Joggers Park Hindi Movie
Now that you've had your fill of desi flings with Summer Of '42 (Ek Choti Si Love Story, Dil Chahta Hai, Leela), here's one that does a reverse stunt. Joggers' Park, Subhash Ghai's bow as a producer of crossover Hinglish cinema, looks for love in the affair of an aged man with a woman young enough to be his daughter. This isn't Lamhe, nor is it Shaukeen. Wedged somewhere in between, this Anant Balani-directed film is quite unlike anything that Bollywood has ever peddled before (possible explanation for Ghai's liberal pre-release insistence that Joggers' Park is aimed primarily at the metro multiplex crowds). To the credit of Ghai and Balani, the narrative follows a uniform track without letting the drama degenerate into melodrama or reducing the subtle, humour into farce.
This is the story of a retired High Court judge, the 62-year-old Justice Chatterjee (Victor Banerjee), who decides to while away his lazy mornings in Mumbai's Joggers' Park now that he has plenty of time to kill. At the park he'll meet Jenny Suratwala (Perizaad Zorabian), a 20-something filled with the spice of life. She's a bit of 'part-time' everything - model/hotel executive - and has been through too many affairs to care about love anymore. Jenny is a great fan of Chatterjee, her definition of an achiever in life. The retired judge - a happily married man with grown-up children - on his part develops a crush on the vibrant youngster, which will soon transform into love. For a while the narrative harps on his dilemma: should he give it all up - social position, respect, family bonds - to go with Jenny, or should he let his head rule his heart. Thankfully, the emotional quagmire doesn't go over the top and the climax, though predictable, is smoothly executed.
Victor and Perizaad are perfect as the protagonists. Victor renders a quiet dignity to his role (despite the fact that the characterisation looks confused - he's supposed to be a renowned, retired judge, but the overall popularity he enjoys would put a filmstar to shame), while Perizaad's extrovert execution to her role seems natural.
The problem with Joggers' Park is that the film has too simple a story idea to last for 14-odd reels. While most of the songs are used as background numbers, Ghai's idea to film an 'item dance' on Perizaad looks totally forced.
In a nutshell, Joggers' Park should work mainly with the multiplex audience who are in a mood to sample zara hatke stuff.
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