Jab Harry Met Sejal Review

In the recent times, Bollywood has seen some of its most accomplished filmmakers failing to live upto expectations; Dilwale, Tubelight, Befikre are examples of big-name directors failing to excite the audience. With ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’, filmmaker Imtiaz Ali known for classics like ‘Jab We Met’, returns with two of the biggest names in the industry; Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma. Will the director deliver a romantic classic that lives upto the hype? Does Shah Rukh Khan still have something new to offer in the romantic genre? Let’s find out!

Story: The story of ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ is about Harry and Sejal’s journey across Europe. Harry (Shah Rukh Khan) takes visitors on a tour across different European countries. He’s a bit aloof, rude and finds it difficult to maintain long lasting relationships. Sejal (Anushka Sharma) is a tourist who has taken the services of Harry along with her entire family. She gets engaged during the trip to Rupen. Her engagement ring goes missing and she refuses to go back to Mumbai until she finds it. She compels Harry to help her find the ring and he agrees to do so.

Jab Harry Met Sejal Still - Shahrukh, Anushka

Jab Harry Met Sejal Review – Shahrukh, Anushka

Review: ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ starts well with some good interactive fun between the lead pair, which does remind you of some of Imtiaz’s earlier films. The proceedings in the first hour are fairly well-paced with some ear-pleasing songs like Safar, Radha and Parinda. A special mention to the episode leading upto the Hawaayein song as it brings Shah Rukh Khan back to his romantic roots.

However, the film fails to move with its storyline and the plot related to the ‘lost ring’ is stretched beyond its elasticity. The second hour begins on a very average note and it is through these portions that the film begins to drag. The writing lets the film down big-time, which is surprising because most Imtiaz Ali films – Tamasha, Highway and Rockstar in particular – have improved in the latter half. The climax is the weakest link of the film, which also ends pretty abruptly.

The only silver lining in this otherwise disappointing tale of Harry and Sejal are the performances. Shah Rukh Khan delivers a likeable performance, but is let down by a film with a wafer-thin plot line. Harinder Singh Nehra had the potential to be Ved Vardhan Sahni of Tamasha, but unfortunately the same hasn’t been explored by Imtiaz Ali during the last hour. With all due respect to the legend and the evergreen ‘King of Romance’, after having achieved everything and more in the romantic genre, it’s time to do roles with more substance at this stage of his career. His legacy and stardom deserve better films than this.

Anushka Sharma is excellent as Sejal, she plays the role of a Gujarati girl to perfection. The supporting cast comprising of actors like Chandan Roy Sanyal takes the graph of the film down. In fact, the movie would’ve probably worked better without the whole ‘Illegal immigration’ angle involving him which fails to raise any laugh and ends up making the film feel longer.

The music is pleasing with good cinematography thrown in even when the screenplay doesn’t require songs. Radha, Hawaayein and Raula (the unreleased Diljit Dosanjh Punjabi track) are the songs that stands out. But too many songs, as many as eleven, can test the viewer’s patience.

On the whole, even though Jab Harry Met Sejal travels through 6 countries in those 145 minutes, the film fails to take you on an emotional ride that you expect from an Imtiaz Ali – Shah Rukh Khan film. The charisma and acting prowess of the lead pair make the film watchable, but ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ is a romantic film that lacks soul. When you don’t feel for the characters or want the lead couple to fall in love and be together, it makes the whole film pointless.

‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ is one of the biggest disappointments so far this year.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

What works in Jab Harry Met Sejal:

  • Performances by the lead pair
  • Some good songs
  • Visually beautiful

What doesn’t work for Jab Harry Met Sejal:

  • Lacks soul, all style with little or no substance.
  • Imtiaz Ali’s direction
  • Poor second half
  • Some dialogues and scenes that can make you cringe
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199 Comments

  • Ohh not expected
    What does this imply Indicine as far as box office is concerned ?? Wil it do 100 Cr atleast??

  • yaar this is d worst phase of King khan carrier…
    this is d reason he didnot want to clash it with TEPK…
    Bed choice of movie…
    Very disappointing???

  • Indicine never reviewed Hindi medium and gave 3 star to Munna micheal. This shows how much talent is there to review a big scale movie. JHMS is 3.5 for me. Indicine review not authentic

  • I am not against SRK and his fans except few dhakkans i.e. Javed, NEW ERA SRK and more 3-4…

    Now the time begins to answer your all those bad mouthings you made in last 2 months about Akki without any reason…

    I was waiting for the right time in a single roll and now the time finally comes… Be prepared and make it a habit for next 4-5 days…!!!

  • I’m very sad that we wait every year to see a movie from SRK which can put smile on our face but he keeps disappointing us..
    really, what should I say more ???

  • The bahubali has done the biggest damage to Bollywood.Before Bahubali all movies atleast used to to get decent or expected openings but post Bahubali, things have changed and audience give a damn to mediocre movies and make them down from FDFS.Time for Bollywood to re-invent.
    This doesn’t mean they should make Bahubali kind of movies.Even a bahubali kind of movie can fail now.
    Bollywood movies has run on emotions rather than plot factor for a long time and now it is time to get the PLOT right.
    Audiences have matured.Not ready to accept any shit unless it is worth.
    So much of entertainment options available.
    Remuneration of actors should go down.
    Production Companies should be bold enough to give value to scripts than stars.

  • Another flop by srk. So disappointed. Paisa or time dono waste h. Srk fan kitna b bhoonke ye 100 crore nahi jayegi. Ab to isey toilet mein hi flush Karna pdega.

  • Even Anushka Sharma, who according to Bakratards helped Sultan cross 300 Crores, can’t help this film to cross even 100 Crores.
    Reason: the Global Gadha

  • Reviews:
    Indicine:2/5
    India Today:1/5
    Times of India:3/5
    NDTV:2/5
    Hindustan Times:2/5
    The Indian Express:1.5/5
    Is there any need to write something else???
    VERDICT:Disaster

  • “With all due respect to the legend and the evergreen ‘King of Romance’, after having achieved everything and more in the romantic genre, it’s time to do roles with more substance at this stage of his career”.

    The above sentence from @Indicine sums up the reality, SRK still thinks he is 25 years old young who can still do romantic roles and give hits !!!!!!!! Lol

  • Had it been released with toilet epk, it would have been a record for akki.

    Win over other 4 superstars in direct clash.

    Welcome, blue and rustom against aamir, salman (and ajay) , and hrithik respectively.. Won both opening and life time. This was a golden chance.

    • TZP was not an out and out Aamir film…he came in second half…talk about 3 idiots v/s Chandni chowk to China

  • Now it’s confirmed that the Global gadha chooses directors over scripts or stories. Aamir is the one who chooses scripts or stories over anything else. His strength!

  • Global king won’t have one more clean hit in this decade… He might deliver a hit in 2022 by playing Dadaji or Sasurji character in a Salman film.

  • Utter crap!! Left theatre in interval
    SRK should stop clashing his movies, release on normal weekend, choose good scripts and directors

    Such a waste!

  • @hritik
    Doesn’t make any sense
    If film is right and good then even newcomers like Salman in MPK and Hritik in KNPH had delivered huge. TWMR got a “Blockbuster” verdict.
    It’s not about pull, it’s about right film

  • #OneWordReview… #JabHarryMetSejal: Unimpressive ??? Good performances… Stunning locales… Bland and boring screenplay… Too many songs

    – Taran Adarsh

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