Vasan
Bala’s
ability
to
jolt
our
Bollywood
conditioned
brains
into
experiencing
new
forms
of
menace,
showcasing
Alia
in
a
savage
new
light,
wins
Sukanya
Verma’s
dil
and
jigra.
Vasan
Bala
creates
worlds
that
may
appear
deceptively
similar
to
the
ones
you
and
I
inhabit
but
run
entirely
on
their
own
terms
and
whimsy.
It’s
a
part
of
the
film-maker’s
charm
and
cinephile
influences,
which
made
the
likes
of
Mard
Ko
Dard
Nahi
Hota and
Monica
O
My
Darling
such
a
treat.
Jigra,
probably
his
most
big-ticket
project
so
far,
is
also
his
most
sombre.
More
than
nods
to
pop
culture
moments,
he
internalises
one
of
its
biggest
icons,
Amitabh
Bachchan,
as
both
emotion
and
grammar.
Bachchan,
on
whose
82nd
birthday
the
movie
releases,
is
Jigra‘s
language,
inspiration,
attitude
and
plan
B.
But
Bala
is
going
more
for
the
man’s
simmer
than
swagger
and
the
representative
of
those
angry
young
ideals
is
not
some
towering
masculine
figure
but
a
pocket-sized
Alia
Bhatt
determined
to
bring
her
incarcerated
brother
back
home.
Co-produced
by
her
and
big
sister
Shaheen
along
with
Dharma
Productions,
Jigra‘s
prison
break
bravado
can
be
best
described
as
Bachchan,
Alia
Bachchan
spearheading
Vasan
Bala’s
Bangkok
Hilton
sans
the
bullshit
but
tons
of
bedlam.
Back
in
1993,
Dharma
made
Gumrah
directed
by
Alia’s
dad
Mahesh
Bhatt,
which
rehashed
the
afore-mentioned
Nicole
Kidman
mini-series
to
chronicle
Sridevi’s
misery
behind
bars
after
she’s
falsely
implicated
on
drug
trafficking
charges
by
the
unsympathetic
Hong
Kong
police
until
rescued
in
true
blue
Bollywood
fashion
by
Sanjay
Dutt.
Bala,
on
the
other
hand,
does
away
with
all
the
melodrama
and
violence
to
craft
a
slick
escape
thriller
around
a
sibling
dynamic
that
plays
out
the
nightmare
for
what
it
is
against
a
growing
atmosphere
of
dread.
Orphaned
at
a
young
age,
witness
to
her
father’s
suicide
and
a
possible
survivor
of
abuse
that’s
more
insinuated
than
publicised,
Alia
is
Satya
but
her
truth
stems
from
her
belief
not
honesty.
She’s
like
a
helicopter
sister
sworn
to
protect
her
brother
at
all
costs,
which
makes
her
a
bit
of
a
bully.
But
when
you
see
the
results
of
not
paying
heed
to
her
warning,
it
doesn’t
seem
all
that
unwarranted.
There’s
a
frostiness
in
her
manner,
a
disinterest
to
engage
and
hints
of
bulimia.
Yet,
she
transforms
into
a
bulldog,
a
Bachchan,
a
brother’s
sister
when
her
sibling
is
thrown
in
harm’s
way.
Satya
and
her
kid
brother
Ankur
(Vedang
Raina)
seem
to
be
big
on
Kuch
Kuch
Hota
Hai,
as
evident
in
their
basketball
court
rivalry
and
mention
of
summer
camp
like
a
little
in-joke
only
enthusiasts
of
Karan
Johar’s
directorial
debut
will
understand.
Alas,
the
camaraderie
is
short-lived
when
Ankur
finds
himself
sentenced
to
death
row
in
a
fictional
foreign
land
that
sounds
a
lot
like
China.
Fed
on
Agneepath‘s
law
of
the
jungle
ideology,
Aakhri
Raasta‘s
reckless
interpretation
of
last-ditch
effort,
Zanjeer‘s
do
or
die
grit,
Satya
resolves
to
resort
to
Bachchangiri
and
get
her
not
guilty
brother
out
of
jail
by
hook
or
crook.
Where
there’s
a
way,
there’s
also
a
warden
and
the
Indian-origin
jailer
Landa’s
(a
forbidding
Vivek
Gomber
in
want
of
better
fleshed-out
villainy)
stickler
for
rules,
hellbent
on
wielding
a
Gupt-style
danda
on
the
boy.
Satya,
on
the
other
hand,
finds
friends
in
fellow
sufferers,
kind
of
like
Bachchan’s
Om
Prakash
and
Pran,
played
by
an
excellent
Manoj
Pahwa
and
a
compelling
Rahul
Ravindran
as
they
devise
impractical
ways
to
come
and
rescue
the
‘bachchas‘.
It’s
a
bonkers
plan
and
the
likelihood
of
its
success
is
slim
but
the
ever
solid
Pahwa
humours
Jigra’s
players
on
screen
and
behind
it
in
ways
that
satisfies
our
need
to
see
the
innocent
freed.
Bala’s
systematic
depiction
of
the
humiliation
and
horror
in
the
lockup,
which
teases
our
Gumraah/Anjaam/Ek
Hasina
Thi-fuelled
fear
for
scenes
of
physical
violence
but
spares
us
the
discomfort.
Instead,
jump
scares
take
the
face
of
bizarre
interventions
that
make
little
sense
if
one
wasn’t
so
preoccupied
by
Alia’s
fearless
action
and
Vedang’s
lamb
face.
There’s
not
much
scope
for
Bala’s
trademark
quirk
in
Jigra‘s
raging
pursuits
except
for
the
cameos
from
his
earlier
collaborators
and
a
wild,
unhinged
climax
that
mishmashes
everything
from
Zanjeer‘s
ode
to
friendship
to
cries
of
long
live
the
revolution.
Cinematographer
Swapnil
S
Sonawane
soaks
the
scenes
of
struggles
between
the
siblings
in
shades
of
dull
orange
and
bleak
blue,
powered
by
Achint
Thakkar’s
sentimental
score
and
rambunctious
background
music.
There
are
times
when
Vasan
Bala’s
indulgences
rob
the
momentum
of
its
steam
and
devil-may-care
heroics
prevail
over
good
sense.
But
his
ability
to
jolt
our
Bollywood
conditioned
brains
into
experiencing
new
forms
of
menace,
turning
a
John
Woo-style
prison
riot
into
a
Chinese
Communist
movement
and
showcasing
Alia
in
a
savage
new
light
won
my
dil
and
jigra.
Jigra
Review
Rediff
Rating: