Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is Back
If there is one point that sold Jazbaa to Bollywood loving masses – before the genre or the male lead – it is the fact that the former sweetheart of the Hindi-film-lovers, Aishwarya Rai (Bachchan), is playing the female lead in the recently released motion picture. The double Filmfare Award winner’s last film was Guzaarish, in which she appeared opposite Hrithik Roshan. The film was released nearly five years ago.
Despite her five-year hiatus from Bollywood, Rai Bachchan has been busy. Having married Abhishek Bachchan in 2007, the couple had their only child till date in the year 2011. Critics and fans alike would most likely agree to the notion that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s career was pretty much going downhill after her marriage – barring her appearances in Jodhaa Akbar (2008) and, possibly, Guzaarish. Then is it worth your time to watch her latest release that offers none of the chemistry and romance that she built her career’s best performances on, opposite a fairly charmless Irrfan Khan? The answer, for some, would be yes.
It Isn’t About Aishwarya Rai, Alone
Despite being the biggest selling point of the film – with due respects to Irrfan Khan who has released many critically acclaimed performances in his career, with the latest being Talvar – Jazbaa is not all about Aishwariya Rai. Granted, it is quite refreshing for ‘90s Bollywood films lovers to watch the old queen of Bollywood back in action, with her own brand of acting and certainly her own standard of beauty, but it would be foolish to go to cinema just to see how five years have changed Rai Bachchan and her grip on Bollywood (trust me, that really is one of most common reasons people are watching Jazbaa for). It would be smart, instead, to go looking for a crime thriller, much of which is set in a dimly lit courtroom – a genre that Irrfan Khan has proven himself to be very comfortable with – and happen to find that Aishwarya is playing the female lead in it.
With that said, it is now time to give readers a sneak peek into the film’s plot.
Storyline
Jazbaa follows the story of a female lawyer and single mother, Anuradha Verma (played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan). Verma’s life is sailing fairly smoothly until one day her daughter Sanaya (played by Sara Arjun) is kidnapped. The kidnappers ask for no ransom, but instead, blackmail the acclaimed attorney – she has never lost a case in her life –into defending the case of a convict named Miyaaz Sheikh (played by Chandan Roy Sanyal), who has been charged with the rape and murder of a young woman. With four days to go till judgment, Verma is torn between her duties as a professional lawyer – despite not always playing by the rules – and those as a mother. With very little hope left, Verma decides to borrow help from her friend Yohan (played by Irrfan Khan) who is a suspended police officer – and also the man who arrested Miyaaz Sheikh. Together, Anuradha Verma and Yohan attempt to look for a no-loss situation – a possibility as bleak as it gets.
Performances
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been lauded in many corners for her performance in Jazbaa– and quite rightly so. The seasoned actress has successfully shown in the film that despite staying away from acting for five years, she hasn’t lost her touch. A role such as this – one that sways wildly between the cold calm of a practiced lawyer and the emotionality of a loving mother – would have posed any actor across the globe a serious challenge. Rai Bachchan’s impressive performance is also a rude reminder of how the standards of acting in Bollywood have recently dipped sharply. It is likely that modern actresses like Priyanka Chopra, DeepikaPadukone, Katrina Kaif, and Aaliya Bhatt, would not have stood a chance in the ‘90s and early 2000s against actresses like Madhuri Dixit, Kajol, Aishwarya Rai and Rani Mukherjee who actually knew how to act and weren’t cast just for their good looks to play a role in a film that looked just like their own personal lives.
Irrfan Khan, the perpetual misfit, yet again plays an eccentric policeman. The role was strongly reminiscent of his recent in the crime thriller Talvar and was equally well acted. However, the posters used to market the film – the ones with a weapyAishwarya held protectively in Irrfan’s arms – are grossly misleading. Khan’s character Yohan was no knight in shining armour and Rai Bachchan’s character was no damsel in distress. Their struggle to carve out a win-win situation from something that looked like a square loss was fought equally by both lead characters – one of the most impressive features of the film.
Other than the lead actors, the performance of the ever-forceful ShabanaAzmi – who plays Garima, the mother of the girl raped and killed by Miyaaz Sheikh, Sia – is extremely commendable. With Aishwarya Rai’s AnuradhaVerma trapped into defending a convict for saving her daughter, and ShabanaAzmi’sGarima seeking justice for her dead daughter, the face-off between the two pained mothers is quite a strong one.
Production and Direction
Despite being criticized for the movie’s slow pace and nauseating filters, I personally believe that Sanjay Gupta, Jazbaa’s director, should be commended for being gutsy enough to put his faith – and money, since he is also one of the many producers of the film – into a slow-mo film that doesn’t really suit modern cinemagoers’ taste. The green filters and rainy setting also complement the mystery and suspense that the film is wrought with.
Having said that, it is certainly not amiss to state here that Hindi movie-makers really need to stop remaking foreign films – Jazbaa is a remake of a 2007 South Korean film named Seven Days – and come up with their own stories.
Why Watch It: Fans of Legal Thrillers and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Would Love It
Jazbaa is a quintessential, Grishamesque legal thriller. Anybody who is a fan of that particular genre would certainly love to watch the film. And, of course, if you are a long-time admirer of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, you would certainly enjoy watching the lady’s comeback on the big screen.
Why Not: Not for Fast-Paced Entertainment Lovers
As already mentioned, Jazbaa is a very deliberate, slow-paced film. So if you are short on time or like quick, entertaining movies, Jazbaa might not be the right choice for you at the weekend.
If there is one point that sold Jazbaa to Bollywood loving masses – before the genre or the male lead – it is the fact that the former sweetheart of the Hindi-film-lovers, Aishwarya Rai (Bachchan), is playing the female lead in the recently released motion picture. The double Filmfare Award winner’s last film was Guzaarish, in which she appeared opposite Hrithik Roshan. The film was released nearly five years ago.
Despite her five-year hiatus from Bollywood, Rai Bachchan has been busy. Having married Abhishek Bachchan in 2007, the couple had their only child till date in the year 2011. Critics and fans alike would most likely agree to the notion that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s career was pretty much going downhill after her marriage – barring her appearances in Jodhaa Akbar (2008) and, possibly, Guzaarish. Then is it worth your time to watch her latest release that offers none of the chemistry and romance that she built her career’s best performances on, opposite a fairly charmless Irrfan Khan? The answer, for some, would be yes.
It Isn’t About Aishwarya Rai, Alone
Despite being the biggest selling point of the film – with due respects to Irrfan Khan who has released many critically acclaimed performances in his career, with the latest being Talvar – Jazbaa is not all about Aishwariya Rai. Granted, it is quite refreshing for ‘90s Bollywood films lovers to watch the old queen of Bollywood back in action, with her own brand of acting and certainly her own standard of beauty, but it would be foolish to go to cinema just to see how five years have changed Rai Bachchan and her grip on Bollywood (trust me, that really is one of most common reasons people are watching Jazbaa for). It would be smart, instead, to go looking for a crime thriller, much of which is set in a dimly lit courtroom – a genre that Irrfan Khan has proven himself to be very comfortable with – and happen to find that Aishwarya is playing the female lead in it.
With that said, it is now time to give readers a sneak peek into the film’s plot.
Storyline
Jazbaa follows the story of a female lawyer and single mother, Anuradha Verma (played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan). Verma’s life is sailing fairly smoothly until one day her daughter Sanaya (played by Sara Arjun) is kidnapped. The kidnappers ask for no ransom, but instead, blackmail the acclaimed attorney – she has never lost a case in her life –into defending the case of a convict named Miyaaz Sheikh (played by Chandan Roy Sanyal), who has been charged with the rape and murder of a young woman. With four days to go till judgment, Verma is torn between her duties as a professional lawyer – despite not always playing by the rules – and those as a mother. With very little hope left, Verma decides to borrow help from her friend Yohan (played by Irrfan Khan) who is a suspended police officer – and also the man who arrested Miyaaz Sheikh. Together, Anuradha Verma and Yohan attempt to look for a no-loss situation – a possibility as bleak as it gets.
Performances
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been lauded in many corners for her performance in Jazbaa– and quite rightly so. The seasoned actress has successfully shown in the film that despite staying away from acting for five years, she hasn’t lost her touch. A role such as this – one that sways wildly between the cold calm of a practiced lawyer and the emotionality of a loving mother – would have posed any actor across the globe a serious challenge. Rai Bachchan’s impressive performance is also a rude reminder of how the standards of acting in Bollywood have recently dipped sharply. It is likely that modern actresses like Priyanka Chopra, DeepikaPadukone, Katrina Kaif, and Aaliya Bhatt, would not have stood a chance in the ‘90s and early 2000s against actresses like Madhuri Dixit, Kajol, Aishwarya Rai and Rani Mukherjee who actually knew how to act and weren’t cast just for their good looks to play a role in a film that looked just like their own personal lives.
Irrfan Khan, the perpetual misfit, yet again plays an eccentric policeman. The role was strongly reminiscent of his recent in the crime thriller Talvar and was equally well acted. However, the posters used to market the film – the ones with a weapyAishwarya held protectively in Irrfan’s arms – are grossly misleading. Khan’s character Yohan was no knight in shining armour and Rai Bachchan’s character was no damsel in distress. Their struggle to carve out a win-win situation from something that looked like a square loss was fought equally by both lead characters – one of the most impressive features of the film.
Other than the lead actors, the performance of the ever-forceful ShabanaAzmi – who plays Garima, the mother of the girl raped and killed by Miyaaz Sheikh, Sia – is extremely commendable. With Aishwarya Rai’s AnuradhaVerma trapped into defending a convict for saving her daughter, and ShabanaAzmi’sGarima seeking justice for her dead daughter, the face-off between the two pained mothers is quite a strong one.
Production and Direction
Despite being criticized for the movie’s slow pace and nauseating filters, I personally believe that Sanjay Gupta, Jazbaa’s director, should be commended for being gutsy enough to put his faith – and money, since he is also one of the many producers of the film – into a slow-mo film that doesn’t really suit modern cinemagoers’ taste. The green filters and rainy setting also complement the mystery and suspense that the film is wrought with.
Having said that, it is certainly not amiss to state here that Hindi movie-makers really need to stop remaking foreign films – Jazbaa is a remake of a 2007 South Korean film named Seven Days – and come up with their own stories.
Why Watch It: Fans of Legal Thrillers and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Would Love It
Jazbaa is a quintessential, Grishamesque legal thriller. Anybody who is a fan of that particular genre would certainly love to watch the film. And, of course, if you are a long-time admirer of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, you would certainly enjoy watching the lady’s comeback on the big screen.
Why Not: Not for Fast-Paced Entertainment Lovers
As already mentioned, Jazbaa is a very deliberate, slow-paced film. So if you are short on time or like quick, entertaining movies, Jazbaa might not be the right choice for you at the weekend.