The reason behind a remake can be disciplined into
more than one intention or culpable justification. Recreating the success story
at the box-office now in your favor [HUM AAPKE HAIN KOUN…! tops the list] is
one. Blessing the original with a new perspective to instate your radical creative
expression [DEV D could be the most genre-defining example] is other. Meanwhile,
some choose to be unapologetically lazy to create anything at their own. Calculatedly,
Sanjay Gupta’s JAZBAA is a lethal combination belonging to each one of the
above given grounds but unintentionally it proves to be one of those lame efforts
that make the original look a classic while it wasn’t. JAZBAA is nothing but
the return of a ‘stuck in his own world’ filmmaker who believes more in styling
their actors than in making them dive into the characters they are playing
on-screen, to a great deal of depth.
Looking at the vital components in the plot, Korean
thriller ‘SEVEN DAYS’ was a perfect film destined to be remade by Sanjay Gupta
at any given time. Tainted characters, twisted plot and the dark world of crime
to deal with; Gupta has always a ‘green’ eye for such vulnerable subject.
Criminal lawyer and a single-parent Anuradha Verma [Mrs Rai Bachchan] never
minds taking false cases from evidently guilty clients as only they can afford
her services and not the innocent ones. Though we rarely see her best foot being
put forward in the court scenes, the tag of being an advocate with 100% success
record is forced-feed to us very conveniently. One day, her daughter goes
missing and now the abductor wants her to take the case of a rapist and
murderer [Chandan Roy Sanyal] and bring him back alive from the death ropes. Anuradha
has a ticking bomb in her hands that makes her run, jump and chase to save her
daughter. Suspended corrupt cop Yohaan [Irrfan] is the only helping shadow by
her side.
Sanjay Gupta with Robin Bhatt doesn’t feel any
shame in lifting clues and cues from its original Korean film. While the
original has managed to stick on the plot as a plain crime thriller, Gupta does
make an effort to make it socially relevant film by raising the burning issue
of rapes in India. He makes his characters speak about it. He ends the film
with stats and facts about the issue. And this was the only addition apart from
the veteran Kamlesh Pandey’s verbal punches but the way Sanjay Gupta deals with
it; I think it declines more on the ‘exploitation’ side. Gupta gives you all
shiny and well-styled characters that wear sunglasses even at the darkest
places on earth, show off their ‘killer’ attitude through the cheesy one-liners
that could easily get turned into a cheap ‘Whats App’ picture message and cry
out so loud you would start feeling sorry more for your eardrums than her pain.
Here, even the most insignificant characters treat you as the punching bag in
their drawing room and keep throwing at you heavily philosophical lines about
life, death and what not.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in her comeback shows magical
sparks in her presence on screen like the way she always has in her. No matter
how intense or depressing the scene is, you could never turn aside your eyes
from appreciating her flawless beauty. You can count the same a negative in a
performance based role like this. Irrfan plays it ultra-cool and takes away all
the claps and whistles every time he talks something utter meaningless yet massy
lines. Shabana Azmi is as melodramatic as she could be yet her being in the
frame itself brings more credence, power and life altogether. Jackie Shroff,
Atul Kulkarni, Abhimanyu Singh and Chandan Roy Sanyal are wasted.
In an interesting scene, Irrfan beats a guy when
he asks for his right not to be arrested by a suspended cop. Irrfan makes it
clear then and there that it is no Hollywood film but a Bollywood one where
anything can happen. JAZBAA could have been a good thriller if the melodrama,
styling, obsessively done color-correction and uninspiring background sound
would have not shadowed the more significant aspect of the filmmaking i.e.
honest storytelling. Wait till it premiers on TV and you might enjoy the latest
addition in Bollywood’s ‘Khan-brigade’ with all the required swag; Irrfan!
[2/5]
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