It goes overboard and designedly so. Sohail Khan’s take on Stalin is on
expected lines. You know from where the political statement comes: the common
man, the mango man. This film interestingly makes a disguised statement on
anarchy as the lurking political alternative if empowering the common man as
perceived in certain quarters is accepted. The steroidal violence as a social
response to corruption in its manifold avtars stares us in the face and if
prepared leading to the debate if that is any alternative at all.
An ex army officer Jai (Salman) is out on the streets with zero tolerance to
injustice which surely gets tested ever so often, by all the bad, bad things
that are inflicted by harbingers of evil and the stoic indifference of the
majority. A bullet point narrative including a physically challenged girl
(Genilia D’Souza) committing suicide, an infant being kidnapped, a child
seeking alms at a traffic signal, the lewd caller all happen before him. With
the ease of a main stream film hero, grown beyond his image, Jai arrives at
every evil nukkad, as a brawl filled alternative. We have two corrupt police
officers (Aditya Pancholi and Sharat Kapoor) who look the other way and it is
only the corrective intervention of the protagonist that saves the day. Jai’s Mom
(Nadira Babbar) is the aggressive lady in the neighbourhood. Her son’s muscle
power obviously rubs off in the gait and spirit of this Maa who is willing to
take on the bad guys herself. The lady with the golden heart however has not
excused her daughter Gita (Tabu) for marrying Rehan (Mahesh Thakur). Jai is
supported by two friends (Ashmit Patel and Yash Tonk). In the neighbourhood is
Pinky (debutant Daisy Shah – a disaster) who is also one of the incidental
victims of societal evil on one hand and the antidote charm on the other.
Representing evil is the local home minister Dasarath Singh (Danny) and members
of the family which includes his daughter (Sana Khan), son in law (Mukul Dev)
and other evil hangers on. The narrative leads to a conflict of epic proportions
between good and evil. Smuggled into this muscle flexing dialectic response is
the philosophy that if each citizen could help 3 people in need, the cascading
effect could establish Ram Rajya. Obviously the mantra fails the ‘check your
premises’ test of Ayn Rand. We are told aam aadmi sota hua sher hai. We end up
concluding that is sheher mein sab sote hain. Unfortunately he is in the Rip
Van winkle mode. In passing it is also pointed out that aam aadmi is socially
hesitant to be socially pro active. No effort is made to crack the
contradiction.
If Sohail Khan in effect was examining the nature of individual consciousness
(and unconsciousness) and is making a docu statement then the effort to bring
together disparate strands of life and knit a harmonious whole into this loud,
grotesque, anarchical, bloody, dirty, foul and filth filled state would be
worth the effort. The sign posts suggest differently. Jai is and surely Jai Ho
is no Mrs Dalloway and surely Sohail is no Virginia Wolf.
You know what to except from a Salman starrer and that is doled out a plenty.
Of the cast Salman apart the huge assembly of performers in semi retirement
bring in their rusted best. This includes the likes of Danny, Suneil Shetty,
Mahesh Manjrekar, Aditya Pancholi, Mukul Dev etc. Nadira Babbar is a bubbly
addition to the list of Hindi Moms, Tabu to the sisters and Naman Jain to the
hyper active kids in their stereotypical best.
The unadulterated adulation for Salman is obvious from the moment the
145minutes rendition begins. It is a script that is audaciously committed to
Salman and the school of cinema he sells. The final fixture when we have the
villain and the hero tearing their shirts and exhibiting their torso gets
beyond the realm of fictional acceptance and the audience is silenced in their
own expectations. It is obvious that every star reaches a career point where
the exaggeration of the cinematic image mocks reality and than comes the stage
when it is so full blown that a point comes when the expectation is increasing
and the creative juices handicapped. Then rejection. The Khans are a little
away from that stage but at least two in the famed trio need to examine their
scripts from this angle of endurance and saleability.
The film also slowly whispers another alternative: the use of army against the
local politician, his goons and the in house support from the system. This is a
dangerous suggestion. In the existing lawless scenario even as dramatic license
this would be a dangerous path to tread. It is better to be forewarned than
regret. Finally the film is clearly a statement from the film maker and to
borrow from the film it seems to suggest: Apna kaam banta, bhaad mein
jaye janta.