Ram Jaane [1995]

As a child this was one of the films I used to watch most often, because it starred two of my favourite actors [Shah Rukh and Juhi]. However, as years went on I began to, in a sense, forget about it. The last time I saw the film properly was probably a good 10 years ago! So the other night I decided to give it a watch, for old-times sake, even though I didn’t remember much about it and most people I know bash the film quite a bit.

Did the film disappoint me? Hell no! It’s a fantastic movie and I consider it to be a golden piece in my DVD collection. The story is fabulous and the characterizations are brilliant (primarily the one of Ram Jaane himself). Running to a screenplay of approximately 2 hours 20 minutes, the screenplay of the film is quite good and surprisingly the film didn’t drag at any point.

The music by Anu Malik is superb and each song is catchy! The lyrics are quite tacky, with song titles like “Phaink hawa mein ek chumma tum catch karlo”, “Bum chiki chiki bum”, “Pehla love song” and “Pump up the Bhangra”, but I guess that’s just how the majority of soundtracks during that time were! Also, keeping in mind the area the film is set in and the kind of characters we follow in it, these tacky lyrics actually match pretty well!

The highlight of the film is undoubtedly the performance delivered by Shah Rukh Khan. I really don’t think myself worthy enough to attempt to review performances by the man I consider to be the best actor in the entire world. No amount of words can do justice to his brilliance in most films, and this is no different. He slips into the role of Ram Jaane as a hand does into a glove! His facial expressions and body language deserve a 10/10 as always, but what really catches the viewers attention, with the performance he gives us here, is his mind-blowing dialogue delivery! It goes without saying that this film is his show the entire way. I am really glad he won an award [at the Screen awards] recognising his brilliant in this performance – extremely deserving!

All the other actors do complete justice to their roles. Pankaj Kapoor is a scene-stealer!! His performance is outstanding as ‘technicolour’! Puneet Issar tended to go slightly over-board in some portions, but did a good job nonetheless.

Vivek Mushran is good, though I found his facial expressions slightly irritating at times. Juhi Chawla looks and performs very cutely. Gulshan Grover did very well.

Overall, the film really surpassed what I remembered of it. It’s very entertaining and Shah Rukh’s performance makes it so worth buying… a must watch for all Shah Rukh fans!