Jigra

Vasan Bala is huge fan of Bachchan & there are Bachchan ester eggs throughout the movie!!

Alia's character is vaguely based on iconic Bachchan angry young man characters. The movie is strongly uplifted by BGM.(Always a forte for Vasan Bala films). Cinematography is good. The colour frames lit up big screen. First half is good. Builds up Alia's character.2nd half is bit streched but climax lives up to expectations. (Even climax could have been 5-7 minutes shorter.)

Somehow it's missing the thrill of Monica oh my Darling benchmark. It's Prison break+ emotions+ Bachchan movie without Bachchan himself!!

Overall a good movie!

I got hooked with the trailer. Mindblowing.

Then I felt bombed by the film. Underperforming to put it in one word.

Alia delivers, all other actors seem to have skipped acting school. Maybe it's also the dialogues which are just week.

The main problem is that the entire story is event driven. One event and song chases the next one.

What about a character driven story once in a while? Character development not stupid stereotypes with punchy lines just to get to the next scene.

Who is writing those dialogues?

I watched 20 minutes and then skipped through the rest.

Sorry, but it did not catch me.

Went in so excited for this movie and i am so disappointed.

Vasan's last 2 movies ie Monica / Mard ko Dard nahi hota were absolutely amazing watches and so wanted to watch this in theatres on first day and man he DISAPPOINTED me .

Such an expected story with very bad screenplay. It only focuses on one part of the story ignoring the rest.

Alia tried hard but she reminded me of Gangubai a lot . I think what worked with Monica's/Mard were not having popular stars. Here, they have one and Vasan seems to have succumbed to the pressure . He focused too much on highlighting Alia as 'Amitabh Bachchan' than he lost the plot. He should have made this with someone else.

Vedang is good though and he has a good future ahead . Deserved more screen time . He sings well too.

Bgm is good , cinematography is great , Music is underwhelming.

Few action scenes are good , majority bland .

3/10 .

Satyabhama Anand (Alia Bhatt) and Ankur Anand (Vedant Raina) are siblings who got orphaned as kids. Satya had always been her brother's protector and circumstances only make her firm on playing his life long savior. They are raised by their uncle but are not truly considered as family. Satya knows they are on their own and when Ankur is sentenced to death in an unknown country for a crime he did not commit, Satya makes it her mission to save him at any cost. She finds support from ex gangster Shekhar Bhatia and ex cop Muthu, both wanting to save someone from the dreaded prison. What happens when their plan goes awry and with time running, what havoc Satya brings in to save her brother, forms rest of the story.

Vasan Bala's films are guilty pleasures with enough old film references he puts in as an ode to those films he loves, has been highly relatable for me. With Jigra, Vasan Bala pens down an adaptation of Gumrah with gender reversal. The characterization of Alia Bhatt's Satya to be a badass is established at her introduction scene itself. The making is top notch and it's a story which has the appeal even now. The problem is in the way Vasan Bala tries to juggle the narrative which is realistic and also filled with light-hearted humor, which he couldn't find the perfect balance. The serious tone of the film fails to gel with the humor during / before jailbreak scenes. For a film that jokes about masala films, the final act is extremely masalafied. Also, it is not regular to show the protagonist to harm an honest character and it stood out as a sore point. It could be argued that she can go to any extent, justifying the actions in the final act but nevertheless it was hard to digest. Alia Bhatt shines in her role, bringing in the balance between enacting her emotions subtly to her outbursts. The film gets too over the top in the second half, while the cinematography aids a lot in selling those shots, the writing doesn't. Manoj Pahwa and Rahul Ravindran's Shekhar Bhatia and Muthu are another reasons for giving this film a shot. There is a reference to Zanjeer's hit song in the end and it proves how predictable the writing got at the very conceptual level.

While "Jigra" may not fully align with the usual standards of Vasan Bala that I have come to expect, I must commend his adept portrayal of the brother-sister dynamic, which without a doubt stands as the highlight of the entire presentation.

Had Mr. Bala dedicated a bit more time and resources to deepen the showcase of these siblings' unbreakable bond, the impact would have been something truly remarkable.

Additional scenes illustrating their tumultuous childhood, particularly within the confines of their distant relative's home where they were raised, would have significantly enriched the narrative.

Now I do not wish to imply that the 'Jailbreak' drama lacked excitement; it certainly had its moments. However, the happenings often felt like an elaborate collection of fillers rather than an integral part of the core narrative.

Because ultimately, the essence of the story revolved around the bond between Satya and Ankur and I longed for a greater emphasis on that particular aspect.