JAI HO MOVIE REVIEW

Fans go to a Salman Khan movie to have a nice time without having to bother too much about story or logic in the tale. He is one of the few genuine superstars in the country with a warrior-like screen presence.

In Jai Ho, the remake of the Telugu movie Stalin, Salman plays an ex-army man who has a big helping tendency and also advocates the same to people around him. All the characters in the movie keep repeating his philosophy of "helping three people instead of just saying 'thank you'". The compulsory antagonists in the tale are in the form of a minister and his family members.

Salman Khan puts on a treat for his hardcore fanatics as he looks fit and handsome as ever and is really energetic in the stunt sequences. He is typically nonchalant in the lighthearted scenes. There is little else to write about the movie beyond Salman’s charisma and star power.

Tabu is graceful and dignified as Salman’s elder sister. The debut heroine Daisy Shah is voluptuous and exhibits grace and confidence in the dance scenes. But she performs a poorly written role as the quintessential glam doll in a hero-oriented movie.

Danny Denzogpa and Sana Khan are among the baddies and have nothing much to do beyond fuming and seething in anger. There are many secondary villains who partake in the stunt scenes and get beaten to pulp by Salman.

Pulkit Samrat, Suniel Shetty and Genelia are there in extended cameos, with Genelia’s role being a throwback to the 80s kind-of pathos.  Mahesh Manjrekar and Mohnish Bahl are admirable in their little parts. Naman Jain as Salman’s excitable nephew is the classic over-smart film kid with a loud mouth.

The song sequences are really bland and poorly positioned. Sajid – Wajid’s songs sound pretty much the same as some of their songs for previous Salman movies. No variety in their work for Jai Ho.

Sandeep Shirodkar’s background score adds some zing to action scenes and other moments which showcase Salman as the ‘macho hero’ but it still doesn’t rise above the average.

During the action scenes, when Salman showcases his animal instinct by roaring and biting, it generates some unintentional comedy. There is one extravagant bike chase scene towards the end which gets too far-fetched. But, if there is one reason why the fight scenes aren’t entirely irksome, it has to be Salman’s earnest efforts at the age of 48. And yes, he does bare his torso and his muscular arms in the climax fight in a glorious ‘deja-vu’ moment for Salman fans.

To sum up, Salman Khan is the only saving grace of this movie, which is packed with predictable moments. Director Sohail Khan and screenplay writer Dilip Shukla fall way short as they haven’t come up with a single novel scene to spice up the proceedings. And why did they hammer the same dialogues into the audience's head so many times through all the characters?