Story:
When Ankur Anand (Vedang Raina) gets wrongly imprisoned in the foreign (and fictional) land of Hanshi Dao for carrying drugs, his elder sister and only family – Satyabhama aka Satya Anand (Alia Bhatt) pulls all the stops to rescue him. The catch is that Ankur has been sentenced to death by electrocution in three months, so there’s little time to free him. Having been left with no legal recourse that can be taken other than delaying the inevitable, Satya decides to take matters into her own hands. She teams up with Bhatia (Manoj Pahwa) – a retired gangster and Muthu (Rahul Ravindran) – an ex-cop to plan and execute a jailbreak. The remaining film revolves around the lengths Satya goes to and the many hurdles she overcomes to eventually get her brother home. This forms the premise of the story which also explores the earnest and heartfelt bond between the siblings.
Vasan Bala directed Jigra begins well – quickly establishing the premise, the brother-sister bond, the wrongful incarceration of Ankur, and Satya landing in the Southeast Asian country of Hanshi Dao owing to her obsessive, fierce and relentless need to protect her brother at all costs. We get enough glimpses to know why having Ankur safe and sound is so important for Satya. She can’t afford to lose the only family she has left after being orphaned in childhood. “Ankur mar nahi sakta,” Satya firmly states a few times in the film. Written by Bala and Debashish Irengbam, the concept from which the story emanates is undoubtedly quite promising. After all, it’s not every day that you get to watch an escape thriller based on sibling bonds. However, the novel concept on paper falls a little short of execution on the big screen due to an underwhelming screenplay.
What starts as an engaging story making you invested in the dynamics of Satya and Ankur, quickly begins to go haywire, especially in the second half. The screenplay takes too many liberties and relies heavily on a willing suspension of disbelief by the audience to not question the logic as well as the logistics behind the entire prison break sequence – the planning and execution included. But then, Satya knows no logic or morals and ethics when it comes to her brother, remember? The writers pin their hope on the audience to never forget this crucial detail while navigating the script to reach the climax. This is precisely where Jigra falters – when the writing becomes too convenient and completely dependent on the actors to do the heavy lifting. At over 150 minutes, the film becomes too tedious. It could easily have been shortened by at least 12-15 minutes.
Bala does a terrific job at using the Southeast Asian setting and milieu quite well for Jigra. Most of the action takes place on a fictional island yet you never feel that it is make-believe. The narrow alleys, jetties used for conveyance, the skyline, the graffiti, the local festival complete with a dragon-like deity, use of multiple languages and accents – it all comes together perfectly to give an authentic feel to the setting of Jigra. Kudos to the Production Design by Mukund Gupta! There are quite a few easter eggs (as expected) for all the cinephiles too. Another plus is the brilliant cinematography by Swapnil S. Sonawane which lends an almost poetic visual language to the frames. Whether it’s the scenes captured in hues of rust orange and gloomy blues in the first half, or the vibrant reds and fiery yellows in the second half, the camera work deserves much credit for some spectacular visuals on screen.
Achint Thakkar has once again done a fine job with the music of the film after Scam 1992 and Monica O My Darling. Penned by Varun Grover, the compositions of Jigra are fresh and work in tandem with the situations in the movie. Both Thakkar and Grover deserve a special mention for recreating the Phoolon Ka Taaro Ka song originally written by Anand Bakshi and composed by RD Burman. It’s easily a masterclass in how the recreation of an old classic is done right. Tenu Sang Rakhna and Jigra title track from the OST too hit the right notes. Even though the film’s climax is mish-mashed on the screenplay level, the action-choreography in the same is quite impressive. It’s an absolute delight to see Alia in action. Except for a couple of OTT sequences (sample the one where Vivek Gomber as Jailer Landa pins down three inmates), the action set pieces are pretty well done.
Coming to the performances, Alia Bhatt is a force to reckon with as Satya. You may not completely endorse her ‘helicopter elder sister’ energy but you know where she’s coming from. You feel her fears, her desperate need to protect her brother, and root for her in her relentless pursuit of the same. You know that Satya doesn’t play by the rules in the book. She never signed up for it. Alia has perfectly understood the pulse of Satya and has slipped into the character with ease. Who’d say that she’s the same actress who was serving lewks as Rani in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani just last year? Remember when she shocked the nation with Highway right after making a glamorous debut in Student of The Year back in 2012? Her acting prowess keeps you invested in Jigra as well. Whether it’s the emotional scenes or the action set pieces, she nails them both with aplomb.
Vedang Raina has shown immense growth since The Archies where he stood out as Reggie. Though he doesn’t get to do the heavy lifting, by design, he does complete justice to his part. It’s not easy for a relatively new actor to be so confident in tight close-up shots but Raina has done a fine job at that in his prison sequences. His chemistry with Alia as her on-screen brother seems organic and fluid. Watch out for the sequence in which he meets Satya for the first time in jail. Manoj Pahwa is a scene stealer as Satya’s ally Bhatia. He instantly uplifts every frame that he’s a part of. Rahul Ravindran as Muthu is apt. Vivek Gomber does a fair job in his character of Hans Raj Landa – a drunk-on-power in charge of the prison. We do get to know about his obnoxious, sadist nature but it would have helped if we also got to know the reason behind his demeanour.
Verdict:
Despite the brilliant performances, superlative cinematography, incredible production design, and noteworthy music, Vasan Bala’s Jigra is not without faults. It is not a near-perfect jailbreak thriller either. The screenplay has quite a few loopholes and lacks the tension of time-crunch and urgency that it set out to establish and build. However, the movie does flip the ‘damsel in distress’ trope on its head to give us a commendable act by Alia Bhatt as ‘damsel to the rescue’. Jigra does get some brownie points for flipping the narrative alone. If not, watch it for the first four reasons mentioned in the first line of this paragraph.
Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Writers: Debashish Irengbam, Vasan Bala
Cast: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Rahul Ravindran, Vivek Gomber
Rating: 3.5 stars
(This review was first published on The Movie Mail’s Instagram page)
