Jab Harry Met Sejal

Jab Harry Met Sejal
Hindi	जब हैरी मेट सेजल
Directed by	Imtiaz Ali
Produced by	Gauri Khan
Written by	Imtiaz Ali
Starring	Shah Rukh Khan Anushka Sharma Evelyn Sharma Chandan Roy Sanyal Aru Krishansh Verma
Music by	Songs: Pritam Diplo Background score: Hitesh Sonik
Cinematography	K.U. Mohanan
Edited by	Aarti Bajaj
Production company	Red Chillies Entertainment
Distributed by	Yash Raj Films
Release date	4 August 2017 (2017-08-04)[1]
Running time	144 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Box office	est. ₹96.81 crores [2]

Jab Harry Met Sejal (English: When Harry Met Sejal) is a 2017 Indian romantic comedy film written and directed by Imtiaz Ali. It features Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma in the lead roles,^[1] their third collaboration after Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008) and Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012). Pre-production of the film begun in April 2015 and principal photography commenced in August 2016 in Prague, Amsterdam, Vienna, Lisbon and Budapest.

The movie did not meet the expectations of both the audience and the critics and had the lowest weekend opening for Shah Rukh Khan since 2012.^{[3] [4]}

Plot

Harinder "Harry" Singh Nehra is a tourist guide in Amsterdam. He is a cheap womanizer but a friendly and helpful guide.

After dropping a Gujarati family to the airport, Harry comes across Sejal Zaveri, a member of the same Gujarati family, who has lost her engagement ring. He reluctantly agrees to help her find her ring. He later tells her that he had left his home in Nur Mahal village and came to Canada to become a singer, which did not work out.

Both Harry and Sejal travel to places where he had initially taken the family, in search of the ring. During this, Harry falls in love with Sejal, but does not reveal it to her as she is engaged to someone else. They soon learn that a criminal, Gas, has stolen the ring. They go to Gas to retrieve the ring but Harry gets thrashed by Gas's men. Later, while looking for antiseptics in her bag for Harry, Sejal finds the ring and realizes that the ring was in her bag all along. However, she does not tell Harry about this.

The next day, Harry and Sejal fly to Frankfurt for the wedding of Mayank; Harry's friend. After the wedding, Harry and Sejal get into an argument and she decides to leave for India.

At the airport, Sejal shows Harry the ring and tells him that it was in her bag all along. He asks her to take care and bids her goodbye.

She returns to India and he returns to his work, but begins to miss her and gets depressed. On Mayank's insistence, Harry flies for Mumbai to go to her wedding. On reaching the venue, he learns that her marriage was called off and finds her sitting outside. They eventually share their feelings for each other, and go to Harry's village, Nur Mahal, where he reunites with his family and marries Sejal.

Cast

• Shah Rukh Khan as Harinder "Harry" Singh Nehra^[5]
• Anushka Sharma as Sejal Zaveri
• Aru Krishansh Verma as Mayank (Manky)
• Chandan Roy Sanyal as Ghyassuddin Mohammed Qureshi (Gas)
• Evelyn Sharma as Irina

Development

Jab Harry Met Sejal was initially conceived about a man trying to commit suicide. However, after Khan met Ali, the former suggested to revitalise the story by making it a more jolly film.^[6]

Production began in April 2016^[7] and plans to filming were announced in the first part of August 2016, when the film had the working title "Production No. 52".^[8] Sharma required several months of diction training to prepare herself for her role, as her character is from Gujarat.^[9] She describes her character as "very superficial, doesn’t have any depth as a person. There is no similarity with me. But her morals and values of self-respect are something that I can relate to. But otherwise, the character is quite impulsive by nature."^[10]

The film underwent a lot of name changes throughout its production phase from The Ring to Rahnuma to Raula until it was finalized with Jab Harry Met Sejal. When the title of the film was finally revealed, it received considerable backlash from people who accused that it must be a copy of the 1989 Hollywood iconic film When Harry Met Sally... or that it must have been inspired by it. However, contrary to popular beliefs, the two films have no similarity or connection with one another except both falls under the same genre and the two protagonist start off as strangers. Khan explained, "When Harry Met Sally... is one of the greatest love stories ever made in the history of world cinema. Our film on the other hand, is quite original, a fun space love story by Imtiaz Ali. But it is a takeoff from there as that movie is a classic. It is a way to attribute."^[11][12]

In an interview with The Indian Express, Khan discussed about the possible epilogue of the movie; the couple had three children and moved to a small town for some time. Sejal then works as a lawyer while Harry takes time off and writes a book. The former takes the role of a working partner while the latter looks after the children.^[13]

Filming

Filming began in late August 2016 in Prague^[14][15] and continued in Amsterdam & Budapest from September 2016.^[16] Filming locations include multiple locations in Europe, as well as in Punjab.^[17]

Soundtrack

Sony Music India released the soundtrack album for the film on 4 August 2017.^[18][19][20] American DJ Diplo recorded a song for the movie called "Phurr".^[21]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Irshad Kamil; all music composed by Pritam.

Reception

Debarati S Sen of The Times of India commented that they have made an "enjoyable album", "which captures the usual genres that characterises a typical Bollywood film, well enough".^[22] Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama rated 4 out of 5 stars to the album.^[23]

Release

The film was initially set for an August 11, 2017 release. However, it was later moved a week earlier to August 4 to avoid the movie Toilet: Ek Prem Katha averting a possible box office clash.^[12] Its release date in Dubai and United Arab Emirates was pushed from early Thursday morning – which has been the norm for Bollywood films – to Friday evening to prevent pirated versions of the film or its spoilers from getting leaked. However, after a backlash, it was decided to release it on its original release date, August 3, at 6 PM GST.^{[24] [25][26]}

The film was released on 3400 screens worldwide.^[27]

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics.^[28]

Anita Iyer of Khaleej Times rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and said, "The movie goes through its ebb and flow, and all you can do is enjoy the good bits, till they last."^[29] Manjusha Radhakrishnan of Gulf News also rated it 2.5 stars out of 5, saying "The climax isn't ground-breaking, however, the cinematography that highlights the beauty of a handful European countries is pleasing to watch."^[30]

Times Of India gave the movie 3 stars of out 5 and wrote, "Sound advice here would be that you actually buy yourself a tour ticket to Europe and soak in the sights for real. But, if you want to settle for a cheaper option of touring the continent inside a cinema hall, buy yourself a JHMS ticket and get transported to the land of make-believe captured indulgently by cinematographer K U Mohanan, with the added advantage of a Punjabi `munda’ playing your friend, philosopher, lover and guide." Filmfare Magazine gave the movie 3 stars out of 5 stating that, "JHMS is a happy romantic comedy that you can sing and dance along with. Pritam's music is a stand out feature. The performances are really strong".^[31] Koimoi gave Jab Harry Met Sejal 3.5 stars out of 5, praising the performances and direction.^[32] Shubhra Gupta, critic of Indian Express gave JHMS 1.5 stars out of 5 stars while calling it a dud.^[33]

NDTV gave JHMS 2/5 and wrote, "It is cinema's equivalent of a shiny bauble that glitters wholly in vain. Watch it only if you fancy a vicarious romp through Europe with an off-colour megastar trying hard to get going"^[34]. Bollywood film critic and business trend analyst Taran Adarsh wrote on Facebook, "Good performances... Stunning locales... Bland and boring screenplay... Too many songs...With SRK-Anushka, Imtiaz Ali could've hit the ball out of the park with a solid script. Sadly, he loses this golden opportunity."^[35] Giving Jab Harry Met Sejal 2 stars out of 5, Hindustan Times wrote, "Lethargic storytelling kills Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma's film. It's a big disappointment to see Shah Rukh Khan returning to his comfort zone and yet not performing on top of his powers."^[36] Bollywood Hungama gave the film 2 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Jab Harry Met Sejal has its moments. But the film is riddled with cliches and flaws that takes the film down, thanks to the poor script."^[37]

Box office

Domestic

The film collected ₹15.25 crores on opening day,^[38] becoming the lowest opener for a Shah Rukh Khan film in three years.^[39] On the second day, it collected ₹15 crores, followed by its third day's collection of ₹15.50 crores, bringing its first weekend's collection to ₹45.75 crores, and making it 2017's sixth highest first-weekend-collecting Bollywood film in the domestic market.^[40]

Nevertheless, the weekend box office collection of the film did not manage to cross ₹50 crores, and it emerged as one of the lowest openers of Shah Rukh Khan in recent years.^[41][42]

Overseas

On first day, the film collected ₹50.57 lakh (US$79,000) from 27 screens in Australia, ₹20.83 lakh (US$32,000) from 20 screens in New Zealand, ₹1.10 crore (US$170,000) from 104 screens in the United Kingdom, ₹2.44 (3.8¢ US) from 252 screens in the United States and ₹58.26 lakh (US$90,000) from 26 screens in Canada.^[43] On second day, the film collected ₹18.96 lakh (US$29,000) from 10 screens in Australia, ₹16.01 lakh (US$25,000) from 16 screens in New Zealand, ₹1.17 crore (US$180,000) from 105 screens in the UK, ₹2.53 crore (US$390,000) from 251 screens in the US and ₹71.75 lakh (US$110,000) from 26 screens in Canada.^[44] On first Sunday, it collected ₹33.30 lakh (US$52,000) from 31 screens in Australia, ₹12.01 lakh (US$19,000) from 21 screens in New Zealand, ₹79.69 lakh (US$120,000) from 106 screens in the UK, ₹1.57 crore (US$240,000) from 249 screens in the US and ₹47.17 lakh (US$73,000) from 26 screens in Canada.^[45] On fourth day of release, the film collected ₹7.29 lakh (US$11,000) from 23 screens in Australia and ₹3.78 lakh (US$5,900) from 18 screens in New Zealand.^[46]

References

External links

• Jab Harry Met Sejal on IMDb
• Jab Harry Met Sejal at Bollywood Hungama