Book Review: Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron by Jai Arjun Singh

I picked this book up at the Bombay airport a few years ago and read it on my journey to Delhi. At that point, I just remembered ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron’ as the movie that had that timelessly funny Mahabharat scene, which as college students we would watch on loop sometimes, on Youtube. The rest of the movie was a blurry memory for me (even though I had seen it).

Jai Arjun Singh, however, clearly loved the movie with a passion much more infinite than the average Indian. And he does a great job in researching the origins of the movie and decoding the madness behind it. What comes out in the end is a masterpiece – an incredibly funny book – something I dare say might even be funnier than the movie. In any case, if you have seen the movie, you need to read this book to understand the movie.

The funniest parts for me were the revelation that the Indian Government (NFDC) was the sole sponsor of the movie (Surprising, isn't it?) and the revelation that there was a role played by Anupam Kher in the movie (as an extremely myopic assassin called ‘Disco Killer’) which was eventually edited away. Kher is supposed to be a crack assassin but all he can do is shoot mangoes off the tree under which Naseeruddin’s and Ravi’s characters were chatting.

I dare say I was surprised that the book was such a page turner. Highly recommended.