A crackling, clever trip

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Anjaana Anjaani is an immensely smart and entertaining film about two spiritless strangers who meet on the railing of a bridge on a fateful night and proceed to make a pact to live life briefly before returning to the same bridge to kill themselves. The film’s plot has the quality of good short stories — it grabs your attention in the first encounter itself, and the journey thereon is delightful.

In New York, Akash (Ranbir Kapoor) is a Wall Street money-making machine who lies to his friends-cum-colleagues to take on a $12 million loan. They lose everything when the market crashes — no job, no money. They are all angry and desperate, Akash more so because he is also lonely — no home, no family. So Akash hops on to a bridge and is about to end it all when a drunk babe interrupts him. She’s taking long swigs from a vodka bottle, and when she’s done she rises to jump with him. She is Kiara (Priyanka Chopra) and we don’t know her story yet.
A cop shouts and makes them leave the bridge. But Akash and Kiara are in America and Christmas is close — a time for miracles and life-altering coincidences. Both have accidents, bump into each other again and decide to go to her house to die. But failure hounds the luckless two.
Kiara sees a pattern, a message. Something’s left undone, she says, and takes charge: They will first reveal their last wish, go live the moment and return to the bridge on December 31. Akash says he would like to get laid and Kiara would like to swim in the ocean.
In between Akash’s striptease, a hysterical rape attempt and susu calamities in the Atlantic and en route to Las Vegas, we learn about Kiara’s life in San Francisco with her parents, her fiancé Kunal (Zayed Khan), and the phone call that changed everything.
Another suicide attempt, a good Indian doctor telling Akash a thing or two about valuing life and Akash’s heart skipping about singing a love song. Kiara, however, is too depressed to notice. And when she does, she says she will always love Kunal...
Director Siddharth Anand, who has made three films set in foreign locations — Salaam Namaste, Ta Ra Rum Pum and Bachna Ae Haseeno — is steadily getting better (not counting that Rum Pum thing, of course). His Anjaana Anjaani is slick and clever with a contemporary tempo, lingo and soul. The film’s essence and concerns are very today. Here the individual is supreme — confident, cool and seemingly having fun, but emotionally dismembered and with few life skills.
America serves as the perfect large and indifferent backdrop to Anand’s two “lonely suiciders”. There are no buildings with memories, no sensible uncles, no warm aunties. Lost and depressed, they must draw strength from each other to die, and to live. Given the number of suicide attempts, Anjaana Anjaani is not grim. Anand seamlessly delivers the “life’s possibilities are greater than its failures” message while making us laugh at the oddities of life.
Anjaana Anjaani’s screenplay is tight and its dialogues are quick and cute.
The film has several crackerjack moments, all rendered with perfect comic timing. Though the film’s pace slackens a bit in the second half, tender Hallmark scenes make up for that. The film’s music is very nice, too.
Kiara’s character is more complete and logical than Akash. Akash is driven and serious, and suicide seems a bit out of character for him. Not so Kiara. She is mostly dangling from a bottle, and is reckless and depressed enough. When we first meet Akash he is a bit of a jerk, but that side of him is dumped at the bridge. His transition from corporate creep to the boy who howls for a girl in the privacy of his car remains a bit of a mystery, as does his family story. But it doesn’t matter too much because Ranbir and Priyanka’s chemistry is crackling, especially when they lock horns and insult each other.
Priyanka swings from over-the-top chattering chick to intense foxy lady in seconds — she is endearing in the first while her second act lingers on in your mind. Ranbir Kapoor, less desperate than Priyanka to be heard and seen, has a quiet confidence about him. He is a natural — nimble and impactful.