Anjaana Anjaani (2010)

People are voting emotionally.

Good movie but grossly overrated

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Bollywood movies never seem to get the New York aesthetic right and as resident Newyorker, it's offensive to see each time. When will they learn that you can't walk across a south street seaport street onto a street in Queens? An NYPD officer/coast guard officer will never drive up to you and warn you to get off a bridge after a failed suicide attempt. The water in the East/Hudson River is neither clear nor clean. If you enter either river on January 1st (the height of a brutal NY winter) and do not exit within the five minutes, you're as good as dead. I mean, I could go on but let's get past that.The story is very simple, boy meets girl when boy has reached a breaking point in his life and vice versa. After a failed dual suicide attempt, the both decide to live it up for twenty days after which they'll try again to commit suicide. If you take away the whole issue of suicide, this movie is essentially a more dramatic version of the Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor film 'Jab we met'. Ranbir Kapoor (Akash) continues to shine as a fantastic actor among his mediocre peers and his strong presence as a leading man forces the normally lukewarm Priyanka Chopra (Kiara) to step out of her comfort zone. Their chemistry is undeniable. Blink and you'll miss Zayed Khan in a flashback cameo role. It was an okay watch, lots of songs and strong performance by Ranbir Kapoor. Kiara's apartment in NYC (also Hilary Swank's character's apartment in 'The Resident') as well as her car nicknamed 'blush' deserve special props as well-used props.

A Bollywood movie revolving around only two major characters with its major scenes emphasizing only on their verbal conversations was surely a brave subject to choose for the director Siddharth Anand. But sadly this time too, he follows his same old path of inspired themes and copied scenes and comes out with a film which is tailor made only for the multiplex and college going audience.Right from the release of its first look, the film gave out few negative signals as its initial poster was straight away a copy of "An Education" (2009) with the genders changed, which was later pulled off due to its criticism. And today on its release, when the movie started on the screen, it's very first scene was exactly a copy of the French movie "Girl on the Bridge" (1999) with again the genders changed. The moment I saw this exactly similar execution of the scene as in the French film, my whole excitement to watch ANJAANA ANJAANI vanished into the thin air and I simply felt like cheated.I agree 90% of the audience would surely be not aware of this truth and neither would they be interested in knowing about it. But it does affect my watching experience of a movie when I see an entire sequence simply lifted from another source of World Cinema, without any kind of courtesy note or acknowledgment. So for me, ANJAANA ANJAANI failed from that very moment and it is simply made on the same formula of Siddharth Anand, which more or less remains dependent on ingredients taken from its VARIOUS SORUCES. Though after its opening lifted scene, the film moves on to different path talking about the relationship between the lead pair. But undeniably its main subject and theme is quite close to the original "Girl On The Bridge" on the whole (with also a reference to "The Bucket List").Moving ahead of this inspirational angle, ANJAANA ANJAANI does try to incorporate something fresh on the screen, with only the two lead characters in its script till the end. But the problem is that along with its novel theme, the director still keeps clinging to the ages old love formulas of Hindi Cinema, wherein the realization of true love comes towards the climax and the movie ends as usual with a rushing airport sequence. Now this raises a logical question that if we are intelligent enough to get inspired from such beautiful masterpieces made in the other parts of the world, then why we keep on adding our own rotten and overused formulas into it which totally ruin an otherwise good project in the end. The process simply takes away the beauty of the subject and results in a poor project in comparison to its worth watching original.On a positive note, ANJAANA ANJAANI has surely got some original entertaining moments showcasing few bold discussions going on between the couple. But these moments are not consistent throughout the movie and there are several dull moments too which spoil the spirit of the movie as a whole. The second half is a bit lengthy and should have been edited severely to leave a more solid impact on the viewers.Musically, the film has only two tracks which score above the rest and as I felt the background music was more enjoyable then the whole soundtrack. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's song has now become a must for every good budget movie irrespective of the fact that whether his voice suits on any character in the film or not. But still he somehow manages to score in his most of the tracks, which is remarkable as an artist. Cinematography is one of those rare aces in the movie along with its eye catching costume designing.Collectively, ANJAANA ANJAANI can only be watched for Priyanka and Ranbir alone as they remain the soul of the film, with their brilliant, realistic performances of the Losers. The first half certainly is more entertaining than the second having the few worth watching moments for the youth. Both Priyanka and Ranbir once again prove their mettle with this movie and confidently declare that they can easily carry off a project on their shoulders alone without the help of any major supporting cast. But in absence of an adequate, strong and emotional script, their performances unfortunately just remain floating on the surface. As a surprise package, Zyed Khan is also there acting seriously in some scenes along with Priyanka.However, the film once again made me think that when the directors choose an inspired subject for their films or when they shoot an exactly similar sequence, secretly taken from another source, then do they inform this truth to their leading stars or they keep them in dark forever?Anyway, ANJAANA ANJAANI couldn't impress me a lot as it was not based on an original thought and lacked a fine execution but you may like it if you are a fan of Priyanka and Ranbir.

The real stars that made this movie are the beasts on the #1 rugby team in America, San Francisco Golden Gate RUGBY. Ignore those hajjis, USA ALL DAY. The dude in the black beanie knows what's upAnjaana Anjaani (Hindi: अनजाना अनजानी, Anjānā Anjānī ?) is a Hindi film directed by Siddharth Anand, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Zayed Khan. The film is produced by Sajid Nadiadwala under his Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment Pvt. Ltd banner and Sharan Kapoor under his IBC Motion Pictures banner. The film's music has been composed by Vishal- Shekhar, who have composed the music for all of Siddharth's three films in the past. The cinematography is handled By Ravi K. Chandran. Anjaana Anjaani was scheduled to release on 24 September, then it was postponed to 1 October 2010.[2]

All lovers start off as strangers first, before an affirmation as friends, then the bridge to be crossed to become lovers, and if the speedbumps along the way prove too much for the couple to handle, then that relationship will get relegated to friendship, before time takes over for memories to fade and they become strangers again. Director Siddharth Anand's Anjaana Anjaani takes on this cyclic tale as far as modern romances go, and while the premise is as sexy as its two leads, unfortunately it's the meandering, average storyline that ultimately trips up the film, no matter the powerhouse performances by Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra.It started off promising though, as the narrative takes its time to set up the backgrounds and stories behind how Ranbir's Akash and Priyanka's Kiara met on a bridge while both are contemplating suicide, with the former being a hotshot investor whose bad call at the markets translated to bankruptcy for him and his partners, while the latter in a drunken stupor, had hers kept under wraps and told in flashbacks as the story wore on. For an audience, you get set up to feel that you too have partaken in this getting-to-know-you phase by director Siddharth Anand, and get acquainted with the leads just as their characters begin on a journey, and an incredible one at that since they've moved in together, and set a date on which to execute themselves, but not before spending time crossing out an impromptu bucket list.For instance, the first half dwells specifically on the adventures of these two doing quite the incredible for comedy, with most times leaving you wonder just how they get the cash to do what they do. But this is a fantasy film, so anything goes with nary a worry, which for two persons hell bent on killing themselves, splurging cash shouldn't be an issue at all since they can't bring their savings bank along to their graves. For Akash, his dream is to get laid, well sort of, since he's that romantic dreamer whose career had meant little chance and time to chase skirts. This of course sets off some alarm bells with audiences when there's Ms Kiara standing in front of him to pursue, but it's this slow burning discovery that true love may be in front of him after all, that forms the theme after the interval.Meanwhile, Kiara's bucket list consists of swimming in the middle of the Atlantic. How they get there is one thing, but they do, and this episode sowed the seeds of a budding romance leading well into the second half of the film, where the story falls back on the tried and tested formula of a romantic comedy, with the couple not knowing what to do since they've made a pact to end their lives, yet see within each other a rainbow at the end of their personal stormy issues. You can almost sleepwalk through the entire film after the break, as it breaks out the formula to turn whatever's refreshing, and like a genie decided to put it all back in the bottle.Watching two former Miss Worlds in separate movies from two of the largest film industries in India, can somewhat be distracting as well as surreal. But Priyanka Chopra came out tops in this tussle, in my opinion, since Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's role in Enthiran was somewhat whiny in behaviour to my liking. Chopra on the other hand turned out to be quite the livewire in this film even though her Kiara has the most baggage to bear amongst the two lovers in Anjaana Anjaani. Infusing her role with so much sass, one cannot help but to highlight that this is one of her most memorable performance to date after last year's Fashion and What's Your Rashee, which saw her take on 12 different roles. Ranbir Kapoor feeds off Chopra's bubbling energy really well, and the two share some excellent screen chemistry together in their first pair up, that I'm wishing there will be more films in future to exploit this.If only the story was more gutsy to match both actor's stellar performances, without which Anjaana Anjaani turned out to be nothing more than an above average romantic film that gets churned out by the dozens each year.