JAB HARRY MET SEJAL REVIEW: SHAH RUKH AND ANUSHKA MAKE YOU WANT TO FALL IN LOVE

A girl and a tourist guide looking for a lost ring all around Europe. Why would you want to watch that on the big screen for a 140-odd minutes you'd ask? The answer, Imtiaz Ali. Much like his previous outings, Jab Harry Met Sejal plays more with the internal conflicts than with the plot. And Imtiaz is probably the only film-maker around who can do this time and over again and still hold you. That's where the beauty of his latest film Jab Harry Met Sejal lies—it's all about love, longing, pain and discovering oneself.

And where there's love, there has to be Shah Rukh Khan. The 51-year-young actor plays a Punjabi tour guide (Harinder Singh Nehra aka Harry), who is in Europe to earn his bread and butter and more importantly, to run from his past. On the one hand, Anushka Sharma (Sejal Jhaveri), a Gujarati girl, is engaged to a man she doesn't want to be with.

After a month-long Euro trip, just when she is about to head back home, Sejal realises that she has lost her engagement ring. In order to find the precious ring, she hires Harry and together they start visiting the exact same spots that she and her family had visited—in hope of finding the ring.

The first half of the film is so entertaining that it literally breezes past. Shah Rukh Khan is like old wine, the older, the better. He has hit the nail with his portrayal of the loud Punjabi guide. The tone of his voice, the dialogues and the general attitude is all too cute! But behind all the laughing-out-aloud, lies a man who has a sad and lonely past and that makes his character all the more interesting. Anushka Sharma fits her character of an innocent Gujarati girl as perfectly as thread in a needle. She is over-the-top, annoying yet extremely loveable—again a master stroke by Imitiaz in sketching a character as interesting as Sejal's. Harry and Sejal's chemistry is just unmissable and they make you want to fall in love. On the other hand, the film somewhere loses its pace in the second half and it feels as if it could've been trimmed easily by 10-15 minutes.

JHMS is easily one of the best soundtracks of 2017. On one hand you have soulful numbers like Hawayein and Safar while Beech Beech Mein and Phurrr are the quintessential party anthems. However, some of the songs really don't fit into the narrative, break the flow of the film and seem jarring.

The editing and cinematography is as fresh as one expects from an Imtiaz Ali film. With films like Rockstar and Highway under her belt, editor Aarti Bajaj's work stands out. To be honest, Imtiaz  hasn't hit the ball out of the park with this one. Considering the star power he had, he could've bettered his best works, namely Tamasha, Highway and Rockstar. However, the exotic locales and the superlative performances are enough to keep you hooked.

To sum it up, JHMS is a sure shot treat for all Shah Rukh Khan fans. On the other hand, Imtiaz fans might be a tad bit disappointed but JHMS is still worth a dekho!

For us, it's 3.5/5.