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 Cast: Imran Khan, Genelia D’ Souza, Manjari Phadnis, Ayaz Khan, Nirav Mehta, Sughandha Garg, Karan Makhija, Alishka Varde, Renuka Kunzru, Prateik Babbar, Anooradha Patel, Jayant Kriplani, Ratna Pathak Shah, Naseerudin Shah

Director: Abbas Tyrewala

Jai and Aditi are inseparable college chums. They hang out with their gang. Crack ghastly jokes. Sing songs very badly. But love, naah. That’s not they’re about. Or are they?

In his sparkling debut feature, Abbas Tyrewala has his lead pair slapping backs rather than kissing cheeks, but he knows and we know that that’s where ‘Jaane Tu.. Ya Jaane Na’ is headed, even before its starts. The journey is cleverly-written, smartly-acted, and packed with enough fuzzy-frothy moments to make it a fun run.

Part of the film’s appeal, which sets out to charm your socks off from the opening frame, is its acutely-observed characters. Jai Singh Rathore aka Rats (Imran) is a pacifist Rajput, because dissembling mum (Ratna Pathak Shah) wants it to be so. He smooth talks Aditi (Genelia), who goes by the name of Meow, into not scratching and hissing whenever she feels like it, which is a lot of the time.

Rats and Meow, chalk and cheese, geddit? While opposites are attracting away, we are given the gang—Rotlu, Bombs, Shaleen and Jiggy, shortened from Jignesh, minus the ‘h’, doing the young college thing. It’s the kind of group the film’s target audience knows intimately, because that’s how they are, too. There’s always one guy who can’t dance ; there’s always another who’s sweet on someone who has no idea; and there’s always, always a sweet dimwit, who needs everything explained.

But the film’s real discovery, apart from scriptwriter Tyrewala finally finding his celluloid voice, is its hero, Imran Khan, producer Aamir Khan’s nephew. He connects with his character, never straying from it, with a style all his own, reminding you of the young Aamir only in flashes. Sometimes Genelia gets too pesky-perky for her own good, but the rest of the time, she’s sweetly on track. The gang’s fine too, especially the guy who’s losing his hair already, and whose heart goes pitter patter at the sight of the oblivious Meow. And a special mention for Prateik Babbar, Smita Patil and Raj Babbar’s son, who stands out from the rest, in a small, but well-etched part.

Towards the end , the movie starts feeling stretched (dad Naseer’s delightful cameo overseeing his son changing from boy to man), and some of the side stories are a little contrived (Jai discovering long-lost Rathore cousins from Ranchor ), but Tyrewala manages to get things back on track just when you start drumming your fingers. The music matches the tone of the movie — it’s peppy, preppy, beat-y; A R Rahman at his best. So do the lines. At the end of college, Aditi says to Ratna Pathak Shah, who plays Imran’s mom with wry panache: Aunty, pata nahin yeh paanch saal kahaan gaye. Says Ms Shah: Phone pe, beta, phone pe.

Now give me one college kid who won’t twig on to that one. ‘Jaane Tu.. looks all set to be the young love story of the year.

shubhra.gupta@gmail.com