‘Jai Ho’: Critics review round-up of Salman Khan’s new endeavor
Salman Khan’s Jai Ho opens to mixed reviews.
“Jai Ho” is the first mega release of 2014 featuring the Bollywood superstar, Salman Khan, who makes an appearance on the big screen after a gap of a year. Directed and produced by Sohail Khan, “Jai Ho” stars Salman Khan and newcomer Daisy Shah and is a remake of 2006-Telugu film “Stalin” starring Chiranjeevi.
After delivering blockbusters like “Wanted”, “Dabangg”, “Ready” and “Ek Tha Tiger,” among others, all eyes are on Salman Khan’s new endeavor that showcases the 48-year-old in a new Pay-It-Forward theme – something similar to, “Never underestimate the power of a common man!” Sounds familiar?
So, did the entertainer with the message hit a chord with the critics? Here is a quick round-up of some of the prominent ones:
“There is absolutely nothing uncommon about Jai Ho. It is strictly hackneyed fare about a wronged man who goes berserk in his mission to rid his own life – and that of the nation – of a very powerful tormentor.Never underestimate the power of the common man, SRK had grandly told us and his adversaries in Chennai Express last year. It is now Salman Khan’s turn to warn the world of the grave perils of needling the common man.
Should we say jai ho to that? We might have felt inclined to lend our voices to that cry of jubilation if only the film had a little more to offer by way of common sense.
Jai Ho is a sluggish film with a preponderance of action sequences thrown in at regular intervals. It also has a painfully pedestrian romantic track (involving a girl whose unmentionables form an integral part of the storyline). It is lost in a maze of insipidly mounted song-and-dance set pieces.
The aam aadmi is the flavour of the season all right, and one might argue that there is no harm in seeking to derive box office mileage out of it. But a superstar vehicle that runs on a single wheel – even if that wheel happens to be box office dynamo Salman Khan – cannot go very far.” – Saibal Chatterjee, NDTV
“With ‘Jai Ho’, Salman Khan has been able to deliver one of the best performances of his career and convey a very simple yet a strong message through this highly entertaining movie. Unlike Salman’s previous films, ‘Jai Ho’ isn’t a typical masala movie. However, Sohail does take cinematic liberty here and there, which in a way, can be brushed aside, considering the main theme of the film.” – Gayatri Sankar, Zee
“You wouldn’t go in looking for logic anyway, nor for the naive aam aadmi message being hawked. It’s quite a dumb aadmi party that goes on. Jai Ho clicks for you only if you are a die-hard Salman fan. If that works, be happy and bajaao seeti.” – Vinayak Chakravorty, India Today
“The lack of novelty, intelligence and cinematic artistry is not as much a criticism of Jai Ho as much as its lack of entertainment value. Most the comedy of Jai Ho is a humour-impaired tragedy. Here we have jokes about women’s underwear, horny neighbourhood MILFs and the usage of the Gujarati word ‘Gando’ because it sounds like a certain Hindi expletive. Not to blame the audience, but if you find these ‘jokes’ hilarious, you should see a neurosurgeon and ask about getting a brain.” – Mihir Fadnavis, First Post
“Salman Khan’s box-office draw is indisputable but you can’t circumvent every rule in the book and hope to just ride on star power. The least expectation from a Salman film is that despite it’s complete disregard for logic, it will succeed in entertaining but ‘Jai Ho’ fails even on that account.” – Rummana Ahmed, Yahoo! India
“On the whole, a noble, well-intentioned message narrated in an entertaining format in a Salman Khan movie, who, as we all know by now, is the much endeared hero of the masses, makes JAI HO a sure-shot winner. In fact, it won’t be wrong to state that JAI HO easily ranks amongst Salman’s better films. This one has the potential to emerge a Blockbuster at the box-office. ” – Taran Adarsh, Bollywood Hungama
Still intrigued? Catch Salman Khan’s “Jai Ho” in a theater near you.
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