Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

File:Jaane-tu-ya-jaane-na.jpg

Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na ("Whether you know it... Or not") was a critically and commercially successful Bollywood musical, released in the summer of 2008. The story centers around four longtime friends narrating the love story of their friends Jai and Aditi.

Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na follows six friends after college-- Jei, Aditi, Chalene, Jiggy, Rotcul, and "Bombs". The movie begins with the friends besides Jei and Aditi telling the story of those two friends to Jiggy's new girlfriend while they wait at the airport for them to arrive.

Jei and Aditi are the closest friends through five years of college, and they lead the close-knit group. Everyone assumes that they are deeply in love because they act so close and are constantly together, but they swear they are Just Friends. Both decide that to adjust to being on seperate continents from each other after college, they decide to give each other space and find a good match for each other. Jei gets a girl named Mehgan, and they become so infatuated that they leave the rest of the group behind. Mehgan puts a rift between Jei and Aditi, and they drift apart because of his relationship. Just as Jei begins to become unhappy with Mehgan, Aditi finds herself a guy. With marriage proposals on the way and engagements, it looks like the two would be better off not admitting their feelings at all.

The whole story of their relationship is also intertwined by the story of how Jei becomes a man through the rite of passage that the savage group his Disappeared Dad belonged to. Hilarity Ensues.

It can be watched for free (legally) here.

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This movie provides examples of:

• Action Mom: Jai's mother, Savitri, has shades of this.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: It ends up being a bad idea for Aditi. "If I wanted a Nice Guy I would have fallen for you!"
• Arc Words: The title comes from a song from the movie Aa Gale Lagja. And the six friends are always singing it to each other. And the title shows up in nearly every song in some form.
• Berserk Button: Jai practices non-violence unless someone harms Aditi.
• Beta Couple: Rotlu and Bombs.
  • Although they initially wanted to be with Aditi and Jai, respectively.
• Betty and Veronica: Aditi and Meghna.
• Bowdlerise: The subtitles translate "saala" in Pappu Can't Dance to... "baby."
• Cool Loser: Amit.
• Cowboy: Bhalu and Bagheere. And Jai in the film's climax.
• Crowd Song: "Hai muscular, hai popular, spectacular, he's a bachelor! (He's a bachelor, he's a bachelor!)"
  • Also see: Nazrein Milana, Nazrein Churana and Kabhi Kabhi Aditi.
• Dawson Casting: Averted. Most of the characters in their twenties are portrayed by actors in their twenties. The one exception to this is Jiggy's actor... who was actually younger than his character.
• Everyone Can See It: From the very beginning. The two first refuse to believe it, but mostly they just don't want to ruin a great friendship by making it a romantic relationship.
• Cute Kitten: It's hard to decide who's cuter at the end of Kabhi Kabhi Aditi: Imran Khan or the kitten.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Aditi's hair changes from curly to straight halfway through the film, when she becomes aware of her crush on Jai.
• Forgotten Birthday: Aditi's birthday is missed for a date with Mehgan-- she doesn't take it well.
• Frothy Mugs of Water: "Give me coke... on the rocks. Make it strong."
  • Subverted when other characters are openly shown drinking.
• Gratuitous English
• Hide Your Lesbians: The director states in the DVD commentary that he intended for Shaleen to be a lesbian, but in the film this is depicted entirely through subtext.
• Jerkass: Sushant. Just... Sushant.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Picked for Jei purposely by Aditi-- she says he needs a "silly, wild and sweet romantic type."
• Momma's Boy: Subverted. Jai's close to his mom, but it's portrayed as a good thing.
• The Pollyanna: Meghna is a deconstruction of this.
• Race For Your Love: Discussed, lampshaded, and then exaggerated.
• Relationship Upgrade: The entire point of the film.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Aditi and Jei's attitude.
• Shout-Out: The last scene has a person at the airport with a sign saying "Mr. Godot".
• True Companions: In the form of Jai, Aditi, Rotlu, Bombs, Jiggy and Shaleen.
• Tsundere: Aditi sure has her moments. So does Mala.
• Will They or Won't They?: The movie's narrative structure hangs a huge freaking Lampshade on it.
• Victorious Childhood Friend: Averted. Jai and Aditi may have been friends for a while, but they met in college.