By Murtaza Ali Khan
Featured in IMDb Critic Reviews
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| Jazbaa (2015) - By Sanjay Gupta |
Our Rating: 6.5
IMDb Ratings: 5.3
Genre: Thriller
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Shabana Azmi
Country: India
Language: Hindi | English
Runtime: 119 min
Color: Color
Jazbaa, co-written and directed by Sanjay Gupta, presents the tale of a
leading criminal lawyer, Anuradha Verma, who’s forced to defend a murderer in a bid to get back her
abducted daughter. Jazbaa offers a
nice mix of action, suspense, and emotions with an undercurrent of social
commentary. Women safety is a major issue in India, especially when it comes to
the metros, and despite the repeated assurances of the governments, state as
well as centre, the results at the ground level have been far from satisfactory.
Jazbaa brings the issue of women
safety to the fore while highlighting the constant dangers a working woman is
subjected to on a day-to-day basis.
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| Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as Anuradha Verma in Sanjay Gupta's Jazbaa |
Women-centric films are still quite new to Bollywood and it’s heartening
to see mainstream directors like Sanjay Gupta making feministic films revolving
around strong female characters. Jazbaa
can be seen as a successor to films like Mardaani
and NH10. Hopefully, films like Jazbaa will usher in a new era of filmmaking
as far as Bollywood is concerned. In an age when the Indian Air Force is
envisaging women officers in the role of future fighter pilots, it’s only fitting
that the Hindi film industry too starts treating the ideals of women centrism with
more gravity.
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| Irrfan Khan as Inspecter Yohan in Jazbaa |
Jazbaa marks Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s return to the silver screen after a
hiatus of five years. While it is far from being her best performance, it
nevertheless serves as a great reminder what the former Miss World is capable of
doing in front of the motion-picture camera. There are a few sequences in the
movie wherein she looks a bit over the top but her performance on a whole comes
across as both gritty and effective. And, yes, she is in perfect shape! Hopefully,
with Aishwarya returning to the fold, it will become easier for other senior
actresses to get meatier roles in the days to come.
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| A Still from Sanjay Gupta's Jazbaa |
After a weak first act, Jazbaa
brilliantly picks up during the second act only to fizzle out in the second
half of the third act. But the movie offers several enjoyable moments with
Irrfan Khan delivering one punchy one-liner after another. Jazbaa presents Irrfan in the whole new avatar of a kickass hero.
As Inspecter Yohan, he comes across as a cross between Chulbul Pandey and
Singham. The keen-eyed viewers may see a dash of Rowdy Rathore in there as well.
It is indeed a testament to Irrfan’s remarkable range as an actor that irrespective
of the role he looks so natural and it’s only when we start comparing the
different roles that he has essayed that we begin to appreciate his acting
talents.
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| A Still from Sanjay Gupta's Jazbaa |
Overall, Jazbaa proves to be a
decent movie experience with a strong social message. The movie’s plot suffers
from several inconsistencies and flaws, but Sanjay Gupta’s direction succeeds
in holdings the things together. The influence of Korean cinema on Gupta’s
choice of cinematography for the movie is quite obvious and harks back to Zinda, which is a remake of the Korean
film Oldboy. In Jazbaa, we get to witness a completely different Mumbai that looks eerie
and splendid at the same time, thanks to the lavish use of special effects.
While Aishwarya makes a strong comeback, Irrfan succeeds in delivering yet another
thumping performance. The movie’s biggest surprise, perhaps, comes from Shabana
Azmi who is plays the part of a rape victim’s mother with great subtlety. Atul
Kulkarni and Jackie Shroff show flashes of brilliance in the limited screen
time they get. Jazbaa, despite its
flaws, succeeds in throwing spotlight on the all-important issue of women safety
in India while simultaneously serving as an engaging action thriller.
Readers, please feel free to share your views/opinions in the comment box below. As always your insightful comments are highly appreciated!
Note: A version of this review was re-published in the Huffington Post.
References:
Note: A version of this review was re-published in the Huffington Post.
References:
Jazbaa (2015) Trailer (YouTube)
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Awesome review!
ReplyDeleteThanks... glad you liked it! :-)
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