Jahaan Chaar Yaar review: Swara Bhaskar, Shikha Talsania's buddy flick is undercooked, over ambitious

The script of Jahaan Chaar Yaar is—it pains me to say this—utterly horrendous.

A still from the film

STORY: Jahaar Chaar Yaar chronicles the supressed lives of four best friends, from a small hamlet in Uttar Pradesh, who lose themselves in the service of others, especially their husbands. Now, in theory, this slice-of-life visual presentation is appealing and, unfortunately, relatable to a lot of women in India. Be warned though: what you are promised is not what you get on screen, and that's plain tragic considering the film had good actors to pull it off.

REVIEW: Mansi (Meher Vij) is that friend in this circle of four who has got the cha-ching to splurge on her boring girl pals: an overtly devoted Shivangi (Swara Bhasker), a headstrong Sakina (Pooja Chopra), and a sufferer-in-silence Neha (Shikha Talsania). So when Mansi is on her death bed, these childhood besties muster up the courage to go to Mumbai for their final meet-up before the inevitable. Spin? Mansi is honouring a drunken pact that the other three seem to have forgotten: partying in Goa!

Women and their place in society is a discussion as old as time. But that does not mean that every once in a while creative entities do not (or cannot) revisit and deliver reburish stories around self-love amongst women; hope, self-discovery, and most importantly, the women-for-women narrative that is all the more crucial in today's testing times. 

Coming from the house of Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana and Tanu Weds Manu, with half of the girl-gang extravagenza Veere Di Wedding's cast in it, I had reasonably high hopes from Jahaan Chaar Yaar. All the more because regardless of the controversies Swara Bhasker has courted till date, she is a fabulous actress. And I held similar sentiments for the theatre-trained Shikha Talsania, too. 

Honestly, Jahaan Chaar Yaar blindsides you with its shoddy production quality first; if it wasn't for the actors one would easily mistake it for a B-grade movie by a bunch of rookies. The costume design department has absolutely put no efforts in dressing up the leading ladies, and the script is—it pains me to say this—utterly horrendous.

The first half of the movie, because of sheer curiosity and the hype of it being the 'voice' for those oppressed—somehow wriggles its way to the interval mark; still somewhat invested. The narrative soon takes a drastic turn, for the worse, in the second half and you see the whole world of these four women come crashing down: both in the movie and for the movie.

Jahaan Chaar Yaar needed to go on a trip to a good writing and production schools first before taking a trip to Goa, or the movie theatres. 

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