Everybody claims to be different; everybody claims to be great, but not every claim is correct. The funny thing which these claims actually do is to associate expectations with a particular end-product. If these expectaions are met, the product automatically wins teh heart, but if the product falters on these expectatoins, the it leaves a bad taste; it leaves one wondering why did one ever believe the authenticity in the claims.
"Anjaana Anjaani", throws the viewer in a similar paradox. before its release, the film was claiming to be "the greatest and the strangest love story". Well after watching the movie, i do agree with half of this claim...it is INDEED VERY VERY STRANGE. "Anjaana Anjaani" is actually a big example of a "WANNABE" which tries hard to be different, yet at the core, it ends up being nothing but a normal run-of-the-mill film with a slight variation in the premise. And that variation too was not good enough to establish itself in any decent context.
I mean how pathetic it was to swallow the light-approach they tried to associate with the suicide thing. Such a serious issue presented in such a goofy manner ... i dont find myself accepting the catch.
Well, being honest, actually it is quite difficult to associate one particualr verdict with the movie. In spurts and portions, the film sometimes actually starts making you believe that whatever lousy was there has passed and now the remaining movie will compensate the bad experience... but Alas, this never happens. For the most of its unreasonably long run-time, the movie stays confused over where it wants to go ... it keeps on trying to be different, yet it keeps on falling in the same pit where numerous of its predecessors fell ... that is ... the same ol' heart broken protaganists, the same ol' onscreen couple who keep on believing that they are just friends and finding in the end that they were always made for each other. There is also the beaten-to-death idea of a thrid hero who messes things up with cheating his about-to-be wife and in the end making her realize that he understands that she is in love with someone else. Haven't we seen all this many many times ... then why try to convince us that we are watching something for the very first time.
To give the credit where its due, the perfromance are highly impressive. Ranbir is fabulous once again. He is adorable and beautiflly under-plays his roles within the reasonable limits. Priyanka is a mixed-bag though ... she is simply superb in the emotional scenes and some of the funny ones as well ... but occasionally goes over the top, just trying to be extra cool and funny (which actually was not required by the situations). For me, Zayed in the most pleasent surprise of the movie, this is the first time when he has ACTUALLY ACTED. he is restrained and decent (though his role is as weak as that of rahul khanna in so many similar movies).
The second possitive is the music by Vishal Shekhar. The tunes are amazing, but the song placement of some of the numbers adds into the unasked longer runtime. Cinematography is brilliant.
As for direction, well I was never a fan of Sidhart Anand, and this film doesn't improve my opinion about him at all. Just like his films, I mean this sort of stuff can be delivered by any of the huge croud of new-age directors.
The biggest fun-shreder in this movie is the screenplay. The screenplay is not at all catchy. Every now and then, the film plunges into deep abysses of being dragged. The end-result of the movie could've been much better if the movie was at least 25 minutes shorter in its running time. There are more than a couple of patches where the screenplay starts annoying you without a reason.
Well overall, this reviewer is quite heavily disappointed by this latest effort of Sidhart Annad. After watching al of his movies (Salam Namstey, Ta Ra Rum Pum and Bachna Aye Haseeno and anjaana anjaani), the best suggestion in can give to Mr. Anand is .. "Sir please stop trying to prove your versatility and please start focusing on script and screenplay. You need substance and then you are capable enough to tranform it into a master piece with your ability to apply gloss.
My Rating: 2.5/5 (honestly speaking, if not for the performances of the lead pair and the music, i would've given it maximum 1/5)