Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

Plot

The story begins in an airport, when Jignesh a.k.a. Jiggy (Nirav Mehta), Ravindran a.k.a. Rotlu (Karan Makhija), Sandhya a.k.a. Bombs (Alishka Varde), and Shaleen (Sugandha Garg) offer to tell Mala (Renuka Kunzru), Jiggy's friend and crush, the tale of Jai and Aditi, a love story with joys and sorrows, happiness and heartbreak, laughter, songs, and fights, and...a climax at the airport. Mala is initially uninterested in the story and hates love stories in general, but still agrees to listen as the flight carrying the friends they have come to receive is late.

Meet Jai Singh Rathore, a.k.a. 'Rats (Imran Khan), the most non-violent Rajput ever. Meet Aditi Mahant(Genelia D'Souza), a.k.a. ‘Meow‘, a highly aggressive, impulsive girl. She abuses and scratches people (hence the name Meow). Despite their differences, Jai and Aditi are college-going best buddies. Rotlu, Jiggy, Bombs, and Shaleen are also college-mates of Jai and Aditi, and a part of their group. Rotlu loves Aditi and Bombs loves Jai. However, Jai and Aditi are always so busy with each other that they overlook this. Jai and Aditi are perfect for each other. Their friends know this. Their parents know this. Everybody but the two themselves know this. Aditi dreams of a virile, macho husband, while Jai wants a sweet, romantic girl. Since the two of them don't believe that they are in love, after finishing their college they decide to hunt for a perfect life partner for each other. Jai falls in love with Meghna (Manjari Phadnis) at first sight in a club where two psychos were misbehaving with her. He saves her, not by fighting but by tricking the two psychos who always ride horses. Meghna always plays the game of imagination, “What's this?” When Meghna and Jai get close to each other, Rotlu, Jiggy, Bombs, and Shaleen are happy for Jai but nobody notices that Aditi is missing Jai's company. Aditi notices changes in Jai's behaviour.

Meghna informs Jai that her parents squabble but cannot live without each other. She says this is really "cute." Jai visits Meghna's parents. Her father is an alcoholic. Her parents always argue with each other and Jai feels uncomfortable around them. When Jai goes to meet Meghna's parents, he misses Aditi's surprise birthday party. She is hurt by this and acts rudely to Jai when he goes to wish her a happy birthday later that evening.

Aditi gets engaged to her father's friend's son, Sushant Modi (Ayaz Khan). She sees in him the macho man she always wanted. However, Sushant is also a spoilt playboy. Aditi's brother, Amit (Prateik Babbar), tries to make her see who Sushant really is. But Aditi thinks that Jai loves Meghna and continues her relationship with Sushant. At Jiggy's birthday bash, Aditi introduces her fiancé. Then everyone decides to dance. Aditi is disturbed because she is jealous seeing Jai with Meghna, and Jai is upset that Aditi is engaged and disturbed. Aditi becomes emotional seeing Jai with Meghna, however, in the middle of the dance, Sushant thinks Aditi is crying because she likes him and kisses her. Jai sees this and stops dancing abruptly. While taking Meghna home, she tries to cheer him up, but it just results him in becoming more angry. He shouts at Meghna for acting childishly.

Jai realises that Meghna is a girl who runs away from reality and hides in rather stupid refuges. Meghna breaks down and lets Jai know how and why she became this way. Meghna shares her dark childhood story of her father (Rajat Kapoor) having an extra-marital affair and her mother, Sheela(Kitu Gidwani) leaving the residence, but later only returning for Meghna's sake. Meghna is hurt when she sees her parents in pain solely on her account. But since there's no other way round, she decides to close her eyes and see things the way she wants, in a happy manner. Therefore, according to her, her parents fight in a very 'cute' manner. All is happy in the way she sees things, and does not want anyone to remove this veil before her eyes until she is ready for it. The next day, to cheer up things, she kids Jai by saying that Aditi is the right girl for him and he should marry her instead. Jai is taken aback when Meghna laughs and apologises, saying that she was only joking, and did not intend to shock Jai. But Jai reveals that there is more truth to the joke than Meghna thinks, and says that he is actually in love with Aditi. Meghna is shattered and leaves with a goodbye kiss. Aditi reveals her feelings for Jai under duress from Sushant, who slaps her on her face, leaving a bruise. Aditi breaks up with him and decides to go to the USA to study film-making at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Jai spots the bruise on Aditi's face and contrary to his usual non-violent nature, he thrashes Sushant for daring to lay a hand on her.

Inspector Waghmare (Paresh Rawal), an old enemy of Jai's mother Savitri Rathore (Ratna Pathak), arrests Jai for thrashing Sushant and puts him behind the bars. There, he meets the two psychos, Vinay Singh Rathore a.k.a. Bhageere (Sohail Khan) and Kuber Singh Rathore a.k.a. Bhaloo (Arbaaz Khan), who were harassing Meghna in the club. However, they find out that they are closely related cousins, separated in childhood. They tell him that for a boy to become a man in their Rathore clan, he must complete three conditions: 1.) Thrash someone 2.) Get arrested 3.) Ride a horse. They tell him that his father was a brave man and fought heroically with his enemies but died while doing so. Jai realizes that his mother had lied to him by claiming that his father was a non-violent person who died while trying to stop someone's fight. Unaware of all this, Aditi makes her way to the international airport for departure to USA. Bhaloo and Bhageere, who are sons of an MLA, use their influence to get Jai free, following which, Jai rides a horse, borrowed from his cousin, and heads towards the airport to stop her. Thus, Jai fulfills all the three conditions to become a man in Rathore Clan, causing dismay to Jai's mother and delight to spirit of Jai's father (Naseeruddin Shah), as he had challenged Jai's mother that Jai will fulfill the conditions some day.

He jumps over the security booths and runs, seeking for Aditi, while the Airport security chases him, supposing him to be a terrorist who ran away from security checks. He finds Aditi and sings the song – "Jaane tu ya jaane na" for her, which is the same song that Jai had said in the beginning he'd sing for the love of his life. Aditi, delighted, hugs him and cancels her US trip. Airport security cop Inspector Prakash, on finding that Jai is not a terrorist, lets him go, but with a warning.

Rotlu, Jiggy, Bombs and Shaleen conclude the story and welcome Jai and Aditi, just returning from their honeymoon after 5 years, at the airport. Mala gets extremely delighted to see them and introduces herself as Jiggy’s girlfriend and they leave the airport together.

Cast

Release

The film was released on 4 July 2008. The premiere of the film was held at the PVR Cinemas in Goregaon, Mumbai where many Bollywood stars were present. The film was released with 473 prints worldwide, which includes 282 analogue prints, 81 digital screens and 110 prints overseas. In its second week, the number of shows at multiplexes were increased while 100 more centres were opened.

Critical response

The movie got positive responses from the critics. Rediff.com gave it a 4 out of 5, "a rock-solid ensemble cast that is mouthwateringly perfect". Movie Talkies has given it 4 stars, "the coolest, warmest, hippest and funniest musical romantic comedy in years has arrived, and a new Khan is born." Glamsham gave it another 4 out of 5, "another fruitful outing for Aamir Khan. This man certainly knows what he is doing." Planet Bollywood gave it 4 stars, "a fresh breezy entertainer which undoubtedly is the best the year has seen so far." AOL India reviewer Noyon Jyoti Parasara gave it 3.5 out of 5 and said, "Jaane Tu... weaves in a lot of emotions right from friendship, love to insecurity. Every character is shown to have a definite backing. Which means a very good job by the writer." Taran Adarsh of IndiaFM gave it 3.5 stars, "a breezy entertainer which will be loved by its target audience – the youth".

Box office

Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na was an early success, with 80% or more in morning shows and 100% by the noon shows across India. Monday usually witnesses a drop in business for films in India, but Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na had strong showings on Monday (75%), Tuesday (70%) and Wednesday (60%+). The first week all-India gross was ₹200.1 million (US$3.1 million) with an average of ₹656,524 per print. For the second week, the number of shows were increased and it started the week grossing almost 100% at several screens. The film grossed ₹175 million (US$2.7 million) in its second week, taking its total to ₹375 million (US$5.8 million). It grossed approximately ₹832 million (US$13 million) in full run.

Music

The music of Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, composed by A. R. Rahman and lyrics by director Abbas Tyrewala, was released in India on 20 May 2008 with producer Aamir Khan presenting the first audio CD to veteran actor Shammi Kapoor. The soundtrack held the number one spot on the music charts for several consecutive weeks. The soundtrack was well received by the audiences and the critics, with "Pappu Can't Dance" becoming one of the major hits of 2008. Rahman was awarded with the Filmfare Best Music Director Award and the Star Screen Award for Best Music Director for this soundtrack. The track "Kabhi Kabhi Aditi" was nominated for Best Playback Singer (Rashid Ali) and Best Lyrics (Tyrewala) at the Filmfare awards. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 15,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's eighth highest-selling.

Star Screen Awards

Filmfare Awards

4th Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards

Star Sabse Favourite kaun Awards

Stardust Awards