Jab We Met

''Jab We Met'' () is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Imtiaz Ali and produced by Dhilin Mehta under his banner Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision. The film stars Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor in their fourth film together with Tarun Arora, Saumya Tandon, and Dara Singh Randhawa in supporting roles. Primarily based in Mumbai, Bhatinda, and Shimla, the film tells the story of Aditya Kashyap (Shahid), a heartbroken businessman who walks out of his corporate business and boards a train bound for Delhi where he meets another passenger, a talkative Punjabi girl Geet Dhillon (Kareena). She is sent off aboard when he gets off the train, but both end up being left behind. Beginning their journey together, she tries to have him accompany her to her residence in Bhatinda and then to elope with her boyfriend Anshuman Singh (Arora) while planning to get him married to her sister Roop Dhillon (Tandon).

The film received critical acclaim since its release. The film was among the top-grossing Hindi films of the year. Released in the United Kingdom a day before its worldwide release of 25 October 2007, ''Jab We Met'' became a hit at the Indian box office as well as overseas. Ashtavinayak later announced that ''Jab We Met'' would be remade by MoserBaer in four other Indian languages: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. However, eventually, it was remade only in Tamil as ''Kanden Kadhalai'' with a subsequent Telugu dubbed version titled Priya Priyathama.

The film fetched several awards, among which was a National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer awarded to Shreya Ghoshal for the song ''Yeh Ishq Haaye'', which remained a chartbuster for many weeks.

Plot

Aditya Kashyap, heir to a wealthy family, is depressed and suicidal, and walks out of a major company meeting. He wanders aimlessly and boards a train where he meets another passenger, Geet Dhillon, an excessively jovial and talkative young girl. Being unbalanced by the problems he is going through, he gets off the train. As the train begins to leave, Geet tries to get him back aboard but both end up being left behind. They reach the next station via taxi, only to miss the train again when she picks an argument with a kiosk vendor.

As she wanders within the station, she is harassed by the same kiosk vendor and then accosted by a man on a motorbike who believes her to be a prostitute. She runs to Aditya for safety; seeing her with another man, the man on the motorbike leaves her alone. Geet blames Aditya for the situation and insists that he accompany her to her home in Bhatinda, to which he agrees. They stay at a nearby hotel for the night and he opens up to her, dropping his reserved nature. She tells him of her plans to elope with her boyfriend Anshuman, who her family wouldn't accept due to religious differences. The next morning, they begin their journey and grow closer. He tells her that he's the heir to a late wealthy industrialist, Dharamraj Kashyap, confides in her of the company's financial troubles post his father's death, and how his girlfriend ended up marrying someone else. He also discusses his mother's extramarital affair and subsequent elopement issues.

At Geet's home, her relatives are exceedingly grateful to him and ask him to stay with them for a week. Her grandfather, Suryendra, suspects a bonding between the two, which they both deny. Later, her family decides to arrange her wedding; an uninterested Geet pretends to be in love with Aditya to derail their plans. She runs away from home that night, to elope with Anshuman. Aditya tries to discourage her, since her family will suspect him and cause trouble. She however convinces him to help her elope. The two of them arrive in Manali, where Anshuman resides. She tries to get Aditya to accompany her, but having fallen in love with her, he bids her farewell.

Nine months later, he is shown to have successfully revived his company's poor state and enjoys a renewed optimism toward life. He also reconciles with his mother. Geet's family sees him in a launch event broadcast on TV. Her uncle locates his office and confronts him; although unaware of her whereabouts, he promises to bring her back in the next ten days. He returns to Manali, where he learns that Anshuman had rebuffed her, never planning to get married.

Aditya traces her to Shimla, where she is leading a quiet life as a schoolteacher in her former school. He notes that she has the same demeanor he had many months ago. He takes her to a hotel and offers her the catharsis of berating Anshuman over the phone, and they share an intimate hug afterward. The next day, Anshuman attempts to reconcile with her and start afresh. Uncertain about him, the three of them then go to Bhatinda together. Her family is still under the impression that she had eloped with Aditya and she repeatedly fails to tell them the truth. Geet is also confused about whether she loves Anshuman or Aditya. Wanting to express her confusion, when she approaches Aditya in the night, Aditya advises that she talk to Anshuman the next morning.

The next day, Aditya begins to leave after getting Geet and Anshuman to talk. Anshuman assures her and tells us about his plans to marry her. As a train passes by, drowning Anshuman's words, she realizes that she loves Aditya and not Anshuman. She runs to Aditya, confesses her love and the two of them share a passionate kiss. Anshuman, confused and hurt, leaves. Their planned wedding takes place, with their families. They go on to have two daughters. The film ends with Suryendra telling his two great-granddaughters about how 'mischievous' their parents were. Geet and Aditya nod in agreement with Suryendra as they share a smile, their daughters looking on.

Cast

* Shahid Kapoor as Aditya Dharamraj Kashyap
* Kareena Kapoor as Geet Kaur Dhillon Kashyap
* Tarun Arora as Anshuman Singh (Geet's boyfriend)
* Saumya Tandon as Roop Kaur Dhillon (Geet's sister)
* Dara Singh Randhawa as Suryendra Singh Dhillon (Geet's grandfather)
* Pavan Malhotra as Prem Singh Dhillon (Geet's uncle)
* Kamal Tiwari as Gurpreet Singh Dhillon (Geet's father)
* Kiran Juneja as Amrit Kaur Dhillon (Geet's mother)
* Pravin Purva as Sarabjit Kaur Dhillon (Geet's grandmother)
* Veer Pratap Singh as Manjeet Singh Maan (Geet's suitor)
* Divya Seth as Ayesha Khanna Kashyap (Aditya's mother & Dharamraj's ex wife)
* K.F. Jussawala as Advocate Shrikant Sharma (Ayesha's lawyer)
* Nihar Thakkar as Raghav Dutta (Aditya's subordinate)
* Vishal Om Sharma as Advocate Rohit Bhosle (Aditya's lawyer)
* Kishore Pradhan as Station Master (Special Appearance)
* Asif Basra as Kiosk Vendor (Special Appearance)
* Brijendra Kala as Taxi Driver (Special Appearances)

Production

Pre-production work on the film began in early 2007 when Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Limited announced that director Imtiaz Ali would be directing the then real-life couple Shahid and Kareena Kapoor in their first "full-fledged romantic drama".

When Ali began casting for the film, Preity Zinta and Bobby Deol were his first choices to portray Dhillon and Kashyap respectively but were eventually replaced by Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor respectively, the former when Zinta refused to do the film. On the two lead actors, Ali commented, "I wanted a girl who could look natural in scenes where she misses the train. She had to be without make-up, someone who could be hyper, talkative and interesting but not irritating. I was never a fan of her areenaand hadn't seen too many of her flicks, but I just knew Kareena was perfect as Geet .. n the other hand When I met him hahid I realised he wasn't the forgettable actor that he comes across in several of his movies. He has gone through a lot in life and that maturity had never been brought out. He was perfect for the role of a young, mature, quiet guy."

The film was shot throughout the Punjab region, and filming started on 20 March 2007 in Chandigarh and later headed to Shimla and Manali, where the crew filmed a song on the Himalayas and the Rohtang Pass. Manish Malhotra served as the costume designer. The summer shots in Punjab of the haveli were filmed in Nabha near Patiala. While shooting the last schedule of the film in Mumbai, sources had indicated that the lead pair had broken up. Though the media projected it as a publicity stunt for the film, it was later confirmed that the couple had indeed parted ways. The title of the film was decided by a popular vote; moviegoers had a choice between ''Punjab Mail'', ''Ishq Via Bhatinda'' ('Love via Bhatinda') and ''Jab We Met''.

To promote the film, the actors appeared separately on different television shows. Kareena Kapoor appeared as guest judge on the singing talent contest ''Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007'' whilst Shahid Kapoor appeared on ''Amul STAR Voice of India'' and ''Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa''; they later appeared together on the television show ''Nach Baliye''. Apart from this, the producers also painted two full local trains in Mumbai from the Western and Central lines with ''Jab We Met'' imagery, where Shahid Kapoor chatted up with fellow passengers and informed them about the movie. On the night of 23 October 2007, a special preview of the film was organized at Yash Raj Studios in Mumbai for those associated with the film and their families.

Release

The film was released in UK on 25 October 2007, and was released on 26 October 2007 in India.

Home media

Moserbaer served as the DVD partner and regional distributor for ''Jab We Met''. On 7 December 2007, the film was officially released on DVD in the U.S., U.K., UAE and other international markets. A single disc collector's item in an enclosed box with the DVD containing English, Portuguese, Arabic, and Spanish subtitles was also released.'

Reception

Box office

The film opened with a opening of 70% all over India on 26 October 2007 and later increased to 90% during the weekend. Making a total first week net business of 11.75 crores from 350 cinemas, the film went into the second week with very strong collections and saw a massive increase with 40%-50% increment in shows worldwide.

Continuing its strong march in week two with collections of over and a two-week total of , the film was declared a ''hit''. During its third week, ''Jab We Met'' managed to add another to its collections but suffered a setback due to the arrival of Farah Khan's ''Om Shanti Om'' and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ''Saawariya'', which resulted in the number of shows for the film being reduced. Due to popular demand and the poor performance of the latter, the following week saw an increase in the number of prints for the film across the country, and resulted in a 50% increase of the film's collections. Completing fifty successful days at the box office on 14 December 2007, the film received a ''hit'' status by ''BoxOffice India'' and continued running successfully in cinemas with greater number of shows than the much later-released, ''Om Shanti Om''.

By February 2008, ''Jab We Met'' had made a net business of over ₹710 million (US$10.9million), and emerged as one of the biggest hits of the year. On 30 January 2008, it was announced that to celebrate the success of its 100 days run at the box office, PVR Cinemas in Delhi would have a special screening of the film on Valentine's Day.

Meanwhile, ''Jab We Met'' also opened well internationally especially in the U.K., where it was released a day before its worldwide release of 26 October. Debuting at number 10 in the U.K., the film grossed £11,488 on its previews night and £144,525 on its opening weekend, collecting a total of £156,013 from 31 screens. The film continued to do strong business and garnered excellent collections during its second week, making a two-week total of £325,996. Over the next five weeks, ''Jab We Met'' collected a total of £43,529 from 54 screens and made a grand total of £424,681.

Critical response

Upon release, the film opened to positive reviews. Critics praised the film for its simplicity, its romance, saying that it was "one of the finest romantic films to come out of Bollywood in 2007". The film's direction and performances were particularly appreciated.

Taran Adarsh from ''indiaFM'' gave the film a 3.5 out of 5 rating saying it is "as refreshing as an ice-cold watermelon juice in scorching heat." Subhash K. Jha wrote, "...''Jab We Met'' is the kind of cinematic experience that is hard to come by in this day and age of smoky cynicism and borrowed rage." Rajeev Masand from ''CNN-IBN'', who gave the film 3 stars out of 5, described it as "a film bursting with the kind of lovely little moments that'll bring a smile to your face. Khaled Mohamed, of the ''Hindustan Times'', gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, saying the film, "is quite a delight, particularly for the chirpy-chirpy-cheep-cheep girl and the retentive, moan-groan boy. Directed with a flair for garnishing even the most abject of circumstances with humour and irony, here’s a feel-cool movie. Wonderful.

''The Times of India'' gave the film 4 out of 5 stars concluding, "The film belongs to Shahid and Kareena who pitch in memorable performances and lend a whole new meaning to the boy-meets-girl story." Joginder Tuteja from ''indiaglitz.com'' gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, described it as "Shahid-Kareena's '' DDLJ''", and concluded that "...it would be a pain if any of the two actors do not get awarded and rewarded for their performances..."

Reviews towards the director, Imtiaz Ali, were favourable as well. ''Indiatimes'' wrote, "After his much appreciated ''Socha Na Tha'' (2004), Imtiaz goes bigger and better and the result is nothing but flying colours".

Most critics agreed that the main highlight of the film was the leading pair and Shahid and Kareena's chemistry. Rajeev Masand further explained, "The real magic of this film lies in the performances of its two main leads who seize your attention from the moment they first appear on screen." Taran Adarsh commented, "Shahid delivers his career-best performance in ''Jab We Met''... Kareena is in top form as well. ''Jab We Met'' is a turning point in her career. Fantabulous -- that's the right word to describe her work this time. The confidence with which she handles the contrasting characterization speaks volumes. This film should do for her what ''Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'' (1998) did for Kajol." Subhash K. Jha approved the chemistry as well, "...there are sparks...and the ones between Kareena and Shahid are so unselfconsciously genuine that you end up looking at the characters rather than the two actors going through a series of brilliantly conceived and energized incidents..."

Apart from critics, ''Jab We Met'' was one of the Best film of 2007 according to various Bollywood movie directors such as Madhur Bhandarkar, David Dhawan, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Anurag Basu, and Sriram Raghavan.

Music

The score was composed and produced by Sanjoy Chowdhury. The film featured songs composed by Pritam Chakraborty with lyrics by Irshad Kamil. The film's soundtrack was released on 21 September 2007 by lead actress, Kareena Kapoor on the musical show ''Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007''.

Joginder Tuteja from ''IndiaFM'' gave the music 3.5 out of 5 stars saying, "In 2007, Pritam may have been come up with good music in number of films ..But if there is one album that impresses most after '' Life in a... Metro'' and turns out to be the most satisfying experience, it is ''Jab We Met''. The album is a perfect example of how to get a quality soundtrack which mixes songs for different segments of audience." Movietalkies.com rated the album 4 out of 5 stars, describing the album as "certainly one of the better albums that have come out this year ... Pritam has shown a depth and width of imagination in the manner in which he has used so many different genres and mixed them together to create a fascinating journey of music."

The film's soundtrack debuted at number 8 and later jumped up to number 5 during its second week. Over the next several weeks, the album steadily began climbing up the music charts and saw the album sales increase after the film's release. During the week of 19 November the album replaced the soundtrack of ''Om Shanti Om'' and moved up to number 1 but fell back to number 2 the following week. Despite competition from the release of newer soundtracks, the album stayed at the top for over nine weeks. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 19,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's second highest-selling.

''Jab We Met'' soundtrack was featured on Rediff's and IndiaFM's year-end list of ''2007's Top 10 Music Albums''.

Awards and nominations

Below is a complete list showing the awards and nominations ''Jab We Met'' received:

Legacy

''Jab We Met'' remains one of the most popular romantic films in Bollywood. It brought recognition to Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor, both had enjoyed only limited success in their previous films. The couple was named in ''Bollywood Hungama''s list of the top 10 best romantic couples of the decade. Yahoo! Movies India listed the film as one of the Bollywood's top 10 most romantic movies. The film was remade in Tamil as ''Kanden Kadhalai''. The film's plot also inspired the television show ''Love U Zindagi''.

Kapoor's character, Geet Dhillon, became a popular and recognizable character. She later went on to say about her role, "To play a character like 'Geet' doesn't happen all the time; it just happens. When you begin working on a film, you of course know about the story and your character. However, no one knows how audiences would eventually react to it. 'Geet' did strike a chord with the audiences and became a household name."

Kareena Kapoor, for her performance, was ranked number 66 in ''Filmfare'' magazine's 80 Iconic Bollywood Performances list. According to Hindi Film News, she was number 5 in the critic's top ten and number 4 in the popular top ten for the finest performance by a Bollywood actress for the decade. She was also named by Rediff as one of Bollywood's most beloved characters.

References

External links

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2007 films
2000s Hindi-language films
2000s road comedy-drama films
Indian road comedy-drama films
Films directed by Imtiaz Ali
Films shot in Himachal Pradesh
Films set in Himachal Pradesh
Indian romantic comedy-drama films
2007 romantic comedy-drama films
Hindi films remade in other languages
Films shot in Punjab, India
Films shot in Mumbai
Films featuring songs by Pritam
Films shot in Mandawa
Films set in Manali, Himachal Pradesh
Films scored by Sanjoy Chowdhury
Films featuring a Best Choreography National Film Award-winning choreography
2007 comedy films
2007 drama films