Don't expect this movie to knock your socks off. Chances are you'll feel like ripping your hair off while watching it. You'll wonder where the story is (its been submerged so well beneath the songs).
Now don't get me wrong. I'm a hindi movie fan, have been since I was a child. I've grown up watching Ram Lakhan and Mr. India and the likes. I'm used to people breaking into a song at the drop of a hat. It is often a welcome digression from the story line (except if its supposed to be a nail biting thriller, that's when you hate getting interrupted, unless of course the protagonist hopes to accomplish something while singing and dancing).
Now JBJ is not a hindi movie. It's been made in hindi of course, but its not your typical hindi movie(I know, I know, that's what they all say). It has got "international" written all over it. With the turn of the century Yash Raj movies has discovered a new market. It is called a home sick-rootless-NRI genre. They first realised (with movies like Hum Tum) that their movies do really well abroad, especially in UK. Now they have started making movies especially for those audiences. JBJ and Ta Ra Rum Pum are two such movies. They don't do well in India. But that doesn't matter. They weren't made for India anyway. They are made to cater to Indians sitting in UK and USA. Anything you earn in India is bonus. They've gotten so good at it, they can now make the foreigners do perfect bhangra!
Who says bollywood doesn't compare with hollywood? Bollywood has more diversity than Hollywood ever did. One one hand we have people making movies like "Aap Ka suroor" for rickshaw audiences(which I'm sure will be a stupendous success). One the other hand we have Yash Raj and Karan Johar making movies for the NRI genre (which can easily spill over to capture curious firangs). My point is that while we still have a long way to go before we make a money spinner as big as Spiderman, we aren't doing that bad either. The need of the hour is not to blindly follow the hollywood way of life but to use our awareness to merge the best of both worlds. We mustn't forget that a hindi movie will always be watched by hindi speaking audiences. And most of them don't know what Matrix is. They'd much rather watch the hero throwing a soda bottle at the villain which finds its mark after turning a bend in the street.
