Na human knows na God Knows...then who knows!. Review on Na Tum Jano Na Hum

What would you say if all your expectations were mercilessly shattered? Well, Na Tum Jaano Na Hum! A fresh breath of invigorating breeze is one of the most awaited aspects during the climax of this massive disappointer. Armed with great saleable products in the name of super star Hrithik Roshan, extremely talented Esha Deol, ace performer Saif Ali Khan and noted music director Rajesh Roshan, NTJNH had huge promises before its release. Now, one gets the feeling that it would have done more justice to the already stirred up viewer had it been concealed in the unexplored dungeons of the film industry. Here’s another non-performer for Hrithik that fails to even keep the audience in their seats till it’s all over. Bad Luck for Esha Deol too, but either ways, a better flick than her previous debut disaster. This movie could have done her more good as a launch pad. As for Saif and the rest of the cast, the lesser said the better.

The film is about a young girl Esha (Deol) and her dreams that come true. Esha has just finished her studies at a college in Simla and has returned to her grandparents’ at Dehradun. Theirs is a typical Indian (strictly on-screen) happy family with Grandpa (Alok Nath), Grandma, Aunt (Rati Agnihotri) and three younger sisters. The family is back again a whole after a long time and every member seems to savor this aspect to the core. The plot unfolds with Esha’s sisters talking about guys, love and dating. Soon it is revealed that Esha doesn’t speak to guys and has no love interest in flesh and blood; but yes, she does dream of her Mr. Right who’s as dreamy as herself. Enter…our dream boy Rahul (Hrithik). The couple comes to know of each other via a radio programme. They discover that their likes match a lot and hence strike an instant chord. They fix-up for a meeting but Esha bails out at the last moment as she thinks it not right to meet a stranger before knowing him well enough…it’s all about culture, you see! However, they keep in touch thru’ letters (in this age of the internet) via their respective post boxes and decide to keep their respective identities in the dark till it’s show time. With this love story brewing up in the background we have Akshay (Saif) chilling out with all the happening babes in town. Akshay and Rahul are childhood friends (make that best friends) who live in the same house, eat the same food and have been doing everything together (???) since their early days. While Rahul is stable and responsible, Akshay is highly flexible, flirtatious and fun loving, whose sole interest in life is to love and flee away before falling into the trap of a commitment. The problem however begins when Akshay’s parents want him to tie the knot. This is like committing suicide for Akshay who flatly refuses to budge from his gracious world. Finally he agrees to tie the knot with a girl selected by his parents only if Rahul approves of her. Esha’s grandpa owns a huge mall (Pantaloons of course) and entrusts upon the mall’s advertising to our young heroine. Esha wants to do a creative shoot at the mall and resultantly bumps into Rahul, a famed photographer from Mumbai.

After initially refusing the offer, Rahul finally makes up his mind to take Esha’s offer. During their whole process of shooting the video, Rahul and Esha come considerably close but yet not in love. Just when you think you’ve guessed the end, comes an unexpected twist. Esha discovers that Rahul is not her friend as she thinks, but is on a visit to her place so that he can judge if she’s the right kinda girl for Akshay…Yes, Esha is indeed the girl whom Akshay’s parents and Esha’s aunt have wanted to get married. To make things worse, Akshay who has been a hard-core ladies’ man so far turns completely innocent and falls head long in love (or so he feels) with Esha. He agrees for the marriage and also proposes marriage to her. But our lady has already given her heart to the guy in the Post box, who still remains a stranger. caught up between Akshay’s continual pursuing and her family’s subtle demand, Esha tries hard to establish contact with her untraceable love interest. She even rushes to the post offices to find out the owner of that much sought after post box, but in vain.

On the other side, Rahul discovers that it is indeed Esha who is the girl he has been writing to. He is equally in love with her as is she, but sacrifices his love (as usual) for his beat friend Akshay. Akshay seems to have taken Esha too seriously and this has helped him become the man he has never been able to become. Rahul realizes that Akshay cannot live without Esha and decides to get out of their way. He flies to Canada to his parents’. Cut to after 4 years…Akshay is happily married to one of his ex’s and has a son named Rahul. He accidentally bumps into Rahul at a shopping mall in Canada and reveals that Esha is still waiting for her pen pal. That’s it! Our hero boards the first flight to India to fulfill his long dumped love interest. Both Esha and Rahul meet up and live happily ever after. Performance wise, Hrithik is the sole shining star. Esha has much to learn and Saif is more than clichéd. Rati Agnihotri and Maushmi Chatterjee have been greatly wasted. Alok Nath as Esha's grandpa and Anang Desai as Akshay's papa have done as required. While the film has all the necessary ingredients that make a hit much credit of its dismal performance can be accorded to the sloppy script. A story and a script are things one must not even have at the back of the head before watching this drag devil. Overall... another sordid disappointer, accept for Hrithik Roshan.

On the greener side, one can look out for some laugh riot comedy during the first half, but that's about it. And yes, can somebody tell the director that we are living in the age of the Internet... Post Boxes are things that even Napoleon would not give a thought to. Technically, there's nothing exciting about Pantaloon's maiden presentation. Direction by Arjun Sablok is poorly slack. He has been assisting many established directors on his way up the ladder and clearly seems to have tried-in a hodge-podge of all the styles. He desperately needs to break free from the inspirations and styles of the people he has been assisted in the past. He can surely dole out a better menu if he trusts his own directorial abilities. Rajesh Roshan's much hyped-up score is greatly disappointing although Hariharan has done a neat job…as usual. Rajesh Roshan needs to desperately free himself of the KNPH hangover and begin composing what he actually can. Anand Bakshi's lyrics are passé.