JAZBAA MOVIE REVIEW

Jazbaa gives the numerous Aishwarya Rai fans a chance to catch the eternal beauty queen back in action on the big screen, after quite awhile. She looks as shapely and glamorous as ever, and the opening sequences where she is shown exercising in a tight track-suit just emphasize the work that she has done to keep her glam quotient and looks intact. Jazbaa is a remake of the Korean film Seven Days and it has been directed by Sanjay Gupta, who is known for his loud, flashy, over-the-top, dramatic treatment of films.

 

Aishwarya plays Anuradha Verma, a high profile lawyer and a single mother, who is put in distress when her lone daughter is kidnapped and she is blackmailed into fighting the case of a criminal charged with rape and murder. Anuradha takes up the case for the sake of her daughter, and her friend Yohan, who is a suspended cop, helps her in her investigation. As the film unravels, we are shown all the details of the crime in question, the possible sides to the story, plenty of courtroom drama, the actual perpetrator and finally the reason why Anuradha is brought into this. Ultimately, the film is sort of an ode to motherhood.

 

Jazbaa is an interesting plot and is a taut affair running for just 2 hours. With lower expectations, the film is bound to work even better. But the major drawback is the over filmy dialogues, the melodrama which is consistently high and the showy performances of all the actors. It could have been far subtler.

 

Irrfan Khan gives the film all its swag and style, and he is constantly seen in dark leather jackets and shades. The ace actor can't put a foot wrong and his character, Yohan, also has a soft romantic corner for his long-time friend Anuradha. Aishwarya is earnest but it is evident that she is under a lot of stress with the exaggerated and loud acting style which is required by the director Sanjay. As said earlier, Aish still has the looks and the figure to rival any younger heroine.

 

Shabana Azmi and Atul Kulkarni perform with dignity and seriousness as always, while Jackie Shroff is seen in a little role as a politician who is very careful about not risking his career. The cute Sara Arjun (seen in some Tamil films) plays Aishwarya's daughter and it is a good casting move for sure.

 

There isn't any scope for songs in the film and the background score by Amar Mohile is required to be pounding and on the louder side. In Sameer Arya's cinematography, we get flashy color tones and plenty of aerial shots of Mumbai. Sanjay Gupta prefers his films to be like glossy comic strips.

 

Give Jazbaa a shot if you are an ardent Aishwarya Rai supporter and also if you dig into dramatic, emotional crime stories.