‘Jahaan Chaar Yaar,’ as the title suggests, is about four friends and when they get together, we can expect a lot of fun. But, unfortunately, the film contains a lot of drama that only vaguely discusses how important it is for women to have their own identities and voices. Spread over 125 minutes of run time, the film sets up the story of four women who decide to live a bit more independently for a few days in order to break free from the monotonous cycle of being middle-class housewives. The story starts off on an interesting note and is funny in parts, but it ends up being a dull film to watch.
The film opens with Shivangi, who lives a routine life of doing the household chores such as washing the clothes of the entire family members and cooking meals for them. She even eats by herself after finishing the labour, but she never moans. Then we meet Sakhina, who has a troubled marriage as a result of her inability to have children. Even though her spouse is to blame, no one wants to hear her side of the story. Neha is the third member of the group, and her husband is having an extramarital affair. The last member of the buddy gang is Mansi, who duped her friends into going on a trip to Goa. Will this be a good break for them, or will it change their lives?
With ‘Jahaan Chaar Yaar’, writer Kamal Pandey makes his directorial debut after penning numerous daily soaps and film scripts. The story definitely strikes the chord at first, especially given how easy it is to identify with these women and their circumstances. When they go on a trip and end up in an unfortunate situation (to be precise right before the interval), what started out as fun quickly loses its lustre for both, them, and the viewers.
After ‘Veere Di Wedding’, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania are back together in another film about female bonding. Swara is the best of the bunch, with some funny one-liners and a perfect UP accent. Shikha Talsania, Meher Vij and Pooja Chopra have played their parts well, but lack support from the writing department. All said, the concept of friends travelling together to have some thrill in life is not novel, but given that the film focusses on desi naaris, a lot of entertainment was expected, but it falls short in every way.
