Jai Ho
This is a movie with a social message that doesn't rely on
stylized preaching to make a point. The story thrives on believable characters
and situations interwoven in the framework that is this film.
The story is about ex-army officer Jai Agnihotri (Salman Khan)
who has dedicated his life to helping the people. His ideology is to help
people and then ask them to help others in return, thus creating a chain of
helpful and good people.
This could have easily been one of those movies where the moment
the protagonist delivers his ideas, people change instantly. What is good about
this movie that it tries to be realistic in its approach to deliver a message.
Jai helps people in situations that haven't been tackles
before in movies. There's a woman who is being harassed by an unknown caller, a
beggar steals a couple's baby, an aggrieved brother tries to unsuccessfully
lodge a complaint against the minister's daughter....
All these and more are incidents that Jai helps people with.
All he asks for in return is that if they ever get a chance, they return the
favor why helping people as well. His Mother warns him to not get disillusioned
if his ideology doesn't bring a change in people and when Jai goes to the
people he helped and finds out that his Mother was indeed right, he is
disappointed but not disillusioned.
The movie is a cluster of incidents strung together so if I
had to point out a flaw, it would be that as the interval is brought in, it
didn't leave me excited to know what was going to happen. The movie might as
well have ended then and there.
The second half is more about the reaction of what happens
when Jai helps people. His own family is put in harm's way at his sister's
(Tabu) behest; he even agrees to apologize for beating up the minister's goon
while being repeatedly humiliated by them.
Eventually the sister realizes that she rather fight against
injustice rather than give in to fear and what proceeds in an elaborate action
sequence. Oh yes, the action sequences of the movie are thrilling and in one of
the end fights, Salman even removes his shirt.
Coming back to the movie, the story ends with Jai being
pleased that people did help others and his chain did work and influence some
people to change their ways. That was a satisfactory ending even though not
handled realistically. For example, the captain of the army brings in a horde
of his men and a tank (Yes, a tank!) to help Jai escape.
Nevertheless, it was- on a whole- an enjoyable movie that
made me want to think about bringing about a change as well. One part that
particularly stood out was Genelia's role and story. Playing as Suman- the
handicapped girl- I couldn't help but think how one moment can change a person.
She was confident and smart and could have been someone
despite her disability. Yet when she couldn't find anyone to write her exam
paper for and had to plead strangers to help her only to be refused repeatedly,
she is suddenly aware she is disabled and helpless and it literally kills her.
That moment in the story was poignant and stuck with me
after the movie was over. That was also the one time Jai couldn't help her even
though he was right there. Kudos to Genelia for pulling off such a challenging
role, so effortlessly.
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