Jaane Jaan Ending Explained: Did Mrs D¡¯souza Have Feelings For Naren? Why Did He Take Her Blame?

Maths - a subject that is a never-ending nightmare for some but a parallel universe with infinite answers for others.

Can you imagine the boring algebra lessons that felt like a herculean task back in school could ever help solve a murder mystery? Well, Sujoy Ghosh has proven that it indeed can, with his latest offering Jaane Jaan.

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Inspired by the Japanese novel The Devotion Of Suspect X, Jaane Jaan marks the OTT debut of Kareena Kapoor.

Truth be told, it seemed like a well-rounded and perfect launch at the time of the announcement alone. With talented artists and streaming era stars like Jaideep Ahlawat and Vijay Varma onboard, sharing screen space in Kareena¡¯s maiden OTT project sounded like the correct formula for instant success. Obviously, the expectations were high and the wait was full of anticipation.

Did this translate into what was expected is something that requires detailed discussion. Before we get into that, let¡¯s take a look at the basics first.

Plot Summary: What Is Jaane Jaan All About?

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Set in the picturesque Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Jaane Jaan is a story of a single mother Maya D¡¯souza (Kareena Kapoor) who works in a cute little cafe called Tiffin and has a 14 year old daughter Tara.

She is happy in her own little world leading a contented life. Her next-door neighbour is a stiff-looking yet extremely respected Math teacher Naren (Jaideep Ahlawat) who has a crush on Mrs D¡¯souza but is reduced to a bag of nerves every time he sees her.

His routine includes practising his speech in front of the mirror every morning, only to fail in front of Maya at the cafe when he goes to pick up his meal every day.

He¡¯s shown as a mysterious man who is reserved on one hand but shares a sweet camaraderie with his students.

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Interestingly, the premise takes no time to be set up and we are introduced to Maya¡¯s douchey husband who is a cliche - rugged looking shady cop, smoking a cigarette and walking around like he is king of the world. He steps into Maya¡¯s cafe unannounced and she turns white as a sheet. At this point, it¡¯s pretty obvious that it will only go downhill from here. He has returned after years as he is looking for money. For the unversed, Ajit is a crooked cop who dabbles in illegal activities for extra cash. We are also made privy to the backstory that once he married Maya, he forced her into the bar-dancing business just to make more money. He has now returned to take his and Maya's daughter along and use her in the same manner he did with Maya.

Jaane Jaan isn¡¯t a whodunit as it was made pretty evident that Maya kills her husband in a fit of rage when he tries to attack and forcefully take away her daughter.

The film is basically fueled by how meticulously Maya and her next-door teacher can clean the evidence of murder and evade the police.

Without getting into the minute details, Maya and her daughter Tara find themselves in a fix and consider surrendering themselves to the police. Just then, they are saved by the bell, or rather a knock. This particular scene comes out as very mind-boggling as Naren wastes no time in beating around the bush and in a very upfront manner asks Maya if she needs help with getting rid of the body.

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When the lady in distress asks how he found out about the murder, his explanation of drawing parallels with algebra affirms that he¡¯s not just another regular guy.

He¡¯s someone who is capable of many dark things. Together the trio cleans off every little sign of the murder and go back to normal life like nothing ever happened.

Soon enough, enters investigating officer Vijay Varma aka Inspector Karan from Mumbai and he is looking for his notorious colleague Ajit, the man who has been put off to sleep forever. It takes him no time to track the trail and make a connection between the deceased and his ex-wife Maya D¡¯souza. While he methodically conducts his investigation, Naren continues to evade his every move just like a game of chess.

Jaane Jaan lacks in the mystery department as generally in movies of such genre, the thrill lies in the twists and the turns and the uncovering of the truth.

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There¡¯s a track in the film which shows Naren aka Teacher learning Jiu Jitsu. His evenings after school entails visiting the Dojo (the place where he trains). Similarly, even Karan is shown to be well-versed in MMA. This was probably only set up to show a one-to-one combat between the two. However, the premise failed to leave as good an impact as one would have hoped.

Even the fear of getting caught feels surface level and only includes a certain amount of nervous expressions from Kapoor and intensity on Jaideep¡¯s face. His displaced anger tries to come out every now and then but he curbs it like a pro.

Jaane Jaan on the whole lacks the twists and turns that one would hope to see in a film of this genre.

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Karan keeps grilling Maya, hoping to find a loophole but Naren is always one step ahead of him. As the movie progresses, Naren falters a bit and gives Karan a solid lead in the form of Ajit¡¯s half-burnt ID card near his charred body.

Karan does a thorough investigation and finds it hard to believe Maya¡¯s side of the story. Her alibis seem like a set up to him and as a viewer, you will keep assuming that she will get caught any minute. Somehow, Maya doesn¡¯t give in to the pressure and sticks to her story as trained by Naren. With her being the only suspect of the case, Karan decides to arrest her on suspicious grounds and that¡¯s when the thrill finally kicks in.

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Given his deranged personality, it feels like a setback when it¡¯s made known that Naren committed a grave mistake which could lead the plan to fail. However, it¡¯s later revealed that it was all part of a ploy that came from the mind of the genius mathematician.

Jaane Jaan Ending Explained: Did Karan Eventually Find Out The Truth?

The film takes a drastic turn when Naren walks into the police station and presents a confession that it was he who killed Ajit Mahatre. Not just that, he then accuses Maya of appointing him to carry out the deed. He asks the police to arrest Maya as she is his accomplice in this crime. The remaining 25 minutes of the movie is the highlight of Jaane Jaan as it finally picks up pace.

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Maya and Naren share their sides parallely. Both the stories don¡¯t match up and leave the cops scratching their heads in frustration.

In what seems like Naren throwing Maya under a bus is in fact, a cover-up for her to walk out scot-free.

Naren¡¯s version entails that Maya and he were in a secret relationship and when her ex-husband comes knocking at her door, he decided to eliminate the threat as he is also Maya¡¯s bodyguard and it's his duty to protect her at all cost. He then goes on to confess the modus operandi and how he carried out the murder. Another very amusing aspect of his confession is the reception of the whole thing - the local cop showing his fondness and admiration for the Maths teacher while a frustrated Karan is shown trying to soak in the information albeit in disbelief.

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In the finale, Karan gives a clean chit to Maya and takes Naren into custody. Just when she is ready to leave, she sees Naren behind bars and asks for some alone time with him. When she finally confronts Naren and asks him why he took her blame on himself, that's when the most shocking twist comes out.

He tells her that when she knocked on his door the first time when she moved in their building, he was on the verge of taking his life. She came at the moment when he was ready to hang himself to death and saved his life. However, he got distracted from his goal of solving the tough maths equations and this tragic incident has made him reclaim his first love - Math! He told her not to worry as it will take at least 15 years to solve the problem in jail and that¡¯s the best solution as this time he won¡¯t be distracted.

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In flashbacks, it is then revealed that while we thought that Naren committed some mistakes while trying to cover up the murder, it was the exact opposite of that. He intended the police to find those clues. The body that they discover was not of the real Ajit Mahatre but a poor homeless man that Naren killed and destroyed beyond recognition. Like promised, police never found the real body of Ajit Mahatre.

The closing scene shows an elated Naren standing in the middle of a room with walls filled with equations all around him signifying that maybe he did solve the tough math riddle after all.

Let¡¯s address some of the burning questions: Did Maya reciprocate feelings for Naren at any point?

Well, if you go by the body-language and her actions, Mrs D¡¯souza never showcased admiration for Teacher as a potential lover. She sure had respect for him but the mere thought of envisioning a relationship with him made her uncomfortable. However, when he stepped up to extend help, she felt herself softening towards him. This can be called a form of selfishness as she was just grateful that she had someone to help her out in such a messy situation. On the contrary, she shared a spark with Karan at the Karaoke Bar. Throughout the film, we saw Karan objectifying Mrs D¡¯souza by calling her ¡®hot suspect¡¯ hinting that the two could have a potential love track in the offing but this track is left unexplored. Some fans believe that Karan's investigation was biased as he fancied Mrs D'souza!

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Did Karan Find the Truth After All?

By the looks of it, it seems he bought the set-up story fair and square without contesting it one bit. In fact, he was also convinced that Naren was demented and had psychological problems which could have been a catalyst for him to commit such a crime.

Was Naren a creep or a misunderstood man?

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This is open to interpretation and subjected to individual reception. Some might find him to be a highly intelligent man, which he was but as they say with such a high level of intelligence comes whimsy. While others thought of him as just a creep who stalked his neighbor relentlessly and deliberately kept a check on her by eavesdropping or indulging in voyeurism. Instead of a definitive answer, it's safe to assume that he was a mix of both these traits.

Did the cops discover Ajit¡¯s body?

Naren kept his promise and Karan never found the real dead body of Ajit. Teacher fabricated the entire incident to mold it in favor of Maya and give her time to create rock solid alibis. From a different body to fresh clues, everything was created by Naren. It was made to look like the murder took place one day after the original date.

Jaane Jaan is available to stream on Netflix.