Movie: Jazbaa
Direction: Sanjay Gupta
Cast: Aishwarya Rai, Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi
Music Director: Amar Mohile (Background Score)
Cinematography: Sameer Arya
Editor: Bunty Nagi
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
Rating: ∗∗∗
What is it about: It’s a remake of a South-Korean film “Seven Days” directed by Won Shin-yeon. A reputed criminal lawyer (Aishwarya Rai) daughter (Sara Arjun) is kidnapped by an unknown criminal, who demands to get his acquaintance released with no charges for the murder of Sia (Priya Banerjee). How Aishwarya tries to get out this chain of events which gets tangled every time she tries to solve, forms the crux of the story.
Why it’s disappointing: There are very few things which are disappointing but they kind of spoil the fun in the movie, for instance the cheesy dialogues of Irrfan Khan at inappropriate places and the movie diving in to clichéd moments which takes the fun out a fast paced crime thriller. Another thing which made this one quite weak is the suspense which becomes obvious at early parts of the movie, which could have been misdirected to make it more appealing.
What to watch out for: Jazbaa being a remake does sticks to the subject most of the time, and doesn’t deviate from it. The story is re-created well with Bollywood elements, which favours the Indian audience. It runs at a great pace without taking a break. Director Sanjay Gupta is returning after long time and is quite in touch with his taste for crime thrillers.
The main aspect of the movie is the lead character Anuradha Verma (Aishwarya Rai) around who the film revolves, she has done a great job in the film. Her rustic outlook of the character suited well, and she carried it with great style. For a second you don’t really feel that she was gone that long from the screens, she still has it in her and have become a lot better than what she was before. Her eyes in the movie just spits fire with great emotions as a mother and a fierce lawyer.
Irrfan Khan, he’s been striking home runs one after the other with his great performances. He has a unique style which comes with great sense of humour. As “Yohan” he makes a commendable appearance on screen.
Shabana Azmi was seen on screen in full-fledged character after a long time. She did a great job and her character had few layers which were great.
The rest of the supporting cast were a good ensemble who made a good case on Jazbaa.
The cinematography by Sameer Arya was great, Mumbai looked stunning in a green shade. The colour which Sanjay always choose to make his films. This was well supported by Sunil Nayak, who was sharp in cutting this movie which had a tight running pace. The Background score by Amir Mohile was good.
Verdict: Sanjay Gupta did a decent job on the remake, which manages to hold your attention most of the time. But the vital thing which makes this thriller a best one is Aishwarya Rai’s spellbinding-rustic performance. A one-time watch thriller, which you can spare for the beauty queen’s comeback.
