Jaan

Jaan is an action drama romance film directed by late Raj Kanwar. The film stars Ajay Devgn, Twinkle Khanna, late Amrish Puri, Shakti Kapoor, Suresh Oberoi, Vivek Mushran and Rakhi.

Police Commissioner Suryadeo Singh hires Karan, a trained weapons expert, to protect his daughter Kajal. Later, Kajal, who is unaware of Karan's secret mission, falls in love with him.

This film must be typecast as the typical mid 90s masala flick as it has elements that were prevalent at that time such as action, romance, comedy, emotions and off course splendid and melodious music. Today one might find this film very cliched or steorotyped but considering the era the film was released these elements uses to be a sure shot factor for the success of any film and this film was also a big hit.

The plot of the film is similar to 1980 film Hero with an average to decent execution. The main soul of the film is it's great music and excellent acting specially by Ajay Devgn and Amrish Puri. The only thing i felt bad was limited screen space of the super talented Rakhi, although she got some very good dialogues but she deserved a little more screen space.

Acting apart from Ajay Devgn, Amrish Puri and Rakhi were decent. I felt that there were lots of scope for Shakti Kapoor for the type of character he played but he wasted the opportunity by choosing monotonous but safe way. Twinkle Khanna was decent, Vivek Mushran was wasted, Suresh Oberoi and Bindu has played similar role in many films and didn't tried anything extra ordinary. Jhonny lever tried to make viewers laugh but barring few scenes the comedy scenes were ineffective.

The screenplay of the film is of typical 90s and the viewers of that era might not get disappointed. Music as mentioned earlier is superb. Climax of the film is cliched but due to some great dialogues in the climax the film gets a good closure.

If you are a fan of typicals 90s masala flick then you'll not get disappointed for others they might feel this film cliched but still a decent one time watch.

Raj Kanwar gave some good hits in 1990's and 2000's Though his films never had a great story but were well directed

The film is a typical action film but well handled

The scenes between Ajay and Amrish are superb while there are several more brilliant scenes

The film does have all clichés like Ganda Khoon.etc but it's well handled nonetheless

The climax is too clichéd and corny but well directed

Direction by Raj Kanwar is decent Music is good

Ajay Devgan does his famous by then act again, somehow he kept getting such roles and he got praised in some though Ajay's spaced dialogues have all gone now thankfully now he is become more natural but yet a good performance Twinkle is decent Vivek Mushran is adequate Amrish Puri excels and shares good scenes with Ajay Suresh Oberoi is as usual Shakti Kapoor annoys

Raj Kanwar is easily the most underrated director of the 90s. He delivered many hits from Deewana to Laadla to Jaan to Jeet and Judaai. Jaan was a successful film at the BO primarily because it was extremely well promoted. I remember how aggressively the film's producer (Ashok Ghai) and the music company (Tips) played the songs/trailers on almost every channel.

The story of Jaan reminds me of Ashok Ghaik's elder brother Subhash Ghai's smash hit Hero. They are not exactly the same but there is some resemblance. Ajay Devgun's raw appeal worked in his favor and Twinkle Khanna was a breath of fresh air in this film. The love scenes and drama will seem over the top today, but in 1996 it did seem enjoyable. The comedy was not up to the mark though (Johnny Lever and Priya Arun).

Acting wise Ajay Devgun was quite good. He had done similar roles in Vijaypath and Jigar and Divyashakti and well, you get the picture! For her second film, Twinkle Khanna was good. She looked extremely pretty. Vivek Mushran was alright. Amrish Puri was excellent in a role that suited him all the way.

One of the biggest strengths of the film was its music. Raj Kanwar's sense of rhythm, Anand-Milind's gift of melody and Anand Bakshi's poetic capabilities made Jaan one of the best albums of 1996. The title song was the pick of the lot, but the overall Indian/folksy flavor of the songs ensured that the songs continue to play in the interiors even 20 years later. In fact Subhash Ghai was so impressed with the music of the film that he personally designed the song promos.

Raj Kanwar knew exactly how to direct a film for that time period. He infused all the necessary elements in perfect quantities and made sure that the film was balanced in all respects. Drama was his forte and this film had (over)loads of it. It's not great cinema but it is surely paisa vasool and entertaining stuff. If you like a 100% commercial Bollywood potboiler, Jaan is for you!