Janhit Mein Jaari movie review: Sincere but fails to strike the sweet spot between comedy and social messaging

Language: Hindi Ayushmann Khurrana may have moved on to doing serious Anubhav Sinha films and expressing desires to do a bonafide action movie, but there is apparently still a lot of life left in the social comedy genre which marked the actor’s meteoric rise to mainstream success a few years ago. Last month, we had Yash Raj Film’s _Jayeshbhai Jordaar_  which didn’t exactly warm the audience’s heart - and this week sees the release of Janhit Mein Jaari. Directed by debutant Jai Basantu Singh and produced by Raaj Shandilya, who had earlier directed one of the bigger hits in the said genre Dream Girl,  Janhit Mein Jaari carries its preachy, social cause heart on its sleeve. The narrative takes no time in getting to the point as our strong-minded-girl–stuck-in–a-small-town protagonist Manokaamna (Nushrratt Bharuccha) finds herself working at a condom factory, doing a job riddled with stigma, and predominantly associated with men. The film follows Manokaamna’s journey as she battles the societal taboos around condoms.  

The intent is sincere, no doubt. There is a good scene where the idea of condoms as protection is asserted, instead of being used as an accessory for pleasure. The film also takes a fleeting-yet-valiant stand on the subject of abortion. Additionally, the writers manage to weave in a handful of telling jokes that captured the quirky universe of the people the film is built around (like our collective obsession with on–sale products, a peculiarity that is distinctly Indian).   At the same time, the writers also cannot resist catering to the expectations of behaving like a comic film, constantly puncturing even many of its ‘serious’ sequences with tangential one-liners riding on wordplay and puns - this clearly is a screenplay that doesn’t have enough confidence in its sincerity, and the laughter rarely flows organically.

The narrative’s attempts to make a point are affected by its inability to pick a lane - it fails to strike that sweet spot between comedy and issue-tackling.  

In order to stick to the narrative design, where the most dramatic moment arrives at mid-point, the film rushes through the portions where Manokaamna takes the next big step in her life – There is hardly any cat-and-mouse play around Manokaamna’s secret antics before the secrets of her much-stigmatised profession are laid bare in the family courtyard. Instead, the film rather chooses to make space for three half-heartedly executed song montages in a span of 20 minutes, in order to reach the desired moment of confrontation.  

Also, for a film so predominantly clear about dealing with our social issues, the film refuses to talk about the role of male child preference towards the high birthrate, instead choosing the easy route of blaming all the society’s evils on our huge population, which seemingly exists only because people are shy of using condoms. The film also doesn’t adequately explore the taboo or reservations around using condoms either. It treats the arc of everyone having a collective epiphany in a somewhat superficial manner, sticking to the familiar beats that usually occupy a story like this.   On the positive side, Janhit Mein Jaari chooses a woman to tell the story about the plight of women. In Manokaamna, we have an interesting protagonist who doesn’t fall under the stereotypical mold of a morally conscientious woman. She has enough self-respect to refuse a job that doesn’t pay well, has no qualms about her beer-drinking habits, and acknowledges the various barriers a working woman faces in the real world. Bharuccha does well to imbibe the goofball spirit of the comic moments when the film gives her that breathing space. However, after a point, the film gets too preoccupied with capturing the overnight change of heart in people that it forgets to give us a deeper look into the woman who ushered this change.   The film also sets up an interesting ‘hero’ figure in Ranjan (Anud Singh Dhaka) - a beta-male of sorts, unemployed, an ally enough to confront a man who has occupied a ladies’ seat in a bus, and yet not courageous enough to stand up to his conservative father. Sadly, the writers display lethargy in dealing with Ranjan’s character–graph, and it doesn’t help that barring a few moments, Dhaka too is largely charmless and unimpressive.   However, a dearth of acting talent is the least of the problems, for Janhit Mein Jaari. Infact, the biggest tragedy of the film is how it’s populated with so many brilliant performers, and yet is largely clueless about how to capitalise on their presence. Paritosh Tripathi, playing Manokaamna’s BFF Devi, efficiently carries many funny moments in the first half before the writers decide that his character isn’t integral enough to the plot. Tinnu Anand is lost in this chaos, and so is Vijay Raaz whose patriarchal figure is as generic as they come.  However, two of the funniest moments of the film also arrive courtesy of its ensemble cast members. Talvar fame Suman Gulati plays Ranjan’s elder brother Hemant. At one point, Hemant excitedly rips open what he assumes to be a condom pack. His ensuing shock and desperate run to stop the travesty where his grandfather drinks some condom-dipped water is a sight to behold.   And then there is Neha Saraf, playing Rachna, who grabs every little opportunity and helps us with a chuckle. At one point, amidst a tense atmosphere in the house, Rachna keeps fidgeting because she hasn’t eaten anything since morning, to the extent of saying she will happily gobble up the taunts hurled by the elders if they were edible - it’s a silly dialogue, but Saraf makes it works.   These moments of effortless humour are far and few between though, and find themselves mingled in a narrative that is too confused about how much it wants to make us laugh while it informs. There is very little novelty the film offers - both in terms of crafting its narrative or giving us a new insight into a much-discussed issue. In a telling sequence around the end of the second act, Manokaamna delivers a monologue to her colleagues at the condom factory she works at - and yet her language is littered with heavy English phrases and terms. She may be talking to them, but the monologue is addressed to us. At one point later, Bharuccha even breaks the fourth wall. The messaging is as blatant as it comes - some of it works, some doesn’t - and there is only so much praise one can give a movie for its intent.   Overall, Janhit Mein Jaari is a hit-and-miss - watch it at your own risk. Rating: * * 1/2

BH Harsh is a film critic who spends most of his time watching movies and making notes, hoping to create, as Peggy Olsen put it, something of lasting value. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.