Jhankaar Beats (2003)

January 4, 2006

by Nathan Shumate

Directed by Sujoy Ghosh
Written by Sujoy Ghosh, Suresh Nair, and Milap Zaveri
Starring
- Rahul Bose
- Sanjay Suri
- Rhinke Khanna
- Riya Sen
- Juhi Chawla

You’ll notice the complete absence of Bollywood movie reviews around the site here. There’s a very good reason for that; I’ve written no Bollywood reviews because I haven’t watched any Bollywood movies. Not out of any instinctual disdain or delusions of cultural superiority; I just haven’t seen the need. I’ve already got a list of 12,000+ movies that could be fodder for this site without raiding the film vaults of India, and there are plenty of other movie reviewers taking up the slack. And as with my avoidance of anime, I simply can’t risk the chance that I might find Bollywood absolutely captivating; I don’t have time or energy to put toward any more obsessions.

On the other hand. Chris Jackson, one of my oldest friends, is a big Bollywood fan, and reviews Indian movies frequently at The Gorilla’s Lament. Back in the old days of college and geographic proximity, he and I would often inflict movies on the other, or just browse the video store for likely ridicule fodder. So when I gave him the chance to dictate my viewing choices for the current Video Binge, I knew it more than likely that there would be a few Bollywood offerings in the mix.

Let’s get the obligatory dance number screencap out of the way, shall we?

As an added courtesy (or perhaps it was meant as a premonition of doom), Chris compiled me a tape of assorted Bollywood weirdness, so that I wouldn’t be going into my first feature totally blind. Naturally, it was mostly song-and-dance numbers, as their inclusion in movies of every genre is one of those defining characteristics of Bollywood that the rest of the world points to. Shorn of their context, and handed over to someone like me with no familiarity with the culture, this tape overwhelmed me. It was an overabundance of hip-shaking, mixed Eastern and Western fashions, and lyrics translated artlessly on the bottom of the screen. But I could still see the appeal; for one thing, the tunes were peppy and catchy (as would be necessary for an energetic dance number), and the fact that the male and female leads of all of these movies needed thus to be able to sing and to dance means that the Bollywood star system hasn’t become nearly as divorced from anything resembling recognizable talent as it has in America. (Think about it: How well does Scarlet Johansen sing? Or Jennifer Aniston? Can Colin Farrell cut a rug? Our celebrities are famous mostly for being famous; theirs are famous for being skilled old-school entertainers.)

All of which brings me to my first feature-length venture into Bollywood territory, Jhankaar Beats. Please remember, as you read, that I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. The IMDb and quick Google searches don’t really give me the background to talk about this movie in relation to its peers or its reception by its intended domestic audience. What you’re reading is partly a review of the movie, but it’s also partly Nathan’s account of exposure.

So. The action of Jhankaar Beats revolves around Deep (Sanjay Suri) and Rishi (Rahul Bose), two thirty-something advertising writers who moonlight as musicians, with their ultimate goal being to win the annual Jhankaar Beats competition, an ambition which has been frustrated several years running. Deep is a family man, with a smarter-than-he-is wife Shanti (Juhi Chawla), a daughter Muskaan (Ikraa Khatri), and another baby on the way. Rishi’s family life isn’t so picture perfect; he’s on the edge of divorce from his attorney wife Nicki (Rinke Khanna). The grounds for their divorce are never really spelled out, but is described in vague comments about neither of them being willing to compromise, and about Rishi’s fixation on his music. It seems he’s not as good at balancing his dreams and his “real life” as Deep is.

“Workin’ in a coal mine, Goin’ down down down…”

To speak of “the plot” of the movie would be nonsensical, as there isn’t one; there are half a dozen, all of which run in parallel beginning about two months before this year’s Jhankaar Beats competition and ending concurrent with it. Oddly enough, the “inciting event” for the movie is the arrival of Deep’s mother-in-law (Shashikala) to prepare for Shanti’s baby, a storyline which in itself has very little story, just some recurring scenes reinforcing that she doesn’t think Deep is making enough money. The other initial storylines are:

- The ad agency employing Deep and Rishi has a new client, an old bald nose-picker named Mr. Roy (Dinyar Contractor), who wants them to come up with a sure-fire campaign to introduce his line of condoms to the Indian market. Deep and Rishi get off on the wrong foot, having miscalendared the initial meeting with Roy and thus being caught completely unable to give him any ideas.

- Rishi and Nicki finally decide to move forward on their divorce, despite Deep and Shanti’s urging for them to work it out.

What’s “stalker” in Hindi, anyway?

It takes a little while for the third major plot to emerge, in the form of Neel (Shayan Munshi), a younger fellow who, despite being all hunky, is too stricken with the beauty of seen-on-the-street Preeti (Riya Sen) to even talk to her. Neel does play a mean guitar, though, and shows up at the club where Deep and Rishi play. Finagling a single stint with the duo, he impresses them with his abilities, and since they were looking for a guitarist to supplement their keyboard-and-drums ensemble, he becomes a part of the act. Because India is a teensy-weensy country with a miniscule population, Neel also turns out to be the son of Deep’s and Rishi’s employer, and is assigned to their condom ad project. And since he’s now working with them in close proximity during the day and after hours, he enlists them to help him win Preeti’s heart, since his father is pushing hard for him to marry either a girl of his own choosing or of Dad’s.

And really, that’s the movie: Three couples in different stages of their relationship — stable with children, falling apart, and just coming together — getting involved in each other’s lives. Accompanied by plenty of music.

Of course, the fact that the movie centers on musicians means that the musical numbers will seem a lot least forced to western eyes, even those which spring out of nowhere. It’s a movie which, if it doesn’t draw directly on the tradition of American musical cinema, at least meshes well enough with it to draw in American viewers. Granted, the scene in which Deep arranges for them to perform a love song in the middle of services at a Christian cathedral solely in order for Neel to impress Preeti seemed a bit alien, but I’ve certainly seen weirder attempts to woo.

“SINNER!!! Just kidding.”

If there’s a legitimate complaint to be made about Jhankaar Beats, it’s this: Too much stuff, not enough story. So many ideas are thrown into the mix that almost all are given short shrift, and some are practically abandoned mid-movie. In addition to the main plots given above, we’ve got:

- Deep’s attempts to get around his wife’s dieting regimen for him.

- The old lady in Deep’s apartment complex who hates Rishi’s backfiring old car.

- Deep’s attempts to afford a new keyboard.

- The pigeon that lives for the moment it can dive-bomb Rishi’s car.

- The newlywed couple right upstairs from Deep, who go at it so often and so noisily that it sounds like they’re moving furniture at all hours.

With so many plots, almost everything seems like a subplot. (We never do find out how Rishi resolves his situation with the pigeon.) And while a loosely-structured movie can be very enjoyable, at 143 minutes this one tends to feel a little unfocused and meandering by the end.

Repenting for that “Sinner!!!” joke.

If that’s my main legitimate complaint, then this next is my main unsupportable one: Having characters speak in both English and Hindi drove me crazy, especially with everyone switching back and forth all through every conversation, with the subtitles appearing and disappearing as the language changed. Either let me comprehend the dialogue through my ears or through my eyes — don’t make me alternate!

So. What have we learned? Aside from the fact that I’m scarcely an authority on what I’m reviewing, we’ve learned that Jhankaar Beats is an enjoyable, if overlong, semi-romantic comedy. I suppose that if I’ve got to have an introduction to Bollywood, something that goes down this easily is to be preferred over a full-length mindblower.