6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bollywood 'Shop Around The Corner'?, March 11, 2008
As a big Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan fan, I had to see this movie. I have yet to be let down with their acting and dancing abilities. Alone they are great, together they are even greater. I wish they were in more movies together.
For the most part Na Tum Jaano Na Hum was good and reminded me a bit of
The Shop Around the Corner. But it just seemed to drag. It didn't seem to have enough of a plot to cover the entire runtime, and more than once I checked to see how much was left in the movie.
The songs were good, the acting was great, but plot wise it was lacking.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Vintage Hrithik romance. Ignore the cover picture as it may mislead, April 13, 2009
I'm a sucker for Hrithik Roshan romances (and I like Saif Ali Khan too). This is a good one and I wasn't disappointed.
It took me a while to get round to watching this though as the cover looked like a still from 'A Few Good Men' or a CIA action movie and I was looking for something lighter. IGNORE the cover picture! This is really Bollywood light romance of the triangle kind and the sunglasses on the cover are 'cool'.
WE have 2 long time friends. One (Hrithik) sets up a letter writing relationship with Esha (Esha Deol) but they never meet and don't know who each other is. Then fate takes a hand and Hrithik mediates a marriage between Esha and his friend (Saif). Then he realizes too late who Esha really is. This movie is about God taking a hand so you may guess what pans out by the end of 159 minutes.
I enjoyed this one. It was a little slow at the beginning and Esha looked very much too young for Hrithik originally and it didn't mesh. She shed her schoolgirl gear and pigtails and went into young woman and it settled down. Esha was actually very lively and able to convey a range of emotions and was good - as naturally Hrithik and Saif also were.
There's a few good tunes, some decent Hrithik (and Saif) dancing (though don't think too much about why they jumped to some of their fanciful images and locations!)
I liked this one but I see elsewhere on the Net it is often seen as anywhere from just average to above average. This is a keeper.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What do Hrithik Roshan, Jimmy Stewart and Tom Hanks have in common?, January 31, 2009
Three and a half stars for NA TUM JAANO NA HUM.
In today's busy technological age, the e-mail rules all. But I have to believe that there's a place still for the age-old tradition of exchanging thoughts and emotions thru letters. A letter will always be more romantic and more personal than an e-mail, so sayeth I. So, despite that this film came out in 2002, I easily bought into the plot device which calls for the two central characters corresponding via "snail mail."
The premise of NA TUM JAANO NA HUM (Neither You Know Nor I) borrows from Jimmy Stewart's classic
The Shop Around the Corner, Judy Garland's musical
In the Good Old Summertime and even from the more recent
You've Got Mail (Deluxe Edition). Hrithik Roshan and Esha Deol are cast as photographer Rahul and recent college graduate Esha, two strangers who, thanks to a radio station, become anonymous pen pals. Rahul and Esha are romantic dreamers and, as they get to know each other thru their correspondence, they fall in love, never mind that they haven't seen each other or know each other's names. Things keep on like this for a while, with the two content with merely composing and posting until, fueled by the engine of the Almighty Movie Coincidence, Esha hires Rahul for a photography gig, and so they finally meet each other in person, although both continue to be oblivious. So usher in all those cute and savory romantic moments, as these two strike up a friendship.
Saif Ali Khan steps in and either upsets the apple cart or becomes the impetus for the love story to really kick off. He plays Akshay, a carefree playboy and Rahul's best friend since childhood. And because coincidences surface in Bollywood as frequently as musical numbers, it turns out that Akshay and Esha's parents are old chums and, so, an arranged marriage is proposed for their kids. Which leaves Rahul torn in the middle. Because he's just learned that Esha is the one from the letters, but, too, that Akshay has just fallen in love with her. Rahul's heartbreaking dilemma being: is love stronger than friendship?
This is what Bollywood delights in. That aching love story, the intolerable situation, the self-sacrificing hero. The extent to which Bollywood relishes torturing its star-crossed lovers is demonstrated in this film as four years elapse in the characters' lives before there's even a smidgen of a happy ending. And, other than Shahrukh Khan, no one else weeps manfully and suffers the woes of love quite like Hrithik Roshan, and when you factor in his danceability, then no wonder womenfolk swoon all over this cat. There's no doubting that NA TUM JAANO NA HUM is graced by solid acting. Roshan does well, and you're on his side from the get-go. Even his unwitting rival, played by Saif Ali Khan, is someone you can't help but like, partly because Saif is innately a likeable dude. I've seen Esha Deol in other movies, but this is probably where she impresses me the most. She's got them big eyes and sweet personality, but I thought she did well with the latter stages of the film, when she'd metamorphosed from frolicky young innocence to heartbroken and resigned maturity. I ain't too embarassed to admit that I caught a lump in the throat when she finally learns that Rohil is indeed the one scribbling from Post Office Box #143.
Normal for Indian cinema, this flick is over two and a half hours long, so clear out your day planner. NA TUM JAANO NA HUM is a darn good love story and the hook is undeniable, even if at times the movie lingers much too much on the melodramatic moments. You'll groan and roll your eyes some as the humor tends to be silly, especially that scene of Hrithik and Saif in the gym locker room and that other dude. But I did laugh out loud at the sequence which has Hrithik and Esha forced to act in a music video. At times, Bollywood isn't too big for its britches to poke fun at itself.
Bollywood has presented other love stories more rapturous and sweeping that NA TUM JAANO NA HUM, sure. Just check out Shahrukh Khan and Kajol's stuff (
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai,
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (2DISC SET)),
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam,
Jab We Met or
Namastey London DVD. I feel that NA TUM JAANO NA HUM falls somewhere under these classics. But it most definitely has its merits and is well worth watching. Somewhere, Jimmy Stewart is probably smiling and stammering in approval. Judy Garland probably is, too (smiling, not stammering), and she's also probably feeling a bit smug because the songs in her version easily top the lackluster numbers in this one.
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