Pooja Meri Jaan movie review: Promising Mrunal Thakur film let down by its treatment - The Indian Express

Pooja Meri Jaan movie review: Pooja (Mrunal Thakur) is in the dock. Her jilted boyfriend Aniket (Vikram Singh Chauhan) is dead, and the blame has been placed squarely upon her slender shoulders. Her lawyer Sana (Huma Qureshi) is not well-versed in criminal law, but she’s a friend, something the investigating officer Jatin (Vijay Raaz) is clearly not. He’s convinced that Pooja is responsible, and vows to make her pay.

Pooja is the kind of modern, independent young woman whom the manosphere — desi or elsewhere — hates. She has a busy dating life, and doesn’t think that it’s her job to rescue the men she’s with. It’s even-stevens, and if the men have a problem, there’s the door. Which is pretty much how it should be, but of course it’s not, whether it’s in the movies or real life.

When we come upon Pooja, she’s playing Juliet to Aniket’s Romeo, and once the curtains fall, her Shakespearean suitor turns the moment into a real-life declaration of love. They’ve been in a friendly-with-the-one-off-benefit relationship for years; he’s been the shoulder she has cried on, but she doesn’t really have ‘those kinds’ of feelings for him. When he goes down on one knee, complete with ring and all, she’s so taken aback that her reaction comes off confused: was it a yay or nay?

She clearly hasn’t said yes. He hasn’t heard the ‘no’. The murky in-between space where Bollywood has been bunging in its callow romances for years is a worthwhile place to explore. And there’s something to be said for coming up with a lead female character who refuses to get boxed in.

But good intentions do not always a good film make: the promise is belied by the treatment, and the film stays mostly on the surface.

Pooja Meri Jaan movie cast: Mrunal Thakur, Huma Qureshi, Vikram Singh Chauhan, Vijay Raaz Pooja Meri Jaan movie directors: Navjot Gulati, Vipasha Arvind Pooja Meri Jaan movie rating: 1.5 stars