More than the killer, it is fun to catch the themes that are hiding in plain sight in a murder mystery. Bong Joon Ho’s masterpiece Memories of Murder (2003) is not only about the motivations of a repressed serial killer, but also sheds light on the apathetic policing structure of South Korea. Knives Out: Glass Onion (2022) is as much a capitalism critique as it is a whodunit. Seven (1995) while being an investigation procedural, delves into the depth of man’s capacity for evil. Last month, before the release of Jaane Jaan, its director Sujoy Ghosh thanked writer Kiego Higashino for letting him adapt his bestseller The Devotion of Suspect X into a film. What caught my eye was how Ghosh described the book after, “Have you read? read. read. best love story ever.” It was evident what the director was interested in and that’s what I went looking for in the Netflix film. The love story between a genius maths teacher, insecure about his looks, and a damsel in distress. Let’s just say what I got was less killing and even less loving.
A balding, blemish-faced Jaideep Ahlawat plays Naren Vyas, a loner math teacher at a school in West Bengal’s Kalimpong. He must be a genius as evidenced by the books and papers scattered in his room. If you still have doubts, he plays chess with himself. Naren drops his eyes in front of his neighbour, Maya D’Souza (Kareena Kapoor Khan), a single mother who works at a local food joint. Her little world is turned upside down when her ex-husband, Ajit (OTT omnipresent Saurabh Sachdeva), a cop, comes knocking for money. It doesn’t end well and Maya strangles Ajit to death. Naren steps up to help, scribbles some math formulae on the wall (won’t that be evidence?) and ultimately disposes of the body. Handling the case is Karan Anand (an easygoing Vijay Varma), who was college mates with Naren. “Bro, what are the chances?” he exclaims when he meets him.
Casting FTII batchmates Ahlawat and Varma works in favour of Jaane Jaan. In certain scenes their cheeky camaraderie is visible. They shine as individual performers too. Five years back, Varma would have played Naren, the lovelorn genius but now, as the investigating cop, he adds a fresh ease to the character. In a funny scene, he even ridicules the creepy image his previous roles have made him infamous for. He peeps at Kareena’s Maya as she changes clothes, before shutting the door softly. Then he taps himself on the head and says, “Sudhar ja (Grow up).”
The one whose performance towers above the film is Ahlawat. He emotes enough with just a twitch of his lips and deftly plays a sociopath in love. The writing, however, lets him down at times but Ahlawat somehow still manages to level the material. Being marketed as Kareena Kapoor’s OTT debut, the actor’s performance in the film remains mostly serviceable. She fits well but doesn’t stand out and her jittery expressions felt tiring after a while.
Jaane Jaan is a performance vehicle unsure of the route it’s taking. It had more potential of being a moody drama than a fast-paced thriller. The setting of a misty Kalimpong could have been instrumental but Sujoy Ghosh’s direction doesn’t interact with its surroundings. The three lead characters are immigrants and the film lacks a sense of rootedness. Moreover, the love story Ghosh hinted at is as hazy as the hills of Kalimpong. The spark is there but it gets extinguished in the whirlwind of a pacing plot. Sometimes in the horde to weave a brainy plot we omit what is in plain sight. The beauty of a love story.
Director: Sujoy Ghosh Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Jaideep Ahlawat, Vijay Varma, Saurabh Sachdeva Streaming on: Netflix
