Hrithik Roshan & Jr NTR in Janaab-e-Aali is exactly what a dance-off should not be

The Print

3 hours ago

It is a shame that Hrithik, who inspired a whole generation to dance, making every song of his the epitome of 'cool', fails to make a mark with his performance in this song. Forget comparing it with classics like his debut with Ek Pal Ka Jeena in Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai (2000) or the slick title track of Dhoom 2 (2006), it does not even come close to Ghungroo of War (2019).
Will this song play in clubs and make people hit a PR in gyms or become the favourite of sangeet performances? Absolutely not.
Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR coming together on the dance floor should have been the personification of the fire emoji, but their latest song Janaab-e- Aali from War 2 is as lukewarm as it gets. The teaser, featuring two excellent dancers, is so yawn-worthy that you forget it the moment the video is over.
People broke their legs trying to imitate the hook step of Naatu Naatu from RRR (2022), when Jr NTR as Komaram Bheem showed a British fellow how to dance and made the world shake a leg. But this latest song, where he has Hrithik in tow, is not good enough to press the rewatch button.
'Disappointing' does not quite sum up the experience of watching Janaab-e-Aali. It makes one miss Tiger Shroff dancing with Hrithik on Jai Jai Shivshankar. Even though that was not the gold standard of dance-offs, the bar is low right now.
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Confused nostalgia
Bollywood dance-offs are the cornerstone of a good ol' masala Bollywood film. Make it rivals' dance-off, and there are extra brownie points. In the '90s, we had Karan (Akshay Kumar) and Deepak (Saif Ali Khan) grooving to the title track of Main Khiladi Tu Anari (1994). Pooja ( Karisma Kapoor) and Nisha (Madhuri Dixit) danced off to instrumental music in Dil To Pagal Hai (1997). Five years later, it was Madhuri Dixit as Chandramukhi along with Aishwarya Rai as Paro in Dola Re Dola of Devdas (2002) making every girl drape a red and white saree, replicating the hook step.
But the choreographers of Janaab-e-Aali do not even need to go back two decades in history for inspiration. In 2015, Sanjay Leela Bhansali added Pinga to the list of iconic dance-offs when Kashibai (Priyanka Chopra) and Mastani (Deepika Padukone) made everyone dance in nauvari saree. Last year, with Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, we got the third dance-off featuring Madhuri with Vidya Balan in Ami Je Tomar 3.0.
Janaab-e-Aali seems to be offering confused nostalgia. The footwork is a mishmash of both Ghungroo and Naatu Naatu, and yet looks unappealing. The production designers took a leaf out of Jai jai Shivshankar, and the lyrics are just bad. This is definitely not the dance-off that has the potential to make audiences race to theatres, just to watch the two actors groove together.
A good dance-off is not about finding or adding the latest dance trends or complicated techniques; it should be about making even the non-dancers groove. Janaab-e-Aali makes one want to retreat to the farthest corner of the dance floor and furiously grab the remote to find a good song.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)