Movie Review: Jug Jugg Jeeyo

Rating: 3 of 5

Star Cast: Varun Dhawan, Kiara Advani, Anil Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor, Maniesh Paul, Prajakta Koli, Tisca Chopra

Director: Raj Metha

Though this revives the genre of ‘dramedy’ in Bollywood, the proportion of humour & drama is something Mehta had nailed with his debut film Good Newwz. Here, he turns a little more towards the sentimental connection creating resistance from getting completely intrigued in watching the film. The parameter to judge any family entertainer for me is either to be so good at comedy that the laughs make your stomach ache (Good Newwz, Do Dooni Chaar), or the drama is so good that it makes your heart ache (Kapoor & Sons, Dear Zindagi).

Varun Dhawan looks like straight out of ‘Dulhania’ franchise but less funny & more serious. To be fair, he does get a character that has to handle many different moods at the same time & Varun surely excels at doing almost all of it. He shows how switching from drama to comedy within one scene could seem easy but it surely isn’t.

Thankfully Kiara Advani gets some meat after playing a flowerpot heroine in almost all of her projects. She owns an outburst scene which is very similar to what Kareena Kapoor Khan had in Good Newwz. Yes, there’s no comparison but Kiara manages to handle her calm in the said scene portraying the depth she can go to if required.

Anil Kapoor is best when he’s being Anil Kapoor on screen, a character who never plays his age & those are the moments bringing out the gold in him. Kapoor in Drama still feels like he’s going to crack a bad-dad joke any time soon. Neetu Kapoor is extremely subtle & gets the work done of an extremely typical Indian wife while trying to bust some stereotypes because it would’ve been ‘too typical’ otherwise.

Maniesh Paul reminds you of Govinda throughout the film & which could be really dangerous for any actor because no one could match that bar as of now. Maniesh, after Anil Kapoor, gets the most ‘kaamedy’ lines & he delivers it with utmost dumbness as required. Prajakta Koli is natural but you don’t cast her & not let her do what she’s best at i.e. making people laugh.

Raj Mehta has tried to mash two films into one which has helped & cannibalized the story at the same time. It gives you a whole load of content to wrap your head around, but then most of it is rushed because of duration control. In other simple words, the film won’t bore you but it won’t either make you go ROFL making you watch it again. It plays fun with the serious topic of divorce without going into its authentic complications for a reason because then people would’ve called it preachy.

JugJugg Jeeyo delivers what it promises – harmless fun while being a family entertainer.