Paresh Rawal's 'Jo Tera...' review: Weak screenplay wastes incredible cast
What's the story
Raj Trivedi's Jo Tera Hai Woh Mera Hai, released on JioCinema on Friday, is a classic case of how incredibly polished actors cannot salvage a film gone south.
Despite an exciting premise and ample opportunities for humor and high-intensity drama, the film never rises to its potential and is a bland, dull, unimaginative experience.
Led by Amit Sial, its weaknesses far outweigh its strengths.
Story
This is what happens in 'Jo Tera Hai...'
The film follows Mitesh (Sial), who have always harbored the dream of owning Utkarsh, an expensive bungalow in a posh locality.
Govinda (Paresh Rawal) lives in it alone and Mitesh selfishly cons him to get the house's possession.
However, Govinda refuses to leave the bungalow, Mitesh suffers a full-blown financial crisis, and everything goes awry.
Who will finally acquire the house?
#1
There is no real progression of the story
Almost all the time, the movie is tedious and keeps moving in circles.
Too many sub-plots, including one involving Mitesh's mistress (Sonnalli Seygall) is absolutely needless and only makes the movie longer.
The film is not even two hours long, but it's evident that it runs out of ideas quite fast, and then, it just rolls on for no rhyme or reason.
#2
It's quite dependent on the background music
The movie is always wobbly and as is the case with underwhelming films, relies excessively on background music.
The editing team must know when to dial it down and when to take it a notch up, but here, it's quite constant and thus, distracting.
The worst part?
It keeps playing even when a character dies and the gravity of the situation is completely undercut.
#3
Except for Rawal-Sial, everyone is criminally ignored
The film pulls off a casting coup in Sial, Rawal, Faisal Malik, Sonali Kulkarni, Nitesh Pandey, and Satendra Soni.
But what is the point of assembling such terrific actors if the film has no space, no work for them?
The film is preoccupied with Sial-Rawal, so it conveniently forgets that there are other actors too, and they should also have some meaty scenes!
#4
Positives: There are signs of what it could've been
Movies can be disappointing in different ways, and this project's biggest tragedy lies in the fact that it had the potential to be a breezy, refreshing ride.
It shows signs of promise and Trivedi's good intentions behind this story are palpable; it's also relevant to contemporary times and paints an accurate portrait of selfishness and greed.
There's also commentary on upward social mobility.
#5
Sial effortlessly shines in his role
Sial carries the entire film and is practically in every scene.
I was pleasantly surprised to see his 180-degree turn from his last project, Tikdam (also available on JioCinema).
While he played a quiet, subdued man in it, here, he's the very personification of egocentrism and knows no kindness.
Despite the aridness, if you keep watching, it's only because of him.
Verdict
Can skip it; 1/5 stars
Jo Tera... starts off well, so I really wanted to like this slice-of-life film, but it tragically kept going from bad to worse.
It runs out of oxygen after the first 20 minutes and hurriedly tries to find its groove toward the end, but by then, it's too little, too late.
Only if the film's execution matched its ambition.
1/5 stars.