A film released on this date 19 years ago..
JOGGERS PARK
(A Subhash Ghai Production)
There is something about the film which struck a chord..
Age does not matter.. Love does and it doesn't just have to be physical but something beyond that.
There's been many films of young boys falling in love with an elderly-women saga.( Leela, Dil Chahta hai, Ek Choti si Love Story) The 'Summer of 42' angle has been recycled several times on Hindi screen before.
Joggers Park reverses the circumstances.
Though Hindi filmmakers have tried exploring an age-imbalanced romantic relationship, the younger-girl-and-older-man theme has had very little success. Ek Nayi Paheli (a unsuccessful K. Balachander remake of his successful Tamil movie), Shaukeen (a Basu Chatterjee comedy which enjoyed moderate success), and Lamhe (arguably one of the best ever depictions of romance on celluloid, which bombed at the Indian B.O.) are some examples that come to mind. Of course each of those films dealt with much more than just the younger girl older man romance.
The story is rather simple. Jenny, a twenty-something part-time hotel exec and part-time model is an effervescent Mumbai gal (Perizaad Zorabian) and JC, is a sixty-something retired judge, Justice Jyotin Prasad Chatterjee (Victor Banerjee). JC, is socially unskilled, and at a loss as to how to spend his time, is persuaded by his family to jog every morning at Joggers’ Park. Here he is exposed to an energetic new life, that brings with it Jenny. The film moves at its own relaxed pace in establishing the bond between JC and Jenny. Given that JC is a much married man with a large family, what happens to the affection that develops between JC and Jenny ? The rest of the story is all about how they find a soulmate in each other and what happens next!
Anant Balani ( who ironically passed away just before the films release) has done a great job as director by portraying the relationship between the lead pair as very tender and emotional. Music and humor play a vital role in making any film an entertainer if it has an arresting script. Anant made sure that there is subtle humor along with soulful melody in this film.
Dialogues are very witty yet realistic. Music by Tabun Sudradhar is extremely melodious and soulful. An array of legendary voices like Asha Bhonsle, Adnan Sami, Jagjit Singh and Usha Uthup added to the beauty of the melody. The title track dominates entire first half as the background music. 'Ishq hota nahin sabhi ke liye' dominates the second half of the film.Badi nazuk hai yeh manzil’’, by Jagjit Singh is a beautiful song,
Joggers Park main strength is that it is superbly cast in its lead roles. Perizaad Zorabian is charming, camera-friendly, confident and very very everyday-beautiful (as opposed to movie-star beautiful). It works wonders for her character as she is more than convincing as Jenny. Clinching the acting honors however, is Victor Banerjee. Delightfully restrained and fitting the requirements of the role to a T.
To an extent anyone in the late 50's would be lying if they say he can't be identified with.
Divya Dutta does well in her small role.
Script Similarity in Nishabd released a few years later is evident also later in a different context with Cheeni Kum..
In both Amitabh did the honours.
But the relationship has been very delicately handled in Joggers Park.
The film is realistic and refreshing.
Available on Zee 5.
Should be seen if not yet.
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