Shahrukh might not be a very believable Punjabi boy but, that’s the only flaw he has in the entire movie.Imtiaz does what he does best, and that is, making a film on travel. For a low budget traveller, just buy a ticket to this movie and you have all the knowledge about Europe that you need, now you know where to go without wasting your money on anything else.Anushka is at her best in the movie. The thick Gujarati accent is not overdone. What we don’t get is, how the storyline has so many loopholes, that it’s hard to miss them even in the first time you watch the movie. Rigged with a couple underwritten characters and a plot that seems to be so far-fetched at moments that life on mars seems a reality, Jab Harry Met Sejal is still a must watch for the Europe tour and Anushka Sharma’s Sejal.

A rehash of Imtiaz Ali’s past films, Jab Harry Met Sejal forces scenes and dialogues in so that a song could follow. Why not directly play the song? After all, it’s the music that offers some respite from this drag-fest. On second thoughts, it’s not even a typical Imtiaz Ali film. Where is that self realisation of the characters who want to run away from the burden of love? At most, it’s a stretched out meet-cute that then melds into a search for a goddamn ring. From the title to its climax, everything screams ‘been there, done that.’ At one point, Anushka actually says, “Lonely feel nahi karna hai,” and thank god for that. Otherwise how would we understand her subtle signs! That was a joke. Nothing is subtle here. Jab Harry Met Sejal is absolutely banal with some hummable tunes. It’s a big disappointment to see Shah Rukh Khan returning to his comfort zone and yet not performing at the top of his powers. Pritam’s songs can do some patchwork, but nothing can rescue this 143-minute of lethargic storytelling. I haven’t found what I was seeking, looks like you won’t either.

Jab Harry Met Sejal is predictable to the T like most Bollywood movies are. Yet, some manage to entertain. Not this one. Tour guide Harry (Shah Rukh Khan) makes a living by tagging along with Indian groups on holiday in Europe. He clicks photos for them and hopes to find that elusive something that he is missing. What is this 'kami'? By the time director Imtiaz Ali and his lead actor gives us the answer, we are fast asleep in our seats. Thus begins the journey of a 'tour guide who is lost' and a Gujarati girl in 'need of guidance', and your trauma. Shah Rukh does nothing in the film that he hasn't already done earlier. Anushka Sharma does nothing in this film that she hasn't already done earlier sans the Gujarati accent. Imtiaz Ali does something that he hasn't already done earlier: he gives us an early-2000s Karan Johar film, complete with a thousand songs and romantic dialogues and irritating characters on the horizon. It wouldn't have made any difference to Bollywood if Jab Harry Met Sejal wasn't made. Shah Rukh, Anushka, Imtiaz - all have flop films and bad choices in their filmographies, but Jab Harry Met Sejal beats all of them together and by a huge margin. Maybe Harry should have stuck to his Safar-ka-hi-tha-main-safar-ka-raha stance. Meeting Sejal was not the best thing to have happened to the rest of us. Serendipity? ROFL. Watch Jab Harry Met Sejal if you have no one to meet and have a lot of time and some money to waste. Jab you see, tab don't tell us we didn't warn you.

Imtiaz Ali’s latest come-fall-in-love-on-the-road journey, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma, touches those high points only very intermittently, making it a sadly missed opportunity: given Ali’s propensity to create mood and perky dialogue, and the fact that SRK and Sharma have worked well together in their previous pairings, this should rightly have been a knock-your-socks-off rom com. But this, in one word, is a dud. ‘Sweet si, ‘sister-type’ Sejal aka Anushka Sharma and the ‘chalu, chalta-hua, cheap’ Harry aka Shah Rukh Khan are much too fraternal with each other. We do see that fire, but much too briefly. Finally, it comes down to counting the momentary pleasures of this disappointing film: a bit of the sparring between Harry and Sejal, the breathless awareness that the other exists, and the realization that without the other, it’s simply not worth it. At this point in his career, Shah Rukh Khan is ripe for a great, old-fashioned but modern-day romance. This one is not it.

The plot is wafer-thin and it’s been done to death by none other than Imtiaz Ali in each of his earlier films—be it Jab We Met, Cocktail (writer) and Tamasha. It’s the routine girl is engaged elsewhere story but she discovers half-way through that her soulmate is someone other. In this case, Sejal is engaged to Rupen but actually ends up falling for Harry. Let’s give the devil his due, Imtiaz’s films do coax and cajole you to take a journey inwards instead of just doing the peripheral one. But in this film, the soul-searching bits between the leads don't quite add up. What makes this film watchable though is the presence of Shah Rukh and Anushka both of who are in top-form in their Punjabi and Gujarati `impersonations'. In fact, SRK is like old wine, the more he matures, the better he romances. Boy, when he seals it with a kiss, he’s irresistible! The music is average but Radha will definitely get you to attempt a bhangra-garba mix at your next house party. Despite it all, you’re tempted to tell the filmmaker that the script of this travelogue that seems to have gone missing, could perhaps be languishing in his own backyard. Go search…