"Human cloning" - An alien concept in the heartland of Indian tinsel town but innovative and prominent feature in hi-profile Hollywood style sci-fi thriller, shows its first glow in the low profile Bollywood thriller 'Jaane Hoga Kya'. In an aura of experimental cinema, it's adventurous to explore untamed territory but do the viewers or the media have a taste for it? Does an average movie buff understand or correlate the scientific terms like "DNA", "clone", "mutation" etc in the present day context? Sci-fi thrillers are rare but still they are hot prepositions. Then, why does 'Jaane Hoga Kya' sink? The zero impact promotion, soulless music and poor face value play the biggest villainous part for this technically crafted potboiler. Debutante directors -- Glenn Barosetta and Ankush Mohile -- have piled up brilliant technical infrastructure for the film but it loses grip on scripting. The film has many dents; the innovative idea of "clone" and "cloning" loses its standard and importance.
Besides, 'Jaane Hoga Kya' hits the marquee after crossing many pre-production hurdles with the lowest possible media hype. It comes out with average to poor face value, unimpressive music, weird storyline and novice directorial expertise. There has been a growing demand for science fiction films in Bollywood with the recent success of 'Koi Mil Gaya' and 'Krrish'. Unfortunately, the world's biggest film industry has failed to garner sufficient know-how for this flashy sci-fi show. These successful science fiction films have hired expensive international technical expertise in plagiarizing mind-blowing special effects. On the other hand, there are films like 'Alag' (loosely inspired from Hollywood hit 'Powder') and 'Aabra Ka Dabra' (Hindi adaptation of "Harry Potter" series) that failed to attract audiences. Even this year's hit 'Krissh' met with mixed response from critics and viewers because of its weak music and insipid narration and scripting. So what does Bollywood pre-release trade report suggest for 'Jaane Hoga Kya'? The expectations from the film come to an all-time low when it faces toughest competition with this year's most awaited film 'Lage Raho Munnabhai'.
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In Hollywood, there are handful of films like 'The 6th Day' (Arnold Schwarzenegger), 'Multiplicity' (Michael Keaton, Andie McDowell) and Steven Spielberg's low impact sci-fi drama 'Artificial Intelligence' that glorify the concept of clones and cloning. These films were average hits and failed to inspire filmmakers around the world to venture into the concept of "cloning". Even Steven Spielberg's 'Artificial Intelligence' failed to draw adulation from the critics and the masses; it is counted as a losing preposition. 'Jaane Hoga Kya' holds striking similarity with Chinese sci-fi thriller 'DNA Clone' in the "desi" style and treatment.
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So what is "Human cloning"? It's a biotechnology term and means creation of genetically identical copy of existing or previously existing human being. So, how does 'Jaane Hoga Kya' correlate the concept with its narration? It's a story about ambitious scientist Siddarth (Aftab Shivdasani) who is hell bent to experiment cloning but faces obstacles. Finally, he creates his own "clone" and faces miseries by his "clone". It's like infusing the imported concept of "cloning" in the predicted lost and found formulae, mistaken identities of identical individuals surfaced in films like 'Ram Aur Shyam', 'Jaise Ko Taisa', 'Kishen Kanhaiya', 'Judwaa' etc. How many times have we witnessed "double role" formula entertainment? This time it has come in a baggage of sci-fi thriller with shoddy screenplay coupled with wrong casting of the actors.
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'Jaane Kya Hoga' is the story of ambitious scientist Siddarth Sardesai (Aftab Shivdasani), who is a reputed genius in the field of "cloning". Dr Krishnan (Paresh Rawal), head of department of Indian Medical Research Center, admires Siddarth's talent and encourages him. Inspector Rathod (Rahul Dev) strongly objects to Siddarth's attempt to experiment with cloning. Suchitra (Preeti Jhangiani), daughter of Dr. Krishnan, nurses love for Siddarth though the latter resents to her calls. Aditi (Bipasha Basu) is Siddarth's love and helps him in all aspects of his life. Objections from authorities shatter Siddarth's cloning plans. Aditi's father (Tinnu Anand) is a wealthy businessman; he arranges space and finance for Siddarth's lab. The overambitious Siddarth builds hi-tech scientific lab with modern equipments but his lab is bugged! Somebody is watching him with hidden cameras. But, Siddarth successfully clones a rat, and decides to clone himself. It was a big day for him when he experiments cloning on himself but destiny has other plans. After successful cloning, his clone disappears! The story takes a big tumble when Siddarth's clone physically assaults bar dancer (Maria Gorriete) followed by Dr. Krishnan's murder. The evil acts of Siddarth's clone target Suchitra and impregnates her. Siddarth is falsely targeted for the evil acts of his clone. Now, begins the fight of creator against his creation! During the tug of war, it is revealed that it was Aditi's plan to use Siddarth's clone against him. In the end, Siddarth wins over his clone and destroys his cloning lab.
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'Jaane Kya Hoga' suffers heavily from poor characterization and mishandling of the plot. How can "clone" behave like a robot or a superman? It seems the director has confused all these scientific terms in sketching out Aftab's clone character. How come "clone" behaves villainously from the scene one? No reasoning has been provided for it. The first scene of Aftab's clone is inspired from 'Terminator II- Judgment Day' but does 'Jaane Kya Hoga' justify that clones are super-human. Aditi's controlling of Siddarth's clone looks preposterous and confuses clones with robots. If Aditi was using Siddarth's clone against him then why clone kills her in the end? Even the facts like Aftab surrendering to police after absconding for months and inspector Rathod allowing Siddarth to meet Aditi with a police officer is difficult to digest.
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Despite all these dents no actor besides Aftab Shivdasani steals the limelight. Aftab Shivdasani impresses in good and evil acts but overacts in the second half. He twists his head (like a robot) and speaks like a programmed robot. Aftab's clone face has been shown dark. Then, how is "clone" identical to his creator? The chocolate boy has still not delivered a solo hit and looks complete miscast in this sci-fi action thriller.
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Bipasha Basu has brief appearance in the first half and returns with raunchy dance sequence in the second half. The film will go unnoticed for her disproportionate characterization and lack of sufficient exposure. Even second fiddle Preeti Jhangiani delivers more footage than Bips. Preeti lives up to her image and delivers decent performance. She has a sensuous number but the unimpressive musical display will make it unnoticed. Rahul Dev is maturing into a competent character artiste as shown by his performance. Paresh Rawal and Tinnu Anand impress in brief roles. Allan Amin directed fight sequences are breathtaking in the second half where the final battle begins. 'Jaane Kya Hoga' scores maximum in the visually spectacled SFX effects by Glenn-Ankush. It gives out a glassy outlook with flashy gadgets zooming in and out in the cloning experiments. The director-duo deserves all applause in plagiarizing an alien but interesting subject on celluloid. Despite the fact that their technical craftsmanship is worth watching they still need competent script to make things work on screen.
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'Jaane Kya Hoga' has struggled to find multiplexes screen theatres for its release and will be breathing short in single screen theatres too. The drastic fallout in 'KANK' collections, poor box-office performance of the last week's releases ('Aap Ki Khatir' and 'Sandwich') will hardly do anything promising for this film's collections. The biggest competition 'Jaane Kya Hoga' will face will be from this week's big release 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' and as predicted it will turn out to be a meek opponent by all standards. A thumbs down affair!