Jai Ho Review

One Line Review: A scorching socio-drama with loads of Salmangiri inviting seetis and taalis.

Positive Points: An inspiring social message, Salman Khan's style and smile, Perfect handling of today's social issues, Crunchy punchlines.

Negative Points: Over-the-top fighting sequences, Excessive Bollywood touch rendered to the film.

Plot: Jai Agnihotri (Salman Khan) is a man, who has guts rolled up on his sleeves. He lives with his mother (Nadira Babbar), sister (Tabu), her husband Rihan (Mahesh Thakur) and their kid Kabir (Naman Jain). Jai is an ex-army officer, who had been suspended due to not following high command orders, but he is always remembered by the other army-men for his bravery. Now, he lives a life of a righteous common man, who comes across several social injustice issues and he is keen to make the society a better and safe place to live. Jai believes that if you want to do anything good for the society, you don't need to wear uniform. This gutsy handsome man once helps a handicapped girl (Genelia D'Souza) to write her exam paper. Jai fights with the man, who slaps a beggar little girl at the traffic signal as well as he saves a baby, who is stolen by a beggar. Jai turns messiah for the aam janta and the layman starts approaching Jai to solve their problems. When somebody says 'thank you' to Jai, he advices them Not to say 'thank you', but help three other people in need and tell those people to help three more people. In this way, Jai strives hard to originate this noble chain, so that the world will become a beautiful place. During all this, Jai invites lot of enemies for himself and these are the ones, with whom Jai fought with for the safety of people. One day, Jai comes across his beautiful, chirpy neighbor (Daisy Shah) and gradually, both of them fall in love.

While Jai strongly attempts to eradicate crime and injustice from the society, he unknowingly locks horns with the powerful home minister Dashrath Singh (Danny Denzongpa). Jai provokes the wrath of this influential local politician by his good deeds and now, this starts proving dangerous for Jai's family, as Singh aims to finish all of Jai's family members. Jai's mother falls prey to the attack by this politician, as she gets hit by a truck in the market and this puts her life in danger. This incident wakes up the real tiger inside Jai and the tale alters the track.

Direction And Other Technical Aspects: The producer-director Sohail Khan came up with the Hindi version of the 2006 Telugu release 'Stalin' that featured Chiranjeevi in the lead role. The social-drama 'Jai Ho' aims to focus on the condition in which a common man is living today and under what circumstances he has to undergo. The well-intentioned movie depicts the dirty picture of today's political world and its bitter truths. The theme this film handles is a deja vu and is presented by numerous films before, Amitabh Bachchan starrer 'Sarkar' and 'Sarkar Raaj' as one of them. Also, Sanjay Dutt's 'Munna Bhai M.B.B.S' revolved around the resembling topic, however with a different perspective. Nevertheless, if one will look closely, then Salman Khan's films like 'Wanted', 'Dabangg', 'Ready', 'Dabangg 2' and 'Jai Ho' seem to be each other's siblings in one way or the other, power-packed fight by Salman being the common factor among them all. 'Jai Ho' seemed a shiniest piece of them all and imparted a strong social message of helping each other in order to make the world a beautiful and safe place. The direction was good along with a good screenplay. The prime intention of the film seemed to highlight the 'being human' attitude of Salman Khan, as the film twirled around his bravery as a macho-man and his love life to a large extent. The film managed to get a good grip in the first half and retained it well also in the second half of it. It's is worth watch for Salman fans for enjoying their favorite star wearing cool, colourful shades with vibrant outfits. Not to forget the action stunts he does with oodles of style!

'Thank you mat kehna, aur tin logo ki help karna aur unko kehna ki voh aur teen logo ki help kare' is what our muscular hero and the other people keep on saying repeatedly in the film. The biggest loophole in the story is when Jai's aka Salman's nephew Kabir gets kidnapped at the hands of criminals, Jai goes on riding his bike on the road very carelessly, which could have seriously hurt several people or even take their lives! He fuels up bike's speed even in the small lanes, where people walk and children play. He even roars up the bike on the station flyover without caring for other's safety. Someone with a noble thought in his mind will certainly not play with lives of others in this way. The other drawback noticed was obviously over-the-top fighting scenes by Salman, where he alone proves tough enough for a huge flock of goons. The over acting done by the child actor Naman Jain was unbearable and seemed more like an adult and less like a child in terms of his dialogue delivery and overall expressions.

If one ignores these flaws by considering it as a typical Salman Khan masala entertainer, then the remaining picture is embedded with lots of dhishum-dhishum, emotions, romance and revenge. The fight sequences are well captured by the lenses, where Salman spreads all over it. The background score is average and cinematography is good.

Performance: The muscular, spectacular Salman Khan turns avenger, as he takes the entire show on his shoulders. As usual, Salman's killer smile and cooler style does all the work. The actor has performed well as a layman bursting with social injustice. His scorching screen presence forms the USP of the film. The newbie Daisy Shah looks good in her role and has performed her part conveniently well. The versatile actress Tabu has got to play a meatier part and once again, she has rekindled her charisma. Mahesh Thakur provides justice to his character. Nadira Babbar played her part with great aplomb and it couldn't have been better.

Danny Denzongpa re-created the villainous air with his baritone and strong personality. Genelia D'Souza played the role of a handicapped girl with convenience and apt expressions. Suniel Shetty shined well as an army officer, though he played a very short role. Mohnish Behl essayed the Chief Minister and there was a room for perfection for his performance. Aditya Pancholi was good as a crooked cop, while Pulkit Samrat grabbed attention as an upright dashing cop.

The other actors like Yash Tonk, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sharad Kapoor, Vikas Bhalla, Vatsal Seth, Resham Tipnis, Ashmit Patel, Sana Khan, Mukul Dev, Tulip Joshi, Bruna Abdullah, Varun Badola and Nauheed Cyrusi provided a very good support in their respective roles.

Music: When it's Salman Khan action flick, the music has to be alluring. The music given by Amal Malik, Wajid Ali and Sajid Ali became the favorite among the audience, especially among the youth. The track 'Baki sab first class hai' was the creamiest of them all, as it covered the essence of the film and slapped the current political scenario on various boiling issues like farmers' suicides, women safety and inflation. The song 'Tere naina' sounded soothing and tuneful, while the track with Gujarati touch 'Photocopy' lightened the air with its catchy tune. Not to miss the 'Jai ho' title track after the film finishes!

Final Verdict: A must watch for every Salman Khan fan for the Salman Khan factor! The movie embodies a strong social message of assisting others, which will be very useful if it would be applied in real life by everyone. In all, a wakeup call for the voiceless public!