Jaane Jaan review: Kareena Kapoor Khan OTT debut keeps your eyes and brain engaged throughout

Jaane Jaan movie review

Jaane Jaan sees the known name in Indian suspense mystery - Sujoy Ghosh adapting the famous Japanese novel “The Devotion of Suspect X’ by Keigo Higashino into a film with dialogues by Raj Vasant.

Keigo Higashino is the force behind the Drishyam revolution in Indian mainstream mystery suspense cinema. Drishyam made in multiple languages in India that starred names like Mohanlal to Kamal Hassan to Ajay Devgn to Venkatesh just to name a few was loosely inspired form the ‘The Devotion of Suspect X’   idea of the culprit successfully wiping off all the clues of the murder and winning in a mind game with the cops.

For me the influence of Akira Kurosava’s Roshomon is also seen in Drishyam maybe the classic masterpiece by the father of Asian cinema Kurosava’s Roshomon have inspired the Japanese mystery genius.

Coming back to Jaane Jaan – Sujoy Ghosh succeeds in delivering an effective, tightly structured Indian take on the material, though he falls short of the sensitivity of his own Badla (another adaptation starring Amitabh Bachchan and Tapsee Pannu) and Kahaani (Vidya Balan).

Interestingly like in Drishyam series, Jaane Jaan is not a whodunit, its more about how it has been ‘undone’. As we all know what has happened between Maya D'Souza (Kareena Kapoor Khan) and her stalker husband played by Saurabh Sachdeva.

Staying true to the book, Sujoy Ghosh maintains the mystical odd shyness of the neighbour the secret admirer of the teacher played by Jaideep Ahlawat intact throughout.

The old friendship between the teacher and the investigating officer played by Vijay Varma an absorbing cat and mouse game.

However, on the emotional front, teacher’s love is established but what seems to be a disturbed and violent past of Maya is not constructed to the fullest.

The climax is surprising and may have invite different opinions and debates.

Avik Mukhopadhyay’s cinematography captures the mystic beauty of Kalimpong and the atmosphere is finely set with Urvashi Saxena’s sharp editing and Shor Police background score. The use of Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s iconic numbers gives it a retro feel.

Performance

Kareena Kapoor Khan as Maya D'Souza excels and gives an intense, loveable performance.  

Jaideep Ahlawat as Naren is outstanding. He holds the key to the entire mystery.

Vijay Varma as Inspector Karan Anand is fantastic.

Saurabh Sachdeva as Maya’s husband is fabulous.

Naisha Khanna as Tara D'Souza leaves her mark.

Final words

Jaane Jaan is an absorbing psychological mystery thriller having riveting performance and enough material to keep both your eyes and brain engaged.