JAB WE MET... AND MADE IT A BOX OFFICE HIT

When a tight little movie, going by the zany name of Jab We Met, was released on October 26, many feared it would go down under the sound and fury of the Clash of the Titans - OSO and Saawariya. Maybe, it was based on the combined might of these two movies. Or maybe it was thought that the reigning superstars and super directors had the divine right to get full attention for their movies, whether the public liked them or not.

Six weeks down the line, the delightful Bhatinda Express is still whistling its foot-tapping tune and going, strong as ever, past Bhatinda into box office history.

Neither did it boast of "the timelessness of two star-crossed lovers' hearts whose passions almost consume their will to the brink of self-destruction" (phew!), nor did it depend on the over-the-top hamming of a superstar and him alone to carry the movie to the Box Office Scorcher's territory.

All it had was a genuinely engaging storyline weaved around two unlikely souls who meet on a train journey.

And that's all it takes to make a successful movie. Maybe Imtiaz Ali learnt his lessons from Socha Na Tha and decided to stick to the basics of a good movie this time around. Maybe he got lucky enough to cast the perfect combination that made his movie successful.

Jab We Met is simply delightful.

From Aditya Kashyap (Shahid Kapoor), a disillusioned young industrialist who is trying to run away from all his troubles but refuses to part with his angst filled heart, to Geet Dhillon (Kareena Kapoor), a bubbly and effervescent Bhatinda chatterbox who sticks to him like glue while they are on their way to Bhatinda and keeps him engaged with her chatter, Jab We Met is a refreshing new take on the boy-meets-girl theme, and the sizzling chemistry lasts till the end of the movie.

Regardless of the protagonists' issues outside of the reel world, Shahid and Kareena form this irresistible yin-and-yang combination for every single "situation" that arises in their "incident"-prone journey and afterwards.
Shahid has matured as a prolific actor, when compared to his roles in his previous movies, and he portrays a degree of studied subtlety and repressed angst in his mannerisms and expressions.

And giving him the perfect verbal antidotes (incessant and how!) for all his problems is Kareena's character that she effortlessly slips into. She brings out rather brilliantly the exuberance that forms the driving characteristic of Geet Dhillon, who doesn't believe anything can go wrong with her life because all is well with the world as she knows it.

Jab We Met is a satisfying experience at the cinema, and you cant ignore the fact that Shahid Kapoor has arrived as an actor. It's now up to the industry to nurture his talent with projects that fit his emotive range.

It is also proof of the fundamental fact that it is very hard to stifle a good story.

Amongst all the din, it rises and stays to be noticed.

All it needs is encouragement based on common sense and individual choice and not on what the marketing whiz kids want you to believe in.

On its way to Box Office history and beyond, the Bhatinda Express might have chuckled at a burning wreck, all blue and crumpled, by the wayside, sputtering from the over-hype during its Diwali release and smarting from the licking it got by a small movie.

I call it the Revenge of Common Sense.

The Constant Movie fan can still separate the chaff from the grain.

No doubt about that.