.
One day, he meets Neha, an aspiring model and film actress, and what begins as a challenge to win her over to prove a point, soon develops into love. Rohan, who otherwise scoffs at close friend Abhay’s (Samar Virmani) love tips, uses those very tips to woo Neha who finally falls in love with him. Vikram Khurana (Aly Khan), a senior stock broker in the company, has taken Rohan under his wings and introduces him to Amrita Singhania (Achint Kaur) who invests crores in shares and securities. Rohan eyes Amrita’s account and is confident of getting it; he even manages to become her fund manager but for that he has to give her sexual favours.
Abhay, who works in the same company, warns Rohan of depending too much on Amrita’s account and ignoring the accounts of other clients but Rohan is too pompous to pay heed. Abhay also cautions Rohan to not hurt Neha’s feelings but Rohan does exactly that when he, in a drunken state, spends a night with Amrita in bed.
All hell breaks loose when Neha gets to know about Rohan and Amrita. She storms out of the relationship. Rohan apologies and tries to present his case but Neha is in no mood to listen. Meanwhile, Abhay falls in love with Neha’s best friend and roommate, Shivangi (Mansi Multani).
What happens thereafter? Do Rohan and Neha make up or does Neha never forgive Rohan? What about Amrita’s account which Rohan was managing? Does she continue to invest through Rohan? What about Rohan’s mentor, Vikram?
Jo Hum Chahein Review: Script Analysis
The story, penned by Pawan Gill, is too routine to be true. There’s absolutely no novelty, neither in concept nor in any tracks nor even in a sequence or scene. Pawan Gill’s screenplay is so clichéd that it fails to involve the audience. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that although the film introduces two newcomers in the lead roles, the writer has not taken care to make their characters endearing. Rather, the character of Rohan is so arrogant that within minutes of the film starting, the viewer is decided that Rohan is not a hero who deserves his sympathy. Although the writer would have wanted Rohan to come across as a very confident young man and a go-getter, his over-confidence comes across as nothing but arrogance. He talks disrespectfully to his father, he blows his own trumpet while talking to his best friend and his seniors, he has no qualms about fooling his girlfriend on his first date with her (when he takes her to the various places of worship simply to impress her) – in short, he is exactly what a hero shouldn’t be. As for Rohan’s father, he seems to be more thick-skinned than a concerned father (which is what the writer would have us believe) each time he lands up unannounced just so that he can spend time with his son who actually tells him that he has no time for him! Even Rohan’s confession to Abhay that Neha was the girl for him doesn’t ring true because there is absolutely nothing about Neha’s qualities which the audience gets to see, which may have changed Casanova Rohan’s heart.
If the audience does not feel for Rohan, it, unfortunately, also never ends up feeling for Neha because there’s no endearing quality about her that comes through. That is why, the viewer does not feel bad when the two have a breakup. And what is a love story if the audience does not feel bad when the lovers are separated?
In Rohan’s professional life, the writer is unable to establish Vikram’s motive in getting Rohan close to Amrita. It couldn’t be for getting Amrita’s account because she was, in any case, investing her money through Vikram. If Vikram was trying to set up Rohan for the sex-hungry Amrita (which is what seems to be the only believable reason for Vikram trying to get Rohan close to Amrita), it doesn’t make sense because with Amrita’s money power, she could get not one or two but ten toy boys to play with!
All in all, the film has a twisted screenplay which does not involve the audience. The emotions fail to touch the heart and the drama just doesn’t involve the viewer. Comedy is conspicuous by its absence. Dialogues (by Rashmi Kulkarni) are commonplace.
Jo Hum Chahein Review: Star Performances
Sunny Gill makes an ordinary debut. He looks good but needs to work harder on his acting. Simran Mundi is also average – in looks as well as acting. Aly Khan delivers an average performance. Achint Kaur is earnest but doesn’t quite impress. Sameer Virmani passes muster. Mansi Multani barely fills the bill. Yuri Suri is wooden as Rohan’s father. Ritwik Dhanjani and Sanjay Gurbaxani are okay as Rohan’s colleague and boss respectively. Others lend ordinary support.
Jo Hum Chahein Review: Direction & Music
Pawan Gill’s story and screenplay are so weak that they don’t help him one bit in his direction. As such, his debut as director leaves much to be desired, thanks to his script. Sachin Gupta’s music is fair. Aaj bhi party, Peepni, Ishq hoton se and One more are well-tuned. The Abhi abhi dil toota hai is melancholic. Kumaar’s lyrics are a mixed bag, good at times, average at others. Choreography (Aadil Shaikh) is poor. Background score (Sachin Gupta) is average. Manush Nandan’s camerawork is fair. Sets (Amrita Mahal Nikai and Sabrina Singh) are okay. Editing (Bakul Matiyani) is nothing to shout about.
Jo Hum Chahein Review: Komal Nahta’s Verdict
On the whole, Jo Hum Chahein is a non-starter. It is so boring and dull that it can’t be expected to pick up after the terribly weak start.
Jo Hum Chahein Trailer
Komal Nahta, the Editor of Koimoi.com, is Bollywood’s most trusted trade analyst & film reviewer. You can follow him on Twitter and check out his Video Blog.