Diljit Dosanjh and Neeru Bajwa turn back the clock without letting the strain show.
A decade later Jatt and Juliet and its sequel became the highest grossing film in the history of Punjabi cinema and with 2012 Carry on JattaHaving rescued a film industry from years of dormancy, the third film in the franchise, powered by Diljit Dosanjh’s high-wattage charisma and his proven chemistry with Neeru Bajwa, is likely to set a few records of its own.
The two lead actors are eleven years older although the two characters they play are not as old as in real life. But Dosanjh and Bajwa did not let the strain show and turned back the clock. The former was a much bigger star when he was in the first two Jatt and Juliet The film is out. Bajwa also strengthened his position in the industry. Together, and individually, they hit the right notes.
To give consistency, varnished vitality Jat and Juliet 3 A distinct edge over what has gone before. Jagdeep Sidhu, who is also the writer of the film, has been entrusted with the direction. His handiwork hits his straps in a way that suggests it’s just waiting to get off the blocks.
The unnecessarily middle-brow and easy-flowing romantic comedy ticks all the boxes but touches just a touch in its attempt to convey an accent of messages about gender equality, social harmony and other issues of contemporary relevance. More on that later.
Diljit Dosanjh, as himself, opens the film in style with a peppy number that funnels into a scene where Fateh Singh’s character – the name is the same but not the man – is woken up by his mother. He is a new recruit in Punjab Police.
When Fateh arrives at the police station on her first day at work, she discovers that her immediate boss is Senior Constable Pooja Singh (Neeru Bajwa). The stage is set for a love affair that looks like fun until their personal relationship is in danger of being turned upside down by lies and misleading claims made.
Police work takes a back seat due to Fateh and Pooja, each with different reasons, planning to hook up and get married. Their desperation to impress each other creates a series of cavalier situations in a mix of misadventures that threaten to boomerang on them.
On an assignment to catch Daisy (Jasmine Bajwa) in Bristol, a girl from Punjab accused of cheating a potential groom and fleeing to the UK, Fateh and Pooja run into a self-made wall of misunderstandings.
As a boy growing up in poverty it was rough, Fateh swears by the power of money to change lives. He claims not to be against bribery. But Pooja is a stickler for honesty. Dirty money is not his cup of tea. But as things turn out, that is a point of disagreement between the two.
A decade and a bit has passed since then Jat and Juliet 2Diljit Dosanjh’s career has been propelled into the stratosphere across various domains of cinema and music. What is her huge star power? Jat and Juliet 3 Bank on the hilt.
Rat-A-Rat is full of verbal exchanges, one-liners that flow without a hitch, and punchlines that hit their mark for the most part. Jat and Juliet 3 There is no need to resort to cheap devices to explore the audience.
It tells the story of love and its loss but stays firmly within its self-imposed sacred parameters. Like its predecessor, the film, keeping in mind its committed family audience, goes without scenes of physical intimacy or suggestive dialogue.
The Anurag Singh-directed, Dheeraj Ratan-scripted film still has the formula in place though. Jat and Juliet 3 moves further afield in search of thematic variety and novelty. It is remarkably successful.
The film jumps from one thing to another in quick succession but can’t reduce its focus on the adventures of dear Fateh Singh and his knockouts with Pooja. Needless to say, the film is at its best when it sticks to the latter vein.
In Bristol, Fateh discovers two cafes that stand side by side but are separated by a gasping gap created by a competition for customers that pits a young Daisy against a pair of avuncular men (Nasir Chinyoti and Akram Udas).
One of the cafes is called Lehenda Punjab, the other is Chahda Punjab Fateh sided with one of them and formed a partnership but not without his sense of solidarity with the immigrants of the subcontinent.
On a more flippant note, Jatt and Juliet 3 also features Champi (Rana Ranveer) and his father (BN Sharma) to add comic interludes to the proceedings. While the two actors are undoubtedly as funny as ever, their antics seem a bit labored at times.
But there is nothing too hard about it Jat and Juliet 3 Its long-winded and circular climax sees Fateh running from one incident to another to right a wrong he unknowingly commits to his own detriment.
Jagdeep Sidhu’s script makes room to hint, if only marginally, at pressing issues related to Punjab’s brush with social and political adversity and its youth’s migration to foreign lands in search of greener pastures.
More specifically, Jat and Juliet 3 Touching on the theme of a woman’s place in a wedding and workplace. It’s all delivered with dollops of humor. For something else in the film that might seem underwhelming, Diljit Dosanjh steps into the breach and leavens it with his charm.
