Reading through many of the reviews for "Jhoom Barabar Jhoom", I assumed that the film was 100% awful from start to finish. Well, I disagree--it's only partially awful. The first half is impossible to believe but is likable. The second half is truly horrible and all the good will I had early on vanished as the film continually assaulted my senses. Subtle and romantic are two words I'd never use to describe this film.It all begins with a nice song and dance number by Amitabh Bachchan. He appears in the film periodically--though I have no idea why other than he's the father of the leading man in this film, Abhishek Bachchan. Oh well, I really enjoy seeing Amitabh and at least I got a few glimpses of him even though his character was ill-defined and vague.Soon Rakesh (Abhishek Bachchan) bumps into a gorgeous woman, Alvira (Preity Zinta). They are waiting to greet someone arriving by train and it is late. So, they sit and begin talking. He talks at length about his fiancé and she does the same--though in reality both are unattached. This really made no sense nor did it make sense that Alvira would soon fall for Rakesh because he seemed so very obnoxious and full of himself. However, I have noticed that this is a BIG theme in a lot of Indian romances--the obnoxious pretty-boy--and it's a cliché I really hate. For me, you have to like people for the romance to work. Still, despite its flaws, I found the first half of the film watchable and interesting. It could have worked well.Unfortunately, once the train arrives, the film is pretty dead. Both are in love with each other but don't know what to do since they'd been lying. Well, sadly, the same can be said for the writers as most of the final portion of the movie is set at a dance contest which totally assaults your senses. It's loud and looks like a 30 minute Indian music video and the costumer appears to have been Liberace!! It's tacky, loud and pointless.By the time the end occurs and the inevitable occurs, you are exhausted and just want it to end. It's a shame, as the film was not horrible initially and had it been, I would have turned it off and saved myself from the second half! So, first half of the film I'd score a 5 and the last a 1. Overall, a score of 3 seems reasonable as I have seen quite a few movies (both Indian and non-Indian) that were worse....though not a lot worse.By the way, I am shocked that the IMDb goof section didn't include this one. At one point, Alvira exposes the top of her left breast to show a tattoo. Later in the film it's moved to her right breast!!

I love Bollywood films. Ravishing, well-invested musicals, song and dance, dialogues which are larger than life, wonderful actors, strong characters. The song numbers have been an artistic tradition Hindi films, and what particularly amazes me about all these films is the complete irrelevance of the song numbers to the film's story itself (unless it's a film like Dil To Pagal Hai, where the music is part of the script).I think Jhoom Barabar Jhoom is a brave attempt to make a film with the songs being part of the screenplay. But even then, it just doesn't work. Why? Because there is NO screenplay. The entire film is a big dance show. And it shouldn't be like this. When there are no songs, the film consists of silly jokes and plastic "acting". Some sequences are so ridiculous that you start hating anyone who's been ever involved with this film. It is intended to be funny and crazy, which is a good purpose, but this film manages to be neither this nor that and instead, it sadly ends up being a big silly show. I do admit that the songs are well danced and catchy, but they become tiresome at some point, mainly because most of them are actually the same song in different versions.The acting (not that it can be called acting in this case) is bad. Abhishek is annoying and miscast. Pretentious performance. Preity, an actress I like immensely, is her usual bubbly and vivacious self, but here, somehow lifeless. The fact that a great actress like Preity could even think of appearing in this film makes me want to slap her. Bobby and Lara are terrible. They ham, overact, and even in the dance numbers get overshadowed by the leading stars (at least here they make some sense). Lara is particularly horrible as a prostitute with her fake French accent. All in all, I do recommend to watch it if you intend to go and dance through the entire film. Quite a special watch buhaaaa...

I feel that the characters in this so-called movie were awfully atrocious. They had a really bad storyline and everyone, even a baby, could have thought of the plot. Please don't see it. I would think that after Bobby Deol's good performances in other movies, he would definitely not choose this kind of movies. I expected way more from Preity Zinta and Abishek Bachchan. My admiration for Preity Zinta has gone from 100 % to 50 %. There was a very bad thing that I noticed in this movie. Were they so unoriginal that they had to get an important part of the movie from a newspaper? This isn't a spoiler since I'm not telling you any important details from this kind of movie that no-one should watch anyway.

I saw Jhoom Barabar Jhoom while travelling in Rajasthan, in the Raj Mundir in Jaipur, which is, with some justification, described as the best cinema in Asia (and it certainly beats watching a film in a 'Multiplex' on a screen the size of a large TV in London).As the film ended and the huge audience of all ages rose, making its way into the grand, pretty foyer, I turned to an Indian man in his thirties next to me and asked him in Hindi if he liked it. He said he loved the songs, particularly the song of the title, which he thought would get even the most unlikely person in the cinema dancing in the aisles. Then he added,'But the the rest of the film is nonsense'.I certainly agree with him about the infectious song of the title, having badly hummed it often. However, I don't think the rest of the film is nonsense. What I believe many people mistake for nonsense is actually a playful, kitsch, knowingly referential film revolving around the desires and problems of self-mythology, and the power of Bollywood fantasy. The film is set in Waterloo station where a young Indian man and woman of Pakistani origin bump into each other and form an acquaintance while waiting for infamously late English trains. But their talk about themselves, we come to see, may not quite be so credible and ingenuous. Not only this but there is something magical in the air at Waterloo Station, for a wondering busker, Amitabh Bachan, looking like a sixties drop out, is somehow mysteriously involved in the lively plot.The two leads, Bachan's son Abishek, and Preity Zinta, make engaging leads and, alongside the wonderfully outrageous Laura Dutta and Bobby Deol handle the film's sense of fun and comedy vigorously (though perhaps the nods to the famous Bachan/Deol partnership in Sholay goes too far).Another thing about Jhoon Barabar Jhoon is its sure sense of place, something few Indian films set in Britain can claim. Preity Zinta's Alvira is an NRI and the film makes a playful but genuine attempt to engage with the London Indian diaspora.