 Jab We Met is a Bollywood film directed by Imtiaz Ali, who earlier directed Socha Na Tha (2004) starring Ayesha Takia and Abhay Deol. The film, produced by Dhillin Mehta under Shree Ashtavinayak Cinevision Ltd., features Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor in their fourth film together. The film's score and soundtrack was composed by Pritam with lyrics by Irshad Kamil and was released on October 26, 2007.
Production
The film began shooting from March 20, 2007 in Kulu Manali and later continued shooting in Shimla and Himachal Pradesh. The title of the film was decided by a popular vote. Moviegoers had a choice between Punjab Mail, Ishq Via Bhatinda and Jab We Met.
On the night of October 23, 2007, a special preview of the film was organized at Yash Raj Studios in Mumbai for those associated with the film and their families.
Synopsis
Aditya (Shahid Kapoor), a demoralized industrialist, gets even more depressed after attending the marriage of the girl he loves the most. Feeling ashamed to face the world, he walks out of the marriage gathering and boards a train in the night and meets Geet (Kareena Kapoor), a beautiful talkative girl who is leaving Mumbai to go to her hometown - Bhatinda (Punjab).
In the beginning, Geet irritates Aditya to a large extent and every meeting becomes mental torture for him. Geet discloses big plans to Aditya of eloping with her boyfriend Anshuman (Tarun Arora) as she fears resentment from her parents. Finally, the two find themselves stranded on a desolate station with no luggage or money. Geet's family (Pawan Malhotra, Dara Singh and Kiran Juneja) welcomes her and Aditya and the friendship turns into love. As per the promise, Aditya helps Geet elope to meet her boyfriend, Anshuman in Manali.
Destiny despises Geet's love story as Anshuman avoids and dumps her. On the other hand, Aditya begins to do well in life after he resurrects his failing business empire. Geet's family accuses Aditya for his involvement in elopement and finally forces him to locate her. Aditya is traumatized to learn about Geet's misfortune and consoles her to face the circumstances. Aditya manages in patching up the relationship of Geet and Anshuman and they decide to travel back to Bhatinda. Back in Bhatinda, Geet realises she is in love with Aditya not Anshuman and therefore Geet and Aditya get married.
India
The film opened to positive reviews on Friday with a fairly good opening of 70% all over India and later increased to 90% during the weekend, with a three day business of 7.50 crore net approximately. Making a total first week net business of 11.75 crore from 350 cinemas, the film went into the second week with very strong collections and saw a massive increase with 40%-50% increment in shows worldwide.
Continuing its strong march in week two with collections of over 9 crores and a two week total of 21 crores, the film was declared a hit by BoxOfficeIndia. The film suffered a minor setback during its third week, as the number of shows for the film were reduced due to the arrival of Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya. Due to popular demand and the poor performance of the latter, the film saw an increase in the number of prints across the country in its fourth week.
Overseas
Jab We Met also opened well overseas especially in the U.K., where it was released a day before than its worldwide release of October 26. The film grossed £ 11,488 on its advance previews night on Thursday and £ 144,525 on its opening weekend, collecting a total of £ 156,013 from 31 screens in its opening weekend. During its second week, the film continued to do strong business, garnering excellent collections and making a two week total of £ 325,996 [approx. Rs. 2.67 crores]. In its third weekend, the film collected £ 21,718 on 23 screens, making a grand total of £ 382,322 [approx. Rs. 3.11 crores].
Reviews
Many critics praised the film by saying that it was one of the finest [romantic] films to come out of Bollywood in 2007.
The lead performances were received positively by the public as well as the critics. Taran Adarsh commented, "Shahid delivers his career-best performance in Jab We Met. He goes for a complete transformation vis-à-vis his looks and attire to look the character he has chosen to portray and the understanding with which he enacts his part is worthy of lavish praises. Kareena is in top form as well. Jab We Met is a turning point in her career [personally as well as professionally]. Fantabulous that's the right word to describe her work this time. The confidence with which she handles the contrasting characterization speaks volumes. This film should do for her what Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) did for Kajol."
The soundtrack of the film was released on September 21, 2007 by lead actress, Kareena Kapoor on the musical show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007.
Composed by popular music director, Pritam, the film's music was well received. Joginder Tuteja from Indiafm.com gave the music 3 ½ out of 5 stars saying, "In 2007, Pritam may have been come up with good music in number of films such as Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Awarapan, Hattrick, Kya Love Story Hai and Just Married. But if there is one album that impresses most after Life...In A Metro and turns out to be most satisfying experience, it is Jab We Met. The album is a perfect example of how to get a quality soundtrack which mixes songs for different segments of audience."
The film's soundtrack debuted at number 8 and later climbed up to number 5 during its second week. The following week of October 15, it climbed up one spot to number 4 and stayed there for another week. After the film released, the album sales soared in an exponential manner, moving the soundtrack up one spot to number 3 and later moving it up again one spot to number 2, where it stayed for two consecutive weeks. |
