Ram Jaane
Tags: tragedy, romantic, murder

Plot synopsis:
A nameless boy, who was abandoned at a very young age faces taunts from the other children in his village. He asks the priest what his name is to which the priest answers Ram Jaane (God knows) which the boy accepts as his name. Ram Jaane and his friend Murli are caught stealing from a train by corrupt police officer, Inspector Chewte (Puneet Issar). Chewte beats Ram Jaane in prison but he is released without charge. Years later, Ram Jaane (Shah Rukh Khan) is working under Sameer Sanvla (Tinnu Anand) – Sanvla is murdered by Chewte and when Ram Jaane attempts to kill Chewte, he is again put in prison. When released from prison, Ram Jaane is taken by Murli (Vivek Mushran) to 'Apna Ghar', a home set up for the homeless – Murli believes that this is the best way to reform him, it is here where Ram Jaane is reunited with his childhood friend Bela (Juhi Chawla) whom he is in love with.
However even in Apna Ghar, Ram Jaane still remains a criminal and even manages to influence the children in the house to follow in his footsteps. Apna Ghar is soon targeted by Baweja (G.P. Singh), who encourages his gang to attack Apna Ghar and all its residents, which Ram Jaane is able to stop. Ram Jaane is then seen shooting Baweja in the head. Chewte learns of Baweja's death and is determined to have his murderer put in prison – he approaches Apna Ghar and starts beating one of the children which leads to Murli and the others attacking Chewte and his fellow officers. In the riot, one child gets killed. Murli blames Ram Jaane for this tragedy and Ram Jaane runs away, he attempts to make Bela run away with him (as he believes she loves him) but she refuses. Bela is, in fact, in love with Murli – Murli realised this all along and reciprocated her feelings but did not show it as he realised that Ram Jaane also loved her. Murli begs Bela to attempt to reform Ram Jaane. However, whilst trying to reform him, Bela begins to dislike him for his criminal ways. Bhau (Gulshan Grover), Ram Jaane's rival and Technicolour (Pankaj Kapur), Ram Jaane's former partner in crime hatch a plot to kill Ram Jaane – when he hears of their plan, he kills them both and then rushes to Apna Ghar to stop their henchmen from killing anyone. Eventually Chewte arrives but is shot by Ram Jaane.
Ram Jaane is taken to court where he confesses to all of his sins – the court decides that he must be sentenced to death. On the day of his death, Bela rushes to stop him but is too late – after his death, she and Murli read a letter from Ram Jaane to Bela which states that he feels guilty for everything he had done.

Review: Heroic effort!.
This movie has an intriguing story.
Two foundling orphans are childhood friends: one turns his misfortune into an opportunity to help others, while the other is unable to rise above his sad beginning and turns to crime.
Murli, the good orphan (Vivek Mushran) now runs an orphanage himself, while Ram Jaane (played by Shahrukh Khan, and so named because when he asks a priest what his name is, the priest replies "God knows!" "Ram Jaane!") works for an evil crime lord.
Juhi Chawla is Bela, the sweet girl who is loved by both men, but who only has eyes for Murli.Shahrukh Khan, the undisputed King of Bollywood, is an engaging, riveting, charismatic actor who is unfortunately prone to unprovoked fits of atrocious overracting.
Ram Jaane is a case in point.
Although he has moments of sheer brilliance in this film (his reading of his goodbye letter to Bella had me in tears) his consistent scenery chewing becomes a distraction in many scenes.
Khan is entirely capable of delivering subtle, thoughtful performances, and it's hard to see why the director didn't reign him in a bit here.
The character of Ram Jaane has so much potential; he is a tortured soul who longs for love and tries in his own twisted way to be loyal and virtuous, but simply lacks the moral equipment to make the right choices...if played with a bit less hamming this could have been a great film.Vivek Mushran and Juhi Chawla handle their characters admirably, however, and there are a trio of nice songs: the title song Ram Jaane, another little ditty called Chori Chori that has Juhi and Shahrukh dancing in the fields of Ram Jaane's imagination, and a manic dance number called Pump up the Banghra that's loads of fun.
This movie has its moments, but overall fails to live up to its potential..
Scrpit wasn't great, but Shah Rukh Khan Saved the day.
Ram Jaane is a Bollywood attemp in the gangster genre.
Does it succeed in entertainment and is it worth the watch.
The answer is YES, and this is only because of Shah Rukh Khans performance.
Ram Jaane (Shah rukh khan) is about a orphan who is dumped in the bin and grows up to be a street wise smart gangster.
Once Ram Jaane becomes a gangster, there is no proper plot.
Its Ram Jaane and his way of life.
Shah rukh Khan delivers a Great Performance.
Why doesn't he make more of this kind of role.
The movie also stars the very sexy Juhi Chawla in a decent role.
The other actor is Vivek Mushram who is long gone and forgotten.
Pankaj Kapoor is amusing as the Funny Gangster.
This movie is absolutely entertaining.
The Ram Jaane character is so amusing, his style and way of speaking is madness.
If you like action movies and Shah Rukh Khan.
It is worth the watch..
Riveting movie throughout.
I missed this film when it first came out and just saw it on DVD.
The story line is very depressing though not really removed from reality.There is a great deal of violence and the usual overblown underworld but all that fades with the presence of Shahrukh Khan.
In fact the great strength of the movie is the remarkable performance of Shahrukh Khan as the main protagonist.
He is believable as a victim of circumstances who retains great moral strength and ability to fight back but also has pathos.
He retains audience sympathy throughout.
The heroine Juhi Chawla is rather weak.
We can understand the obsession and love of the 'hero' for her but cannot make her out at all.
We have to take her at her word that she loves Murli the good character and is just pretending love or affection for the hero.
But there is no conflict in her emotions or evidence of what she really feels for the Shahrukh character.
Is he able to get through to her at all?
The ending is unsatisfactory in this regard.
A film well worth seeing for the performance of Shahrukh Khan..
Absolutely spectacular!.
This film is the epitome of LOVE, DEATH and PASSION.
It successfully captures themes of each aspect, into a breathtaking acting peformnce from the main protagonist Ram Jaane (Shah Rukh Khan), alongside other actors/actresses.
The acting reflected the situations in every scene.
Lastly, and how can i forget, the songs, catchy and powerful..
Angels with Dirty Faces.
I have seen Angels with Dirty Faces (James Cagney) before I saw Ram Jaane.
In fact, I was so impressed by "Angels..." that I thought if I were to make a movie it would be a remake of "Angels...".
Then I saw "Ram Jaane".Cagney certainly is the best in the original.Sharukh Khan has played the James Cagney's role and Vivek Mushran played the role Pat O'Brien played and Juhi Chawla revived role of Ann Sheridan.
Personally I feel that they never came any where closer to the original.
The ending, in the original is much better and underplayed compared to the loud ending in "Ram Jaane" that makes "Angels..." much better movie.If you have seen Ram Jaane you would find "Angels..." much better movie, however if you have already seen the original DO NOT WATCH RAM JAANE.Music of Ram Jaane is worth forgetting and watching "Angels..." make you wonder if the songs were needed for Ram Jaane!.
angels with dirty faces bolly style.
I was quite excited when I saw that this movie was a gangster flick with my favorite Indian actor, Shahrukh Khan, nevertheless SRK's mere presence doesn't make the film any better, actually for once I think it makes it worse.The movie is a pathetic remake of WB's Angels with dirty faces starring James Cagney (in the part taken by SRK) and I think that SRK has mixed up a lot of Cagney with a bit of Amitabh Bachchan's simpleton in Don (the chewing thing).
But this cocktail rather turned me off.
Though I sincerely love him, his overacting is truly dreadful, one of the worse performances of his career, but the rest of the cast, though less excessive, is not this wonderful either.
The film is replete with a series of nerve-raking songs that never end, when I saw SRK and Juhi on a boat near a sunny desert island, it was really too much!!Moreover it seems to last forever!
The first half hour is tolerable, and has a very nice action scene in a bar.
If you wondered where Farah Khan got the great idea of SRK sliding on his knees between the legs of a villain in Main Hoon Na, that's where she got it, and it works damn well.
But apart from that there is not much to save.A pity to remake an overall good US film into a dreadful Bollywood flick, nevertheless they have been luckier with other remakes such as Nayakan (Mani Ratnam) which is a remake of the Godfather and really worth watching.Keep trying boys !
my grade: 4/10 (5 if U like the fact that SRK never wears a shirt under his jacket, which is pretty sexy but useless).
HUGE let down......
I remember how excited I was to see Ram Jaane, I was thinking to myself "This movie is definitely going to rock like all of Shahrukh and Juhi's other films; I can't wait to see it!" But I was WRONG...
Ram Jaane ended up falling way below my expectations.
The story itself isn't really that exciting or on the other hand that boring, you could say it's about average.Also, Shahrukh and Juhi weren't even together at all in this film!
I know that SRK was in love with Juhi in Ram Jaane, but she was interested in some other guy which practically took out all the fun of the film itself!
As for the acting, I'd have to say that Shahrukh had done a fabulous job playing his role and Juhi did a fairly good job at playing the role of Bela.I, myself as a fan of Shahrukh-Juhi was really disappointed after watching Ram Jaane and I know that many of the other SRK-Juhi fans were let down as well.All in all, Ram Jaane deserved a 4/10!.
Great movie, actually.
Surprisingly, it's become one of my favorites.
Yes, it's really quite uneven and over-the-top in places but it has this very human core and philosophy that won me over...
I cried quite a bit.
Ram Jaane is not afraid of death...
And that's why he evokes so much pity.I thought Shahrukh really shined in this one.
I too thought at first that he was overacting, but really, it's the character.
He's supposed to be like this...
Quite unhinged...
a bit loud, a bit over-the-top and all over the place.
But also carefree, simple, lovable, soft and smiling.
Why always think in stereotypes based on Hollywood films that such a character should be more restrained and cool?
I thought SRK created a really unique and memorable character.
All his "baddies" are different.
Watch "Josh" for the "cool" one.Ram Jaane is a whole other story...
SRK was plain brilliant in some scenes...
many scenes.
For example, the one where he learns that Bela loves Murli and not him, and asks Bela what it is that Murli has and he doesn't, and turns away hiding tears.Juhi is very beautiful and charming as usual.
Since I've recently watched quite a few of her and SRK's films and really loved them ("Yes Boss" being the favorite), Juhi is fast becoming one of my favorite actresses, along with Rani, Kajol and Madhuri.Vivek Mushran as Murli was perfect.
I really liked his character.And last but not least -- the music is great.
I listen to the songs quite often and like them all: Ram Jaane, Chori Chori Chal O Gori, Ala la la long Pehla Love Song, and Phenk Hawa Ek Chumma Mein.
They may not seem great at first but after a listening to them a few times they really grew on me.All in all, technically speaking, this film is not a masterpiece but since it's really endeared itself to my heart, I'd give it 9/10.
For SRK's acting, for the story, for the music, and for the scorching chemistry with Juhi.
I'd choose this over many SRK hits that are better known, like Don or Kal Ho Naa Ho or Mohabbatein or Dil To Pagal Hai or whatever..
You'll recognize it at the end....
It wasn't until the very end of Ram-Janne that I realized I was watching an homage to the 1938 "Angels With Dirty Faces" with James Cagney.
If you can hold out that long, the final 15-20 minutes of the film is worth the wait.
Until then, this is pretty typical masala fare with Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla dancing their way off to exotic locales not remotely related to the movie.
It's those musical interludes -- and a few comical moments during "Ramjanne's" childhood -- that make the majority of the first half of the movie bearable.
As much as I love Juhi, her character was a cardboard cutout in most scenes, Vivek Mushran's "Murli" (the alter ego of Pat O'Brien's "Father Jerry Connely" in "Angels") was less saintly than saccharine, and Pankaj Kapur as "Pannu Technicolor" was just plain annoying.
Even Shah Rukh's version of Cagney's "Rocky Sullivan" (the title character, "Ram-Janne") couldn't prop this film up most of the way through.But the film's final scenes vindicate the patient viewer.
Yes, it's still Bollywood at its melodramatic best.
But the same elements that made "Angels" the classic it is are all in place for the big finish.
And perhaps Ram-Janne -- being a masala film -- lends itself even better to this denouement than did its predecessor.Because it's this kind of scene that Bollywood does better than anyone else.
Seeing SRK begging for his life on the way to the gallows is somehow more believable than watching Cagney blubbering in fear on his way to the electric chair.
And give credit to F.C. Mehra for at least choosing to remake a film that's not been (re)done to death.A remake -- by definition -- will never change the course of cinematic history.
But if you have an evening to spare, there are far worse choices you could make..
When Shahrukh was an actor.
I have watched this film may be more than 30 times in theater.
There was a time when I used to watch this film everyday in the theater and the only reason was Shahrukh Khan.
I can talk about story and other stuff but I really don't think thats important.
Every single frame of the film is just Shahrukh Khan.
'Ram Jaane' was a very definite flop but for some people like me it was a mania.
I remember I was traveling from Lucknow to Hapur and a rickshaw puller did a somersault and landed very badly on the ground.
He just got up and started walking singing the title track.
I really liked him because I was also in the same frame of mind for may be two months.
I used to try somersaults, rectangular black glasses, jacket without shirts and above all drink directly from the bottle.
I also used to get these exciting urges to slap a policeman but somehow I controlled.
I wonder how I managed to control myself.There are lots of other interesting things i.e Background music, Shahrukh's dance, action sequences and of course Pankaj Kapoor.
I and a friend of started smoking 'More' for good two months.
Every time Shahrukh lit a cigarette we did.
Every one in this world watch one film with total devotion for example my father who doesn't watch films watched 'Shree 420' fourteen times.
For me it is 'Raam Jaane'.
'Khallas'.
I really wish Shahrukh hadn't become so big.