It’s a bird, it’s a plane … it’s super aam aadmi! Salman Khan plays the ex-army-turned-do-gooder in his brother Sohail Khan’s Jai Ho and doesn’t ‘disappoint’ his fans at all. That doesn’t mean that Jai Ho is the best thing to happen in Bollywood this year, in fact it is as good as a superhero flick (read: animated) where the protagonist doesn’t wear a mask but fights for truth, justice and the Indian way!

When he is good, Jai Ho’s Jai dances around, picks and drops his nephew from school, helps anyone in need, hangs out with friends and above all, romances a girl in the neighborhood. People come to him with his problems, he solves them in no time and everyone lives happily ever after. That is when he is good because when he is bad, he turns nasty. Nasty as in bites the baddies, roars in their ears (ala Manimal), smashes their head on anything nearby, kicks them so hard that they don’t have the will to stand up and is unable to feel pain. In fact, he is the Indian version of Superman without a cape, alter ego and an emblem.

Part Rambo, Part Do-gooder!

The character of Jai Agnihotri is undoubtedly inspired from Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo – ex-army man who does what he believes is right! No wonder the film’s working title was Mental but then it had to be changed for the ‘brilliant’ public service message the character delivers in the movie – ‘Don’t say thank you, just help three people who will in turn help three more people and so on.’ Sadly, this very message is not original as it is copied blatantly from Kevin Spacey-Helen Hunt starrer Pay It Forward and was in turn used in Stalin, the Telugu movie from which Jai Ho was inspired!

Stupid is what stupid does!

He may not be faster than a speeding bullet but behind the wheels, he is faster than a person who has a hand on a boy’s neck, ready to twist it! When he kicks a car that isn’t starting due to various reasons, it starts running. While a normal person would die if he had a bullet wound in his arm and a knife stuck in his back, Sallu bhai would just remove the shirt and the knife would disappear. He is always there when someone needs help and same can be said of his friends like his commanding officer in the Army, who drives a tank on the road to save his pal, and a rickshay wala who is always around when you need him!

He has friends in every department of the Indian government (telephone department, hospitals, etc) and that’s why he gets the job done. People trust him more than they trust themselves and why shouldn’t they, he is the super aam aadmi. As for his job, he is a part time mechanic who lives in a residential complex amongst rich people, and with rich people comes rich problems, right? Even then, one fails to understand how his brother in law was able to donate his kidney to his mother in law or why didn’t the Chief Minister have bodyguards around him. Think man, think!

Acting, what acting?

Everybody loves Sallu bhai, except the bad guys. After delivering the terrifying threat ‘Meri behen kabhi jhoot nahi bolti’, he exits the room and leaves the villain in the same spot as he was in – a circle meant for a dog. Woof woof! Hence proven there is no acting needed for a film that has such a woeful script. The leading lady in this movie is played by newcomer Daisy Shah who joins the list of actresses who will have to work very hard to make it into the big league.  She used to be an item girl in Kannada film industry (before that, an assistant choreographer) and if she doesn’t improve her acting skills, Bollywood will no longer welcome her with open arms.

Veteran actor Raj Babbar’s wife Nadira (yes, he re-married after Smita Patel’s death) plays Salman Khan’s mother but she overacts a lot like the leading lady. Tabu plays his ‘truthful’ elder sister but that’s because she can’t be cast as a heroine anymore. Salman Khan’s favourite actors – Mohnish Bahl and Mahesh Thakur – make an appearance as well but that’s because they are out of work! It was nice to see Pulkit Samrat (Fukrey fame) do the ‘good cop’ thing with Salman Khan but when you are working with Sallu bhai, you are bound to be relegated to second tier, and that is what exactly happened with the budding actor.

Veteran actor Danny Denzengopa is the arch villain and doesn’t disappoint like always, but the surprise package is Naman Jain, the always-angry nephew of Jai. Maybe he is the HO in Jai Ho, since his mamoon portrays the Jai part!

He is always shouting and complaining – be it the pop corn prices at the multiplex or his mamoon’s attempt to flirt with the neighbour.

Flop actors galore!

And that’s not all, one-time leading men of Bollywood – Sunil Shetty, Mukhul Dev, Aditya Pancholi and Ashmit Patel – have small roles in the film. Sunil Shetty we know is as over the hill like the other stars of the 90s who we were able to digest because of lack of competition. Mukhul Dev was once touted as the next big thing but his balloon exploded after a handful of movies in the 90s. Aditya Pancholi was a senior to all the one-time wonders and is now known as the father of Sooraj, one who is under investigation for the suicide of actress Jiah Khan. As for Ashmit Patel (yes, Veena wala Aaaashmit), he is also part of the group with which Salman Khan’s character hangs out with and in a couple of decades, he would be telling his kids that one of his movie did actually do good business!

Usually Sharad Kapoor and Mahesh Manjrekar play villains in movies but here, the former is a corrupt police wala and the latter plays an honest rickshay wala. Vatsal Seth and Yash Tonk – friends of Sohail Khan – get a chance to feature in a movie that is bound to succeed. When you have  so many ‘had-beens’ in a flick, how can you forget the ladies – Tulip Joshi (Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi), Genelia Desmukh (formerly D’ Souza) and Nauheed Cyrusi (Piya Basanti Ray fame) who play minor roles in the movie, but that doesn’t mean that their performance went unnoticed – I noticed!

Watch it for Salman Khan!

The sole reason why Jai Ho managed to cross Rs. 100 crore mark during its first week is Salman Khan. The success of the flick has nothing to do with the writer/director Sohail Khan who has delivered more flops than hits while at the helm, and has so far survived in the industry because of his family connections. He makes a mess of the idea put forward in Hollywood flick Pay It Forward and gets away with it because people still love Salman Khan.

The super aam aadmi – who kicks, punches, roars and even bites – wouldn’t have been acceptable had it been played by any other actor, but when it’s Salman Khan, anything’s possible. This was his first movie after Dabangg 2 and his fans waited 14 months to see their favorite actor in action again. Even Aamir Khan believes that Salman’s films don’t need marketing, and that’s why even a flimsy movie as Jai Ho is now a hit!