Bachchan
is
Jigra‘s
language,
inspiration,
attitude
and
plan
B,
notes
Sukanya
Verma.
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
is
Jigra‘s
language,
inspiration,
attitude
and
plan
B.
But
the
tone
Bala
is
going
for
is
simmering
not
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
filmi
style
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.
There
are
times
when
his
indulgence
rob
the
momentum
of
its
steam
and
devil-may-care
heroics
prevail
over
good
sense.
But
his
ability
to
surprise
our
Bollywood
conditioned
brains
by
devising
new
forms
of
menace,
turning
a
John
Woo-style
prison
riot
into
a
Chinese
Communist
movement
and
showcasing
Alia
in
a
savage
new
light
without
resorting
to
gore
won
my
dil
and
jigra.
Watch
out
for
the
full
review
in
just
a
bit!
Jigra
Review
Rediff
Rating:
