Jab Harry Met Sejal
might be the most misunderstood Bollywood film of all time. Critics have called
it an “epic
failure,” and have panned it for being too derivative, for being too light
on plot, for being all flash and no substance.
The critics could not be more wrong.
Ostensibly, Jab Harry
Met Sejal tells the story of a young woman, Sejal (Anushka Sharma), who
loses her engagement ring during a month-long holiday in Europe, and so enlists
the help of her tour guide, Harry (Shah Rukh Khan), to retrace her steps and
relocate the ring. Hijinks ensure, romance blossoms, and Bollywood takes its
usual course.
I say “ostensibly,” because if this is all one manages to
extract from the film – and I suspect most of the critics and a good proportion
of the film’s audience thus far have extracted only that much from the movie – then one has understood almost
nothing about the film. (More on that a little later.)
Here’s how I’d synopsize the plot instead:
Jab Harry Met Sejal
tells the story of a man who believes he is unworthy of love, and so rejects it
whenever it presents itself, and a woman whose only dream in life is to be
desired with raw, real, immutable passion, but who has never met anyone who
felt that way about her. They meet, and instantly fall in love at first sight –
and this is an important element of the plot that none of the film critics have
managed to spot, because there is no slow-motion, spell-it-out-for-you,
melodramatic falling-in-love scene. It happens in the film’s first major scene
of dialogue, and if you’re expecting the typical send of Bollywood sugar, you’ll
miss it. But there it is.
Having instantly fallen in love with each other, Harry and
Sejal proceed to engage in their own respective forms of denial. In Harry’s
case, this means convincing himself that Sejal is only making his life difficult,
ordering him around like a rich, spoiled tourist, foisting her agenda upon him
merely because that’s the kind of person he is: unworthy of better treatment.
(N.B: This is how Harry sees himself.) In Sejal’s case, she convinces herself
that Harry only sees her as a “nice, sweet, sister-type,” someone he would
never desire, much less love. (N.B.: This is how Sejal sees herself.)
From there, scene by scene, Harry and Sejal dare each other
to think otherwise of each other. This plays itself out in subtle ways. When
Harry explains to Sejal that he has a reputation for being a playboy and so she
should hire someone else to take her around Europe, Sejal deliberately draws
the opposite conclusion, and asks Harry if he means that he wants to fool
around with her. A superficial audience will interpret this as the same kind of
aggressive banter that most Bollywood films begin with, but really it’s a dare. She’s daring him to think of her as sexy.
She does it again and again throughout the film, dressing
sexy and following Harry into seedy night clubs in an effort to ignite his
passions. Instead, Harry reacts in a confusing way. Although his character as a
cad is well-established in the film, Harry sees Sejal’s behavior and reacts
protectively, insisting that she keep herself out of trouble and urging her to
stay out of harm’s way. He steps in to save her whenever she needs saving, he’s
always there for her.
And so the film proceeds along these lines. The events in
the story keep upping the ante for the characters. Sejal becomes ever-bolder
with Harry, declaring that he can call her his girlfriend, falling asleep in
his arms, nursing his wounds, following him everywhere. Harry becomes ever
sweeter and more protective of Sejal.
At the apex of every moment, the characters pause to
reflect, revealing the great source of tension and conflict within the film. In
the very moments where other Bollywood movies would have the characters
acknowledge reality and consummate it with a passionate kiss, Harry and Sejal
instead dare each other to say what neither of them is prepared to say. Harry
won’t admit that he’s worthy of Sejal’s love; Sejal won’t admit that she’s
ready to leave her fiancée for Harry. They’ll act on it, they’ll behave
accordingly, but neither one of them will say it, and both of them are waiting
to hear it.
Behind each character’s refusal to acknowledge the reality
of the situation is an important backstory. Harry has a specific reason why he
not only believes he is unworthy of love, but also seemingly unworthy of
putting down roots and building a home. Sejal’s backstory is made less obvious,
but there are hints of it everywhere, especially in light of the fact that her fiancée
called off their wedding after learning that Sejal had lost her ring. This is
no throwaway point to buy the characters some time. Even in Sejal’s “real
world,” those who profess to love her are moved to passion over lost trinkets
and heirlooms, not over Sejal herself. Thus, when NDTV’s
Saibal Chatterjee asks, “The screenplay would have us believe that she is a
confident, no-nonsense girl who knows exactly where to draw the line. Why,
then, is she in constant need of endorsement, of being told that she is worth
lusting for?” he’s simply overlooked the information contained in the movie’s
dialogue.
The film is masterfully written and executed, and every
moment within the film’s two and a half hours is dedicated to exploring the
theme of Harry, who believes himself unlovable, and Sejal, who believes herself
unable to inspire passion. Later in the film, we meet Gas, a purveyor of fake
rings, and Natassja, a purveyor of fake lust, whose relationship reflects Harry
and Sejal in reverse-image. One reviewer asks why these characters were
included. Indeed, why?
To be sure, filmgoers who expect a lot of action, slow
motion camera work, and plots that unfold through action sequences rather than
dialogue, are sure to be disappointed by Jab
Harry Met Sejal. This is a deeply introspective movie about thoughts and
feelings. One has to pay attention to the dialogue. Among a filmgoing audience
that so often prefers the likes of Chennai
Express, Sultan, and Ek Tha Tiger, it is no surprise that a soft-hearted and introverted film like Jab
Harry Met Sejal would win few converts on opening weekend.
Perhaps this is why Shah
Rukh Khan was quoted as saying, “It’s a new trick. Maybe just the newness
of it is going to take some time for people to understand the magic of the
film.”
The new trick is depth. For the first time in a long time I’ve
found a movie that is capable of expressing a pure artistic idea, minute by
minute, across an entire film. Imtiaz Ali has compromised nothing in his vision
with this film. Not a moment is wasted, not a line of dialogue is extraneous,
every facial expression and gesture from the actors serves the underlying story
of a man who finds his home again and a woman who finds her passion.
No, this is not a story about a lost ring and a trip through
Europe. This is a story of two wounded people finding their soul mates in spite
of themselves. I loved it. I loved every second of it.
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