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Jazbaa (2015)
Jazbaa – A Tale of Two Mothers
When I first heard that Aishwarya Rai was back on the silver screen after a five year hiatus, I immediately checked out the trailer for the movie Jasbaa. There seemed to be an overuse of the green filter but also featured some great action scenes. What tweaked my interest even more was to find two other Bollywood legends, Irrfan Khan and Shabana Azmi were also starring. If you did what I did next and watched the music video for Bandeyya, where Aish is like Venus descended, you will be fooled as none of those scenes nor locations were featured in the movie.
Filmed close to perfection in terms of pacing, timing and dialogue, Sanjay Gupta has taken the story from the Korean film, Seven days (2007) and delivers this simple plot line of a mother's desperate need to save her daughter in four days! Single mother, Anuradha Verma's daughter is kidnapped. The ransom is not for cash, but for the services of Anuradha's expertise legal maneuvers as a prominent defense (criminal) lawyer, who has never lost a case, to acquit a death row prisoner on appeal, Miyaaz Shaikh (Chandan Roy Sanyal). Miyaaz, convicted for the rape and murder of Sia, a young art student, has all the evidence pointing to him. Surprisingly, Anuradha agrees. Suspended police officer and long time friend of Anuradha, Inspector Yohaan joins her quest to re-investigate Miyaaz's case to save Anuradha's daughter.We meet Garima, a headstrong lady, Sia's mother, who wants nothing more than to see Miyaaz punished for his crime. There are a slew of other characters that make the legal and investigatory journey, a thrilling one, notably Sam (Siddhanth Kapoor), a drug crazed classmate and boyfriend of Sia, who later transpires to be part of he crime. You will spend the interval, wondering, what twist lie ahead and most of the second half of the movie will be spent second guessing what the purpose of the acquittal of Miyazz serves. I guarantee you will be surprised at the end. Don't stop watching when the credit's start as there is a short epilogue, wrapping up Anuradha and Yohaan's relationship. And the film's final message of the fight against rape in India is a great message that needs to be applauded.
Sanjay Gupta's green filter signature style is a little disturbing at first but I found that it worked well with this movie, setting the tone and mood of the scenes. There were other filming aspects which worked well, especially the interesting aerial shots, the dark clouds shrouding Mumbai's skyline in background shots, the amazing lighting design, especially in a night time fight scene between Yohann and Vijay, another convict. Some may find the dialogs a little preposterous, but I found that they were relevant as in real life, we do say and react sillily. Irrfan and Shabana's parts were better written and executed; Irrfan for his delivery of over the top dialogs with flair and Shabana, was on fire in the final scene as well as the one where she finds out that Anuradha, who she believed was on her side, is now defending her daughter's killer. Aishwraya's performance hasn't changed much from before. She is reasonable good in the part but there are parts of the film is performed with a dead stare in her eyes, and the roar of a lion. Perhaps, that is how Sanjay Gupta wanted her role to be played. She screams a helluva lot in this movie, so be prepared!
What boggles the mind is the insertion of two songs in a thriller movie that can do without. OK, the hip hop, Badshah's Aaj Raat Ka Scene happens in a nightclub so that was acceptable. The courtroom scenes and reenactment of the murder scene were great. There were some witty lines in the courtroom scene, where the two advocates battling out the case, whilst the judge was virtually asleep.
My recommendation is that Jasbaa falls short of being in the league of some great movies this year, but still a watchable and enjoyable one. This 119 minute film will keep you entertained enough.
NH10 (2015)
A road-trip spirals out of control
There have been several Hollywood movies tackling the theme which involves the horrors of traveling on highways but this is fresh for Bollywood. Director Navdeep Singh, inspired from the British thriller,Eden Lake, did an excellent job of creating the realistic violent action in this slasher thriller starring Anushka Sharma.
Meera (Anushka Sharma) and her loving husband Arjun (Niel Bhoopalam) are young professionals living in Gurgaon. Meera leaves a party late one evening to head back to work when she is nearly attacked violently on the way. Unable to identify the attackers, the police suggest that Arjun uses his contacts to secure a gun for Meera's protection. He feels guilty for not being with her during the attack, so he takes her on a luxurious holiday to help her get over her traumatic experience. They drive along the lonely National Highway 10 and go off track. On the way, they stop at a dhaba (roadside restaurant) where they witness a couple, Pinky and Mukesh, being violently beaten and forced into a jeep. No one around is willing to help but Arjun intervenes and gets punched in the face. Little are Arjun and Meera aware of how this is the start of their dangerous series of events.
Driving away from the dhaba, the angered Arjun spot the same jeep and follow them despite Meera's plea not do so. When he catches up with the hoodlums and their abductees, he sees that the couple is still getting brutally beaten up. Arjun sees that he can't fight against the guys and decides to go back to the car.
While Arjun and Meera approach to get in their car, an unexpected iron rod is swung at Arjun's face. Terrified and overwhelmed, Arjun and Meera are caught by the group. With their gun in the hands of the thugs, they are left defenseless. Furthermore, the beating and torture of the couple turns out to be an act of honor killing, by Pinky's brother, Satbir (Darshan Kumaar) and his friends. Pinky is shot and Mukesh is beaten relentlessly until he is dead. Arjun and Meera fear that they are next and manage to secure their gun by trading their car keys to the simpleton in the group. Now begins the cat and mouse chase that goes through the whole night.
Fleeing on foot with the killers in their jeep, Arjun and Meera try to elude their chasers. An altercation with one of the thugs leaves Arjun stabbed in the leg. Meera has no alternative and leaves her husband under a rail bridge to seek help. She runs frantically in the dark until she reaches a hut where she sees a phone. She calls the cops and starts describing what happens, that she had witnessed a case of an honor killing. As soon as he mentions that, the man in the hut grabs the phone and hangs up. Frustrated, Meera is on the run again for a larger village when the police officer she was speaking to on the phone picks her up in his SUV. She discovers that he too, is a part of this honor killing conspiracy and is taking her to the killers. She stabs him in the eye with a pen and uses his vehicle to escape the killers who are now in hot pursuit of her. She makes her way to the nearest village where she seeks the help of the Sarpanch - village head, (Deepti Naval) who is in fact Pinky's mother who ordered the honor killing. Through her ingenuity, she escapes the Sarpanch and heads back to save Arjun. Upon reaching, she sees that he is no more. The goons have already murdered him. Meera is filled with rage. She summons all her strength and heads back to the village to confront the killers.
NH 10 tries to deal with two social issues, the violent racist caste community that exist outside the city boundaries as well as the dangers of what could happen on a lonely highway. The action scenes, in the cold and barren badlands of Haryana, were very well choreographed. The pacing of the movie will keep you on the edge of your seat right to the very end. The only minor flaw in this film was the second twist where the Sarpanch turns out to be the mastermind. Having already experienced the first twist when the police officer was in on the honor killing, the second twist was rather predictable.
The movie's dark tone and grungy feel is boosted with Karan Gour's soundtrack including Chhil Gaye Naina. The film does not feature your regular mainstream songs but then again, neither is this film nor Navdeep Singh, your mainstream director.