Two major flaws cramp the film:
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sanjay Gupta. Is casting that inextricable facet of
the film-maker’s vision that the critic cannot see beyond that and speak within
the defined precincts? Why did Raj Kapoor choose Zeenat over Rekha for SSS or
now in the context Aishwarya in a role that could have been essayed with
flawless integrity by the one and only Tabu and even more importantly have a
Tabu Vs. Shabana drama on hand? Our cinema makers shop well, but what they do
with the purchase or lift is the sad part.
Anuradha Varma (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) is a top notch lawyer. She is an
embarrassment to the prosecution. Thus the film opens with her saving baddie
Abbas (Abhimanyu Singh). He leaves with a fraught filled pledge that he would
return the favour. Now back home she is the single mother who is dotting on
daughter Sananya (Sara Arjun). Sannaya is kidnapped for a cause. The lawyer Mom
gets a phone call that her daughter would be held ransom till she defends with
all her talent a rapist who is sure to head to the gallows. She succumbs to
blackmail with effortless ease. Soon as a support system she finds old friend Yohan
(Irfan Khan) a disgraced police officer, himself on the run. For a twist he was
the guy who got the accused Miyaz Sheik (Chandan Roy Sanyal) behind bars.
Anuradha goes about her job including familiarising herself with the scene of
offence. She thus runs into Garishma Chowdary (Shabana) the mother of the rape
victim Sia (Priya Banerjee). Garishma has a broken marriage and her daughter
accuses Mom for the broken marriage. Who killed Sia after the rape? What is all
this about the ambitious politician (Jackie Shroff) and the inmate at the
asylum (Siddhanth Kapoor).
Now that we are with questions: why is everyone shrieking their guts off?
Hitherto filmmakers underestimated the intelligence of the viewer now it is his
auditory capacities. Given the larynx the biggest challenge is Aishwarya Rai,
who goes overboard all the time and consistently. Remember Sushmita Sen doing a
near class act with Mein Aisa Hi Hoon and Samay? Not Aishwarya. She over does
her job. The shrieks, the shrills, the shouts, the screams, are just overboard
and also the undoing of what could have been a great movie and a subtle coming
of age of gender in our cinema. When the heroine is fighting the bad guys and
is in all the slow motion shots – but then it is a performance that is so studded
that it lacks authenticity. In contrast Irfan may have a role with just wise
cracks to throw but he manages to get the whistles and the applause.
There is then Shabana Azmi who is such a consummate artist. Notice the scene
when in the course of her cross examination in court she says: No Mrs. Varma,
you are NOT sorry and you know that she is one who has understood the media
like few of her colleagues have. She too unfortunately goes overboard at times
and permits without cause close shots that could well have been avoided. Even
the cinematography of the film is contrived, punctuation shots and the green
lenses shots are superimposed to needless distraction in a tale that could have
been told with a lot more conviction and less seeming style. Jazbaa is seeming
passion. If only it were more honest and less manipulated…..
Rating: 2.5 stars.
+ some twists and Irfan-shabana
– Aishwarya and loud to a fault.
L. Ravichander.