Jaane Jaan Movie Review: Emotions like love and infatuation know no bounds. One can feel these emotions for anything they deem special, be it a person or a tangible object. Lifetimes have been devoted towards achieving an object of desire. People who are obsessed in their love towards things often feel alienated because of their desires. It becomes quite difficult to remove oneself from that world of desire. 

In this write-up, let’s take a look at how a math prodigy’s love for the subject and a woman drove him to take a drastic step. I am talking about “Jaane Jaan” on Netflix. The movie is the official Hindi adaptation of the hit Japanese thriller novel “The Devotion of Suspect X” by Higashino Keigo. Jaane Jaan was released on September 21, which also happens to be the leading lady Kareena Kapoor Khan’s birthday. This movie also marks Kareena Kapoor Khan’s debut on the OTT platform. Let’s dive into Jaane Jaan movie review.

Jaane Jaan Movie Trailer

Jaane Jaan Movie Summary – Jaane Jaan Movie Plot

Kareena Kapoor Khan is Maya (Soniya) D’souza, a single mother who lives with her teenage daughter Tara and runs a bakery in Kalimpong. Jaydeep Ahlawat is Naren Vyas, aka Teacher is their neighbour and secretly enamoured by Maya. One day, Naren had decided to take is own life after he found out that the puzzle he had been trying to solve for the past ten years was solved by someone else just a couple of days ago. Maya unexpectedly knocks on his door and unknowingly gives Naren a will to live. Naren becomes enamored by Maya. He begins to keep a secretive tab on her and Tara. 

When Maya’s estranged husband Ajit Mhatre arrives in Kalimpong, threatening Maya, she kills him in a scuffle. Naren volunteers to help Maya out of this mess, and takes the matter in his own hands. Naren’s sharp wit is met head to head with that of Vijay Varma’s Karan, the inspector from Mumbai who is assigned Ajit’s case. Ajit was a notorious detective, known to dip his toes in all things illegal. Upon Ajit’s disappearance, Karan begins the investigation and finds Maya as the main suspect. What follows after forms the main crux of the story. Watch Jaane Jaan on Netflix to find out what happens next!

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Jaane Jaan Movie Review – Is Jaane Jaan worth watching?

Since “Jaane Jaan” is an official adaptation of the novel, it follows the story almost to the T. While the novel ends with the female protagonist confessing to her crime, in the movie we do not see that happening. After Naren confesses to the crime, he asks Maya to not divulge any information. The movie is just under two hours and artfully captures the pivotal points from the novel. Owing to the cold and dark landscape of Kalimpong, most scenes that happen outside sport darker frames, sometimes making it difficult to focus as well. The only brightly-lit scenes are those from Maya’s home. Each element is clearly visible in the house. 

It won’t be wrong to say that this dual tone reflects the story told by the characters. When in light, the story of Ajit’s disappearance is quite clear, but when in the dark, the story is shrouded in uncertainty and doubt. Just like the light that clears the vision and the dark that distorts it. 

The first 30-ish minutes of the movie present a delightful start to the characters and their backstories. Naren and Maya have one sighting each about a possible future consequence, but those are neither later explored or explained. One would hope that those sightings would add to the mystery of an unsolvable murder case, but those remain to be a ‘blink and you miss’ scenario. 

Not going to lie, despite not having read the novel, the movie seemed fairly predictable from the get go. With some scenes giving a deja vu of past popular thrillers, to round and round investigation around Ajit’s murder – this Sujoy Ghosh directorial fades in comparison to the director’s prior works. There are moments where you feel something might just come and surprise you, but that sadly is not the case. The title of the film is also a good word play on the retro hit song “Jaane Jaan”. One would think that the song might play a pivotal role in the story, but it just becomes a guest for a few minutes at a karaoke bar. 

One would have expected Maya’s character to be much more challenging and intricately put together, but she just ends up being a puppet on Naren’s strings. She does what she is told, without putting much thought on her own. Naren, well, say out of sheer innocence, he had the chance to take advantage of Maya’s situation but he did not. Karan’s character had the chance to go out of the way and stick to investigating Ajit’s past, but in the end, he simply wraps up the murder investigation and heads back home. 

Having followed the novel, the movie stayed true to the parent story. The novel was also written almost two decades ago. The thriller genre has quite evolved since then. The makers had the chance to play off of Naren’s character and show him going into a spiral, or show Maya’s character stepping away from the chalked plan and trying things on her own.

It would have been great fun to watch Karan and Naren outwitting each other at every step, instead of a five-minute rundown at the dojo. The angle of ‘Suspect X’ was interestingly carved out (Who else smiled a little at the not-so-subtle nod to the novel’s title?) . The math equation angle to a carefully planned murder cleanup was definitely a highlight of the movie.

Ajit’s character comes across just like a catalyst to explore the dynamic of Naren and his emotions towards Maya. Even in the novel, we see this character appearing briefly, without much preamble and disappearing equally quickly without much consequence. One can argue there Ajit’s character was a lost potential plot point. His character was introduced as the main lead to an illegal gang operation, but his death put a full stop on the investigation for that case. 

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But when it comes to the individual characters, each lead delivered a great performance. Jaydeep Ahlawat whom we have seen portray varied roles across OTT platforms, was definitely a delight to see on screen. Naren is different in his looks, in regards to his mindset, and his overall approach. Jaydeep Ahlawat brought out the intricacies quite well. Those smirks when he felt he would be outwitted but wasn’t, and those moments of self-assurance when he knew his calculations worked – these were quite notable to watch. Vijay Varma as Karan was another surprise. His portrayal of a smart and hard as nail detective was quite interesting to see. 

Lastly, coming to the leading lady Kareena Kapoor Khan. A lot of focus was centered on her since it was her OTT platform debut and an on-screen appearance after quite some time. Kareena’s portrayal of Maya fit the bill of a woman trying to make ends meet and escape her past, all the while securing a steady lifestyle with her daughter.

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