Jazbaa

Where do I start with this film? I had initially put this film on for my gran to watch whilst I payed away on my laptop. Despite being occupied by the game, I couldn't help my attention being drawn to the screen multiple times, and ended up getting drawn into it. Now, in a normal situation, this would be because the film is so good, it begs to be watched. In this instance though, it was mostly because I was completely befuddled by the filmmaking choices being made.

First of all, the tint/filter! The film has a very weird greenish filter to it. My guess is to kind of ground it into a gritty atmosphere, but it's very distracting, and there are multiple points in the film where this, combined with the poor lighting leads to very jarring scenes. Just awful.

Second, what the hell is up with the camera work? The film breaks several reasonable rules to follow when filmmaking. A very simple one, for example, is how to shoot two characters in a conversation. You'd usually film their talking heads in sequence of the conversation, but on opposite sides of the screen when showing their heads. Now, this is a loose rule, and you can be creative, of course, but this film makes some very questionable choices. There's a scene where Jackie Shroff is talking to some weasel whilst leaning into the right side of the screen, and the other dude is shot with his head in the hard left of the screen. Why? This is just one example, but in general, the camerawork and cinematography is just poor. I have seen better camerawork in student films.

Then there's the editing, the actor's direction for some scenes etc. All shoddy. You may think me overly harsh, especially if you enjoyed this film, but the reason this particularly irked me is because the film has some good actors and a decent plot to work with (writing somewhat dodgy as well, but let's ;leave that for now). This film could have been so, so much better if a careful hand had tended to it. The actors deserved better than this.

Whats good about the film is its fast paced with enough suspense to keep you engaged. Jazbaa is tight, gripping and shot in Gupta's signature style. Clearly the film belongs to Aishwarya. She manages to make Anuradha believable. Atul Kulkarni, Shabana Azmi, Jackie Shroff, Irrfan Khan fill up the frame with their strong performances.

Despite having a good story, the director has badly written characters that stands out like a sore thumb in an otherwise stellar star cast. The slow motion scene where Aishwarya runs and screams her daughter's name before interval is too over the top and theatrical. It ruins the subtleness. The flawed moments in Jazbaa are those where Gupta asks his actors to do more, whether it is to scream louder, fight harder, or say the lines with more drama.

Over all, the film is an edge of the seat thriller that delivers because of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Irrfan Khan's able performances, Jazbaa is definitely not a worst film. Had it been a different director, then the film would have been the best.

A perfect choice of subject by director Sanjay Gupta (an official remake of a Korean crime thriller titled SEVEN DAYS), JAZBA's script had all the essential elements presenting a young, strong (lawyer) mother fighting for her kidnapped daughter along with a suspended police officer helping as a dear friend.

But sadly the strong merit couldn't help the film falling way short of the expectations raised and even the potential borrowed plot didn't turn out to be that supportive for Aishwarya due to many major visible issues in the execution. Giving you the basic reason for this less impressive result, it's the more than required, hyperactive efforts put in almost every department of the film converting it into a visibly 'over the top' product trying too hard to present its case in front of the common viewer. And the biggest culprit of them all remain the so unrealistically written cheeky dialogues (especially of Irrfan), that are intentionally added just to (vaguely) entertain the audience aiming at some occasional applause in the theater.

Admitting the truth, yes the dialogues work well as the film begins and one enjoys watching Irrfan rendering them stylishly too till the first 30 minutes are over building a fine base. But once the characters start emoting as per the script's main track, every such line spoken with all forced philosophy of life becomes irritating enough, straight away reminding you of many copy-pasted life teaching quotes regularly found at FB, Twitter and Whats App. Exactly the same can be said about Aishwarya's performance too, that also remains fairly impressive in the beginning but soon steps on to the avoidable 'overactive' & 'emotionless' gear once the director asks her to start shouting as loud as she can in many repetitive sequences. Besides, I was really surprised seeing the pre and post interval portions in particular where she was made to do everything so hyperactively right from the widely open red eyes to all forceful screaming and the so well-controlled, stylishly conceived running in slow motion.

Moving ahead the next insertion in the film that fails to make any impact whatsoever is the so overly done colour correction of the frames, particularly the ones (repeatedly) showing Mumbai and its skyline taking it far away from anything seen in the real life. Talking about the music, I have started writing less and less on this specific department of our latest Hindi films, as they are really not interested in giving anything worth writing about since long, with only a rare occasional OST proving to be the important exception. So same is the case with JAZBAA too that does have a couple of above average songs which as usual don't fit into the film tensed narration from any angle. To be exact, apart from the painfully loud and interfering background score, the film opens with a soul-less track played along with its opening titles and then after some 40 minutes throws a good sounding ghazal appearing from nowhere only to be followed by a typical club-item-rap-song, exactly like the one Irrfan himself had made a spoof of just a few weeks before associating with the AIB boys. (A true irony of our system, quite clearly!)

Coming back to another well intentioned merit of JAZBAA, it does try to present itself as an anti-rape and women empowerment supporting film in its final 30 minutes (ending with a text slide too). But unfortunately the over dramatic melodrama and an easily predictable suspense executed without any inspiring vision, doesn't let it become one of those significant movies made with a noble aim or purpose of some kind of social awakening.

In the performance section, where Aishwarya plays her strong character of a mother and lawyer in a confusing-overactive tone, there Irrfan Khan looks like walking on a very thin line of getting typecast in all similar looking roles speaking some nasty lines with a straight face, exactly like we have seen him in the last few films. Honestly I also felt as if I was not watching the same exceptionally talented actor in the scene when he starts throwing some hamming tantrums after being told that Aishwarya's daughter has been kidnapped.

Moreover another specific sequence of the film dealing with the allergic child & her medicine reminded me of an exactly similar scene in a different movie featuring Irrfan Khan only playing the kidnapper worried for the kid-girl (suffering from an asthma attack). The film was DEADLINE - SIRF 24 GHANTE (2006) which was itself an inspired version of an English flick titled TRAPPED (2000). But I really wonder did Irrfan even remember the film and if yes then did he also mention the same to Sanjay Gupta just to provide some added information to his director. Continuing with the performances, JAZBAA majorly struggles in its supporting cast department too with only Shabana Azmi partially succeeding among many other talented actors in the list. And surprisingly the list includes names such as Atul Kulkarni, Jackie Shroff, Chandan Roy Sanyal and Abhimanyu Singh, simply wasted in their given roles not presented with any kind of powerful portrayal in the script.

So other than few entertaining 'Irrfan moments' in its initial reels and then some fairly engaging moments coming in the final 45 minutes dealing with the case investigations and the court proceedings, JAZBAA doesn't turn out to be anything great or exciting enough as a comeback film of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan made on a potential subject.

But you can still consider it as a one-time watch crime thriller saved by Irrfan Khan that surely could have been a lot better minus the overactive treatment given by its director Sanjay Gupta.

Jazbaa is termed as the copy of a Korean movie Seven Days (2007). However after watching it, I am able to contrast the theme of Jazbaa with an old Bollywood movie - Daag The Fire (1999) starring Sanjay Dutt, Chandrachur Singh and Mahima Chaudhary which was directed by Raj Kanwar. While all the reviewers are singing in chorus that Jazbaa is the Indian version of Seven Days, not a single one is pointing out that Seven Days itself could be inspired by the Bollywood movie - Daag The Fire. The scripts are different, no doubt but the theme and the undercurrent is the same. Jazbaa is looked upon as a thriller based on the issue of rape but in fact, the real theme of Jazbaa is different. It's the story of a corrupt lawyer whose personal tragedy proves as an eye-opener for her. The same is the theme of Daag The Fire though there is no suspense element in Daag The Fire like this movie. The role played by Aishwarya Rai in Jazbaa is akin to the role played by Chandrachur Singh in Daag The Fire. And anybody can verify this fact that the final interaction of Aishwarya Rai and Shabana Aazmi in Jazbaa is a ditto of the final shot of Daag The Fire involving Chandrachur Singh and Sanjay Dutt. Then who is a copycat ? Is the maker of Jazbaa only who has unfortunately earned the ill-repute of lifting stories of his movies from foreign movies ? But the thief is always the one who gets caught. Whosoever knows the trick of the trade, i.e., not to get caught escapes the stigma of being called a thief.

Now for the assessment of Jazbaa. It's a quality suspense-thriller though the filmmaker, i.e., Sanjay Gupta has focused more on style than substance.

As clarified in the opening para of this review, Jazbaa is the story of a corrupt lawyer (Aishwarya Rai) who takes the cases of the outlaws and the guilty only in order to earn handsomely which is not possible by fighting for some cause or ensuring justice to innocents. However when her daughter is kidnapped, this lawyer who is a single mother, finds the world as upside down for her. With the help of her silent lover who is a suspended cop (Irrfan), she pays the ransom not in cash but in kind which is to get a convict of rape and murder free from not only the gallows but also prison. The bulk of the story goes in the efforts of this lawyer-cum-bereaved mother and her silent lover. On one hand, they are busy in arranging evidences in favour of the convict, on the other, they are busy in searching for the kidnapped child. What happens in the end, proves to be an eye-opener for the corrupt lawyer.

Though the director Sanjay Gupta has not done proper justice to the good stuff at his hand, the movie is nevertheless gripping right from the word 'go' to the climax. The issue of rape is imposed on the script and the data of this crime given in the end are useless and irrelevant. Actually the focus should have been on the corruption in the profession of law when reputed lawyers become defense counsels for the people guilty of heinous crimes like rape and murder for the sake of getting exorbitant fees from their clients. But the director has not done so. There are 'n' number of plot-holes and untied loose ends alongwith inconsistencies and contradictions in the script and many things are not clarified till the very end, the most prominent of which is the mastermind's getting complete information of every move of the lawyer after the kidnapping of her daughter. How could it be possible ? Sanjay Gupta may be knowing. The audience couldn't make it out even after watching the complete movie. Besides, Sanjay Gupta only must be knowing the relevance of the title of this movie which has nothing to with its story.

All the same, the movie works because of its pace. The fast pace of the narrative does not give any time to the audience to pause and think. The viewer just keep on watching while holding his breath. Besides, this is not a pure thriller. It's a suspense-thriller. The suspense element has been kept intact till the climax which is a big achievement of the director.

No songs are required in this type of movie because songs only interrupt the flow of the fast-moving narrative. All the same, Jaane Tere Sheher Ka Kya Iraada Hai is quite impressive in terms of both lyrics and composition (plus Irrfan's performance on that).

This is termed as the comeback movie of Aishwarya Rai and her admirers are going gaga over her performance in this movie. However though the aging actress is quite beautiful even in her forties and post motherhood in her real life, her performance is so-so only. Those who are admiring her performance are not able to differentiate between acting and shrieking. Despite being a heroine-centric movie, Irrfan takes the cake as far as the clapping and accolades of the audience are concerned. However it's Shabana Aazmi who is the best performer though she is definitely miscast for the role of the mother of a teenager (being in her sixties, she straightaway looks as the grandma of a teenager).

While advising all the reviewers to check the facts properly before terming any Indian movie as a copy of some foreign movie because almost all are copycats now (including both the Indian and the foreign filmmakers) sending originality for a toss, I recommend this fast-paced engrossing movie to all those who are fond of suspense-thrillers. It will prove to be no less than a roller-coaster ride for them.

The movie is a copy of a Korean movie Seven days, the movie starts of on a sordid note where a hot shot lawyer, single mother played by Aishwarya Rai has this habit of winning her cases in which she defends the rich who are on the wrong side of the law.

She is seen as can do all mother to start with and then starts the journey of her emotional breakdown with the kidnapping of her daughter on her sports day. Enters Irffan Khan who can even light up Sanjay Gupta's green lens movie, he is charged and suspended by his peers ans asked to pay up an ex amount to get his name cleared. Irffan and Aishwarya Rai are child hood friends who are interlocked as one needs to help the other to get her daughter and the other to clean his name. The movie picks up pace and direction and on their journey bumps into a mother in despair who has just lost her young daughter to a rapist who has been punished with capital punishment and is interconnected to their case without she being aware is being pulled in it by the day. The plot dwells into the corrupt ways of our how our power system breaks and buys the law with their bundles and also beats the system. Irffan Khan is compelling and makes it a walk in the park with his punch lines, Shabana Azmi after a gap comes back in true color and echoes the pain well, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan commendable effort starts off rusty but pulls through. Crisp editing,background needs more than Azaans and direction could have been tighter especially since it is lifted and could have been adapted better, missed the Sanjay Gupta music even if it was a score played in the background.