Jhankaar Beats Movie Review

Sujoy Ghosh’s debut film Jhankaar Beats is a little gem that endears itself to the audience right from the opening sequence. A story about two friends, doffing a hat at the much revered Sholay, Jhankaar Beats is their journey from zilch to Jhankaar Beaters. The film starts with the Deep and Rishi participating and losing a music contest ‘Jhankaar Beats’ so the obvious ending to this film would be them winning it. There is no deviation from the obvious but the way things unfold, it is an experience that stays with you for long after you’ve seen the film.

Produced by Pritish Nandy, this landmark film touted as the ‘father of multiplex films’ is a simple story simply told. No razzmatazz, no special effects, this film is all heart and wit. Every character in the film is for a reason. The setting is very urban but still will not alienate the masses and a big credit for that goes to debutante music director duo – Vishal and Shekhar. The music is as much a part of the film as the dialogues. The characters are all quirky and are relatable in their own sweet ways.

Deep and Rishi (played by Sanjay Suri and Rahul Bose)work at an advertising agency and are passionate about music, their idol being R D Burman who they fondly call Boss… the film gets a new dimension altogether. Both the leads are married, while Deep is the father of a child, Rishi, though married is a child himself. Their wives played by Juhi Chawla and Twinkle Khanna respectively are going through their own transitions in life.

In between all this another character Neel (played by Shayan Munshi) is thrown in for the extra effect. He is the butt of the jokes; sometimes he is the joke himself. He is in love with a girl he saw at a bus stand and never has the guts to propose to his lady love (played by Riya Sen). The story moves around Rishi, Deep and Neel getting to their goals, crossing simple and complex hurdles thrown at them by life, with a fantastic sense of humour and a pinch of salt.

Deep is planning to buy an expensive keyboard while his wife wants them to save money for the child they are expecting. Rishi is going through a divorce process despite the fact that he loves his wife so much that he had given her all the tapes of ‘Boss’ that he had painstakingly collected over the years. Neel is just not man enough to say the three magic words, instead ends up saying “mujhe us taklu ke saath sex karna hai.” Amidst all the madness there is a condom campaign to be cracked, a music contest to be won and personal battles to be fought. They do all that, with the trademark madness that makes this film a collectors’ item.

The mood, the tone and everything else is just perfect and lends to the ambience of the film. This is a film that you can watch over and over again and still have that goofy smile pasted on your face till someone throws a ‘mundu’ at your face. Want to know what ‘mundu’ is? Watch Jhankaar Beats.

P.S.: This is the first Indian commercial film that shows a blowjob, but don’t think about sex. Please don’t. Enjoy the joy ride with Boss and his cronies.