No One Killed Jessica – Review

When I first heard about this film, I wondered what was the objective of making the movie, and what was it going to show, because most people were quite aware of the Jessica Lal case. What was particularly perplexing was the casting – one could understand Vidya Balan – but Rani Mukherjee?? The combination was a bit jarring. Of course, there is nothing wrong in making films based on real events – for example the brilliant Black Friday, made by the director’s own mentor. But the difference here was that the material in Black Friday was much more complex and exhaustive. Then we heard from Rajkumar Gupta that the film was intended to be made as a thriller, and on a slightly more commercialised format. So I said, hmmm....well, let’s see. Considering the maker’s sensibilities, it would definitely be a film to watch out for.

A half-hour into the film, I started wondering why I was getting a bit restless, even though NOKJ seemed like very well-made movie. The answer is that the film does not really rise much above being a plain account of the Jessica Lal case, with some parts spiced up by fictionalising it, and has some great performances.

The entire point of making this movie should have been to add some new perspective to the case or some ignored aspect. For example, it could have shown some insight into the stark realities of society. I have always wondered why the rich and the middle-class are so apathetic and selfish. They are so wary of to stand up for someone, scared of exposing themselves to even the slightest danger, and unwilling to face the drudgery of the judicial system. But the same people are so over-protective when it comes to their family, and would go to any lengths to protect them, including breaking all legal, ethical or moral standards, without an inkling of shame or guilt. The defence being that anything is justified if done towards the well being of one’s family. To be fair, the film does succeed on this count to an extent on this count, through some brilliant moments. On the other hand, some crucial characters like the accused person’s mother have been caricatured. My guess is that the director wanted to infuse some humour to lighten the proceedings, but in doing so he dilutes the script. Even the portions representing Bina Ramani are flawed and unexplained.

Coming to performances, Vidya is brilliant, and manages to infuse lot of depth to her character. Rani’s character is quite banal and she plays it high-pitched. Still, the role is a step-up for Rani – we are used to her mouthing lines like “pyar dosti hai”.  It was as if the casting question got mystically answered – Vidya representing the ‘core’ and the facts, while Rani representing the fiction quotient. Sabrina's mother was awful....the way she starts bawling and suddenly becomes all sedate and sullen – it was almost scary!! In fact, even Sabrina’s father is a cardboard cut-out. The director could have added some more personality to the characters.   

Overall, it is quite a well-made film and Rajkumar Gupta’s craft is quite assured and confident. The film does intermittently manage to evoke some emotion and would be a very good watch for people who are not very aware of the case. If only it had some ‘freshness’ quotient to it. Finally, what stayed in my mind when i walked out of the theatre was D-D-D-D-D-Delhi Delhi....

Rajneeti – Et tu Mr. Jha?

Prakash Jha’s films have been earthy and engaging portrayals of problems in rural India. As a teen, I remember watching Mrityudand and being quite hooked – it was about the problem of moneylenders and land reforms in rural India. Both Gangajal and Apaharan gave brilliant insights into the scenario in Bihar. They transported the viewer to Bihar, and one could almost smell the earth of the locations. Also, the dialogues were such a delight – just as they would be spoken in Bihar, with that smattering of English  – “Bilkul half-mind hai saala, sahib ko bhi nahin pehchaana”. 

So, ever since I had first heard about Prakash Jha making Rajneeti - a film on politics; with that snapshot in the newspapers, of Katrina in a saree, waving out, a-la Sonia Gandhi – I was sold. Especially, since this would be Jha’s next after Apaharan – a movie that completely bowled me over. I just couldn’t wait to biting into a juicy portrayal of Indian politics, and being mesmerised and thrilled once again.

But as Rajneeti’s release date grew nearer, the marketing pitch of the film kept on increasing, i downgraded my expectations from the film a bit. Because, i believe that more often than not, a film’s quality is inversely proportional to the magnitude of its promotion.

So when i finally saw Rajneeti, i was completely let down. Instead of a nuanced script with sharp insights into the working of politics, what we get is a racy thriller with just too much killing, too many betrayal, and just..... too much of everything. The film was more like an Abbas-Mustan thriller rather than a Prakash Jha film. This is what happens when a filmmaker becomes successful and is finally established as commercially viable. Then come the big production houses ready to back you, provide you with a cast comprising of the top notch stars, big budgets, and essentially all the trappings required for a large scale commercial film. It is indeed hard for any human, to resist the lure of all this and remain grounded to your true style of film-making. So, with all the noise and attention, and the bigger budget, it becomes necessary to expand the target audience. In that process, scripts become racier, with too much plot and little sub-text and insight. The overall decibel level has to be raised and subtleties go out of the window, since it has to appeal to the average gross popcorn-eating viewer. The result is that that one gets a larger audience but the filmmaker’s core and loyal audience gets alienated. In fact, Mr. Jha clearly admits that he succumbed to this phenomenon in an interview with Anuradha Sengupta, post-Rajneeti – “how does it matter” he says, when asked whether he was happy over compromising his job satisfaction in favour of commercial success. The same phenomenon already happened with RGV – his films began resembling Abbas-Mustan potboilers with all the twists and turns – the best example being Sarkar Raj.

Now, I do believe that Mr.Jha has his head firmly on his shoulders, and the above explanation can only be partially attributed to the way Rajneeti turned out. The other reason being his own endeavour over the years to constantly adapt his grammar of film-making towards making it more commercial, and palatable to a larger audience. One can see that progression through his films. I think he achieved that perfect balance with Apaharan – the film was racy and still had a enough depth in content, with wonderful insights into the kidnapping scene in Bihar. But with Rajneeti, he clearly overstepped that line.