Review: Jhootha Hi Sahi [The truth about JHS]

Getting back to the old fashioned "review:"... I can't really decide how to title my reviews, as you might have noticed. However, after watching the horrible "Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic" (2008) on TV yesterday (and it's so typical they send this kind of stuff - we have to maintain the "Bollywood image", right?: kitschy, unrealistic, naive + bad special effects), I needed something better. We have two Bollywood magazines in Germany, whereas one is just G-R-E-A-T and the other one is quite new and needs some improvement. However, the improvement-one published a review on "Jhoota Hi Sahi" and it was not very positive, so reading it, I thought: "No, you're getting this wrong - this is a good movie!". But then a voice in my head said: "Well, you haven't seen it, so how will you know?". I can't explain, but don't you sometimes have that feeling of knowledge, like you really know that a film is good? You don't hope so (as for Dhobi Ghat, I do), you just know. However, every thesis needs to be proved for becoming a theory. Read the results of this experiment, exclusively, right here at Lime Reviews.

JHOOTHA HI SAHI (2010) झूठा ही सही

Title-Translation: Part of a song from 1970's Hindi classic "Johnny Mera Naam". Means something like "True or false/ Even if it's false"

Director: Abbas Tyrewala
Authors: Pakhi Tyrewala & Abbas Tyrewala
Starring: John Abraham, Pakhi Tyrewala, Raghu Ram, Madhavan

Plot: Siddhart (Sid) owns a book shop in London, together with two of his friends. He stammers in front of beautiful women and his relationship to girlfriend Kurtika is going south. Then, one night, he gets called up by unknown people, all wanting to commit suicide, calling him "dost" (friend). A suicide helpline has by mistake published Sid's tlf. number as theirs, and they ask him to help out a little, if anyone calls. Sid agrees, and gets called up by Mishka, a beautiful girl that he will meet in real life too - after having told her about his great, exciting life...




Written the 5th of February 2011

"Jhoota Hi Sahi" is one of those films that have been getting highly mixed responses. A large part 

Johnny-boy and Pakhi

of the bad opinions alludes to Pakhi Tyrewala, who portrays one of the two main persons - and who also wrote the screenplay. I consider this as a big accomplishment and think she made a really good job. Mishka, one of the two main characters, seems natural, if you look away from the fact that she was trying to kill herself and then gets happy so fast. This is though rather a fault of the screenplay, as the part when Mishka gets happy with time has not been given enough time. But never mind, everything else goes perfectly, and a few nice, unexpected twists are included in the screenplay (I don't want to spoil anything by telling them now). 
You could find your self asking: Why did they choose an end that everyone would expect? Well, if it was an art film or anything else that fits into the definition of "we-don't-want-anything-regular", this question would be qualified. But you can watch "LSD", if you want an indie-end.


I also must mention the supporting actors, who took a lot of the seriousness away by being serious (Nick? Well, he was serious about marrying Aliya). A small disappointment was that Anaitha Nair had such a tiny role, but Alishka Varde made a good female entertainer, too (did you know that my Danish guest family lives near a town called Varde?). As most newer films, "Jhoota Hi Sahi" tries to be open-minded concerning sexuality, and though there never actually are many sparks between John and Pakhi (also a small disappointment-factor), the film manages better than one of its concurrents, "Anjaana Anjaani", at least not insulting gay people. The two gay guys cater for some amusement, but never in an abusive way. Adjacent to Pakhi, John Abraham portrays the second main character, and he has never been more cute and lovable, ever. Not later than in the scene when he admits that he remembers Mishka "thodaa-saa…?" (a little…?), you really want to have a little Sid-bear that you can hug (maybe I should name on of my teddies "Sid" - it could be this Sid, the Ranbir-Sid and the real Sid, I mean the Telugu one).

And my Pakhi once more

The soundtrack of this film has been on my iPod for quite a long time now, because it's not possible that I miss a new soundtrack of my sabse-favorite composer & singer, Rahman. Some people call it boring, I call it a "1000-times-better-than-Blue-Soundtrack" that gently tiptoes into your heart. A little bit like the film, they are a good match, indeed. The credit for this also goes to Abbas Tyrewala, for he assembled all these people and made something cozy of it. Cozy is actually the perfect word for describing the film: It isn't the Blockbuster-type and it's not weird enough to be described as one of the ongoing experiments that are attacked to the silver (or laptop/ computer/ tv) screens at the moment. I already said that I like change and experiments, and that a good film always needs to include something fresh and new. So off course, this film has got something. But what is "Jhoota Hi Sahi" in the end?


The truth is: "Jhoota Hi Sahi" is, what many want to be, but only few are - a perfect rom-com (which is already imperfect by definition). 

Rating: 7.0

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.