A simple, unpretentious and
wide-eyed country boy is trying to be apologetic to the girl he’s been with all
night under the same sheet. Local liquor brand can be held responsible but the
girl is taken aback, “Sorry? What for?” “For everything”, the boy is in deep guilt.
“Not for everything. Say sorry only for why you left me alone there.” The girl
is definitely more independent, free and open, and emotionally less complicated.
So is Shefali Bhushan’s JUGNI. It likes to have its own sense of rhythm with
melodies that induce extreme likeness and energy in you to match up with the
beats life throws at you.
Vibhavari [Sugandha Garg], a
small-time music director from Mumbai lands in a small village in Punjab in
search of soulful Sufi music that might give her all the recognition and
respect she wants from the world. Her spell with the local talents greatly
reminds you of Sneha Khanwalkar’s stint in MTV’s SOUND TRIPPIN. Old timer Bibi
Saroop [Sadhana Singh] and her son Mastana [Siddhant Bahl] are her best bets.
Where Bibi Saroop is more into earthy, emotional and expressive Sufi music, her
son loves to be the man of masses. His songs can be as weirdly enjoyable as
having rhyming words like ‘Kidney-Sidney’. The bonding over the music
collaboration slowly starts overlapping on the relationships on both the sides.
Mastana’s loudmouthed girlfriend Preeto [Anurrita Jha] knows for sure that no
city girl can ever be trusted. The live-in partner of Vibhavari, Sid [Samir
Sharma] still doesn’t understand much about her recent decisions in life.
Shefali, in her first directorial
venture gives us a fresh breeze of storytelling that is highly enriched with melodic
tunes, believable characters, some real good performances if not great, an eye-pleasing
cinematography and a writing that never settles for being a regular. The music
sessions filmed in/for the film are undoubtedly the best moments in the film.
The participation of celebrated names like A R Rehman and Vishal Bhardwaj makes
sure this small ‘all heart’ musical doesn’t remain small in terms of giving you
a good time in theatres. Watching Sadhna Singh making a great comeback is a
different pleasure all together. She is still very much skilled to enthuse life
even in a dull frame. Anurrita Jha is effortless. Samir Sharma plays it as neat
as it should be.
Siddhant Bahl impresses with his ease
and energy. The job was to look a high-spirited, ever-excited and over the top
character that wears more colors than the shade-card of any Paint manufacturing
brand at any given time. And Siddhant is always at it. The other two names that
make JUGNI work are Shellee and Sugandha Garg. Shellee’s dialogues range from
being madly rustic to finely consequential. Sugandha on the other hand provides
a solid support to the story with a character-sketch that can promptly ask for a
quick financial help from her boyfriend soon after throwing at him a hint of
break-up. She looks every bit of the free-spirited Vibhavari.
Overall, JUGNI comes as a pleasant
surprise that leaves you wanting more of its fresh approach in storytelling,
likeable characters and a celebratory session of refreshing music. Some loose
ends and an uneven screenwriting can always be overlooked if you are leaving
the theatre and thinking of how soon you can get these soundtracks on your
phone playlist. If not for anything else, for your EARS only! [3/5]
No comments:
Post a Comment