Jazbaa Movie Review- Bollywood Bubble

Directed by: Sanjay Gupta
Produced by: Sanjay Gupta
Cast: Aishwarya Rai, Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi
Duration: 1 hours 59 minute
Bollywood Bubble Rating: 3/5

We called Jazbaa Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s comeback film and were quite excited to check it out, going by how it became the talk of the town in last few days. Though not completely nonsensical, but it has quite disappointed us.

The good parts first. The story, in a nutshell, is regarding a single mother (who’s a lawyer too, by profession) has her daughter kidnapped and is pressurised to free a criminal from death sentence if she wants her daughter back alive. Along with it come a lawyer’s ethical crisis versus professional compulsion, a heart-melting portrayal of motherhood sprattling to find its way amidst the eternal story of a woman who is supposed to suppress her emotional storms inside and show up all bright and brave, another mother’s futile agony that silently screams over her daughter’s unjustified death, the uncomfortable but real images of how human minds work. Relatable and realistic.

We loved Irrfan Khan, playing the role of a suspended police officers; though those random kicks and slaps that he throws just to show how “brave” a cop can be, seem out of the place and irrelevant to us. Both Shabana Azmi and Jackie Shroff are subtle and subdue. Sameer Arya’s cinematography is a breath of fresh air, given how commercial cinema has stereotyped camera works, and Bunty Nagi has played nicely with the editing part.

Now, here’s what turned us off. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan seems to have worked really hard; one can guess that looking at her fitness and moves. However, she probably ain’t out of the 90’s aura and appeared to be too melodramatic throughout the film. Those gallons of glycerine that she put in her eyes and those long howls while rolling on the floor have spoilt the firmness and maturity of the character.

The story had the elements to result in a tight-packed thriller, only if it was treated with a better direction. Sanjay Gupta, with his over-emphasised efforts of adding to it a heart-wrenching humane appeal, has had the story losing its elasticity. Sachin-Jigar and Amjad-Nadeem; the film has compositions by the two duos. While the songs are at place and sound suitable, the background score is over-loud; applying too much of it was not a wise idea as it only appears as another failed attempt of evoking fake thrills. Lastly, we are already content with Bollywood stereotyping the poor police people; can’t anymore wait to see some positive aspects of them on screen.

Whether to watch or not? Go watch if your weekends are free and if you’re okay with a semi-successful thriller cooked with tinges of Bollywood flavour.

Ranjini Maitra

Journalist. Writer. Reader. Enthu cutlet. Mood-swing machine. Day dreamer. Sandwiched between ‘live life fully’ and ‘lose some weight’. Mantra of life: Love and love more.