12th Street Entertainment, Balaji Motion Pictures, Boundscript, Kross Pictures and Northern Lights Films’ Jaane Jaan is a murder mystery and a thriller.
Maya D’Souza’s (Kareena Kapoor Khan) ex-husband, Ajit Mhatre (Saurabh Sachdeva), has been murdered in Kalimpong, and the needle of suspicion points towards her. She lives in Kalimpong with her daughter, Tara (Naisha Khanna). Police officer Karan Anand (Vijay Varma) is investigating the case and although Maya, who is actually the murderer, is the prime suspect, there is no evidence to nail her. Maya’s neighbour, Naren Vyas (Jaideep Ahlawat), steps in to help her. He is a Mathematics teacher and uses his deep knowledge of the subject to try and save Maya.
Does Naren succeed in saving Maya? If so, how? Or does Karan Anand prove to be one up on Naren and Maya?
Sujoy Ghosh and Raj Vasant have written a fairly interesting story which is adapted from Keigo Higashino’s Japanese novel, The Devotion Of Suspect X. The story reminds a lot of Drishyam. Therefore, the excitement level automatically declines. The story also leaves some questions in the minds of the audience but because it is a murder mystery, the viewers get involved in trying to guess how Naren would help Maya, and, therefore, those questions don’t come in the way of their engagement as they are constantly wondering what’s going to happen next. The duo’s screenplay is not very fast-paced. At some points, the viewers do get the feeling that several parts of the drama are contrived. Raj Vasant’s dialogues are average.
Kareena Kapoor Khan does a fair job and has not looked her best. Jaideep Ahlawat shines in the role of Naren Vyas. It is entertaining to watch him go through his role with the ease of a seasoned actor. Vijay Varma leaves a fine mark as police inspector Karan Anand. Naisha Khanna makes her mark as Tara. Saurabh Sachdeva lends fine support as Ajit Mhatre. Lin Laishram (as Prema) and the others are adequate.
Sujoy Ghosh’s direction is fairly good but yet leaves something to be desired. Sachin-Jigar’s music is fair. Avik Mukhopadhyay’s cinematography is very nice. Production designing (by Rajesh Choudhary, Madhumita Sen and Ajay Sharma) is of a good standard. Urvashi Saxena’s editing is reasonably sharp.
On the whole, Jaane Jaan is an average thriller which loses some of its value because it reminds a great deal of Drishyam.
Released on 21-9-’23 on Netflix.