Jazbaa Review: Go Green with maternal instinct
This Aishwarya Rai Bachchan comeback film is a mix of good and bad. With Shabana Azmi walking away from the film like a protagonist. The film is high on maternal instinct, has a good twist, but the scriptwriters spoiled it with cheesy dialogues and bad plot.
The film is good in parts and there are sequences where the camera work and the acting reach heightened crests. But there are too many troughs that make the graph look bad overall. Irrfan Khan has a good role but too many 90s dialogue-baazi. The films meanders slowly and sometimes too slowly. There will be parts where the over-acting and over-dramatization becomes unbearable and you’d want to walk away. But why sit through? The almost predictable twist and the desire to see what becomes of this adaptation of Korean film- Seven Days.
Star Performances:
To begin with, seeing Aishwarya Rai Bachchan after almost 5 years on the big screen is the luring factor. But then there will be times that you wanna shut your eyes, seeing those gorgeous eyes bulging out on the screen. She plays a mother who is a damn good lawyer. But the flow of emotions is overwhelming. To see it from a mother’s point of view, some parts stand justifiable. But overall, the performance is powerful and dramatic at the same time.
Irrfan Khan, the actor is good in the film. But there will be times, you’d not want him to bombard you with any more of his dialogues too. The script had it, he had to say it. But his craft was good.
Taking the film to great lengths is veteran Shabana Azmi. With a brilliant act, she is the savior of the film. Her role and only her role is scripted well and to the optimum level. With poised acting and years of experience, Shabana paints the green-screen with her own shades.
Chandan Roy Sanyal is good as the crazy man, but goes overboard too. Siddanth Kapoor has a brief role and that is done well. Jackie Shroff in his less screen-time, adds volumes and doesn’t over-act.
Technicalities:
The film is all green and has oodles of maternal instincts. We have no issues with maternal instincts but the green is too much on the eyes. The makers attempted something new with the color scale. Oh wait! No, that’s basically Sanjay Gupta’s favorite color. But now it is time, he should try adding the green-touch to his film. Didn’t we have too much in the past already?
From the script standpoint, the film is a just average and it falls weak at many junctures. But somehow the ship doesn’t sink, all thanks to Shabana Azmi and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. A lot of hype was created during the promotions and filming and it doesn’t live upto that craze, but simply fares average.
The music album is a mix of tracks and thankfully the songs aren’t thrown at your face but only available for commercial purpose. The film has good concept but failed in terms of linear plot.
Watch or not:
It is a mixed bag. If you can stand till post interval, then watch it for Shabana Azmi’s sake. But if you have given up before the interval, that’s understandable too. But one watch is suggested. Nevermind the dialogues. So watch with a lot of patience to see what comes of rapists and molesters when a mother decides to take matters in her own hand.
Thumbs Up: Concept
Thumbs Down: Overtly stretched, over-dramatic, too green, too much dialoguebaazi
Yawns: Many
Ratings: 3.5 out of 5 (0.5 extra for Shabana Azmi)
