Pooja Meri Jaan Movie Review Rating:
Star Cast: Huma Qureshi, Mrunal Thakur, Vijay Raaz, Vikram Singh Chauhan
Director: Navjot Gulati and Vipasha Anand
What’s Good: The intent, the subject, Mrunal Thakur, and Huma Qureshi’s commitment
What’s Bad: The premise, the execution, and a script that can’t hold its own argument
Loo Break: Anytime you want
Watch or Not?: Might be a yes, it has left me confused!
Language: Hindi
Available On: Zee5
Runtime: 1 hour and 57 minutes
User Rating:
Before we dive into a full-fledged discussion, let me ask you a very simple question – will you ever indulge a person who has once tried to get close to you against your consent? Forget that, someone who has violated you any how – physically, mentally, emotionally, financially – by any means? I mean, will you be friends with such a person? I can understand or take that as a Yes, if you are madly, deeply, hopelessly in love with a person, because then you cannot think about things rationally! But apart from that, do you even think you will talk to such a person? Think! Keep thinking, while you read this review, and we will definitely come back to this question! Because we have to! Now, let us move to Pooja Meri Jaan!
Pooja Meri Jaan Movie Review: Script Analysis
The story begins with a promising hook. Pooja (Mrunal Thakur) is friends with Aniket Srivastava (Vikram Singh Chauhan). Together they play Laila Majnu in a theater run by Asad Saab (Late Rituraj Singh), and are best friends with their daughter Huma Qureshi (Sana). One day, after the play, Ani kneels down and proposes. Pooja wears the ring, looking shocked. As soon as they reach backstage, Pooja rejects the proposal. And a chain of disturbing events follows Aniket’s suicide!
What follows next is probably a very important issue – Pooja is charged with abetment to suicide. She is called a gold digger, her character for dating multiple men is judged, and her friends think she used Ani as a backup. Did she mislead him? Did she ever date him? Does her current boyfriend know all about her past? Do her parents support her enough? Does she get a good lawyer in Huma Qureshi? All of this forms the screenplay of the film.
Pooja Meri Jaan Movie Review: Star Performance
Mrunal Thakur carries the film on her shoulders, and it is clear how much the role means to her. She can feel for Pooja’s helplessness, and that sincerity shows. But that helplessness never translates on screen! Her portrayal makes Pooja seem cold! I am not sure if this was her brief or the character’s poor arc did that to her! Huma Qureshi looks as confused as the film! She plays Sana, who is a corporate lawyer, but fights for Pooja! Why? I have no idea! I mean, how irresponsible of a friend to count it as her personal moment to shine and prove something that is not needed! Clearly, Pooja needed a better lawyer than Sana! Or, honestly, the film could have made so much sense if Pooja had lost this case! I feel even Huma feels trapped as Sana!
Vijay Raaz is always watchable, and he adds texture to every scene he appears in. However, the character isn’t given enough to do, and the actor’s strengths are underused. So is Vikram Singh Chauhan as Aniket! His ek tarfa pyaar makes his presence felt, but then he is made to look like a psycho! Sunita Rajwar plays a female police officer, but she has nothing substantial to her credit!
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Pooja Meri Jaan Movie Review: Direction, Music
When a social drama starts needing its audience to ignore the plot holes to appreciate the point, it has already lost the argument. For a very long time, you will not be able to figure out the genre of this confused film – Is it a thriller? Did Aniket do something? Is it a courtroom drama? Is it a social commentary? Directors Navjot Gulati and Vipasha Anand present it all at once and manage to bring out none of the elements convincingly! They will for sure bring a film that explores rejection, obsession, consent, and the truth behind what happened. The film starts looking like a confused feminist. That confusion is the core problem. The message is present, but it keeps getting buried under a premise that doesn’t hold together. A film like this should leave you questioning everything. But this one leaves you questioning the screenplay.
Navjot Gulati, also co-wrote the film and has his heart in the right place. You can see that he cares about the subject, and the film’s intent is never in doubt. The issue is execution. The narrative loses its grip when it needs to be at its tightest. I mean, with a run-time of almost 2 hours, this film could have dug up gold conversations around such a sensible subject!
The biggest miss for Pooja Meri Jaan is clarity. When a film is trying to make a point about consent, rejection, and the way society judges women, every scene has to reinforce that point. But here, everything is simplified! Earlier, when Pooja was accused of killing Aniket, even the audience started judging her intention, and the only point that generates empathy for her is when she reveals that Aniket tried to molest/force on her. Though at no point do they call him that! But as the makers try to make Pooja come out clean, they start villainizing Aniket! And they do it till the end!
During the final bout of arguments, Aniket has turned out to be such a villain that even his lawyer, Jatin (Vijay Raaz), does not even argue! Interestingly, he was the first man to point fingers at Pooja, the first man to call her out, and claim she was wrong! There is so much that is wrong that I did not feel anything right about the music, or about discussing it!
Pooja Meri Jaan Movie Review: The Last Word
The film treats its serious subject very lightly! Important issues need very strong dialogues that deepen the conversation, but Pooja Meri Jaan has a simple resolve – start blaming the men and make people hate them! Love is a hopeless emotion, and resolving it with some hope and dignity would have been such a win! In one of the scenes, Huma Qureshi asks her best friend – Why did you mislead Ani? I felt there would be a good discussion here! But nothing! In another scene, Pooja’s parents ask her something that is very inappropriate. But the scene adds no weight! Even when her own lawyer and best friend asks her – Do you even regret it? The scene should have blown with its emotional intensity!
These are issues that need to be discussed, and the makers deserve credit for picking them up. I mean, I agree, it is sad that a person committed suicide, but how far can we blame someone else for that trigger? What if we knowingly or unknowingly push that person to take the same unfortunate step? The issue picked by Pooja Meri Jaan is brilliant. The trouble is what happens next.
The film clearly wants to be a Pink, a story that makes the audience question what they believe about a woman’s choices. But Pink worked because its argument was razor sharp, and every scene pushed it forward. Pooja Meri Jaan has the subject but not the structure. It circles its theme without ever landing a blow, resulting in a film that feels confused about what it wants to say. Clearly, Pooja and Sana fight a cause, but the script fights against them!
The film has all the ingredients – stalking, rejection, consent, and a script that clearly cannot decide which one to care about!
2.5 stars.
Pooja Meri Jaan Trailer
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