JigraHindi - Action / Drama153 minsNetflix
Vasan Bala is one of those movie crazies turned filmmakers looking to create some radically new cinema. His past works include the good "Monica, O My Darling" and the very interesting "Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota.". Naturally, this collaboration with one of India's better actors, Alia Bhatt, was definitely something to look forward to.
Alia portrays Satya /Satyabhama Anand (a cool name for a leading lady), a staff manager/fixer for a well-connected family (distant relatives who adopted them). She is also a possessive older sibling to Ankur (Vedang Raina).
Ankur is a techie and a good kid, who gets imprisoned in a fictitious Asian country on a drug charge. This sets up a solid prison break. The writing up to this point is fairly breezy without too much drama (no background on the family, no explanation of Alia's motivations, no mandatory prison torture/related themes, no Samaritan old inmate to aid in the escape...).
A prison break sequence in Hindi cinema is a rarity, so one is looking to a good conclusion. However, in some inexplicable way, the second half hurtles into a downward spiral, faltering in execution and ending in a messy, laughable, and hare-brained conclusion.
The supporting cast of Manoj Pahwa (an ex-gangster) and Rahul Ravindran (an ex-cop) are quite good. The main antagonist is Vivek Gomber as "Hans"raj "Landa" (a tribute to Christoph Waltz's genius performance in "Inglourious Basterds"). Gomber is superb with his accent and body language as the ruthless prison warden.
Vedang Raina looks good and emotes well. Alia Bhatt, for the most part, looks okay and does her bit, but the writing lets her down, especially during the prison break execution where she looks ill at ease. Where does she pick up so many skills? How does she do what she does?.
The cinematography is very nice, some frames especially during the prison break are absolutely stunning. The spiffy background score by Achint Thakkar is a big plus for the movie. Vasan Bala has great fun with his fanboying - the jailers are named after famous Asian directors, lots of tribute to the Angry young man as well.
"Jigra" is produced by Dharma Productions. The past few years in Tamil cinema especially, there have been a few of these collabs. A new-age writer/director working with a a big production house and a big star. Most of these movies were built on a one-line script or a solid premise. This makes for an entertaining and good first half of the movie before the producer(s)/ star demands or fanbase pandering gets thrown in, diluting the impact of the writer / director, allowing them to be lazy!
Jigra ends up exactly like one of these. A good half movie!.
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