Jigra

Went in so excited for this movie and i am so disappointed.

Vasan's last 2 movies ie Monica / Mard ko Dard nahi hota were absolutely amazing watches and so wanted to watch this in theatres on first day and man he DISAPPOINTED me .

Such an expected story with very bad screenplay. It only focuses on one part of the story ignoring the rest.

Alia tried hard but she reminded me of Gangubai a lot . I think what worked with Monica's/Mard were not having popular stars. Here, they have one and Vasan seems to have succumbed to the pressure . He focused too much on highlighting Alia as 'Amitabh Bachchan' than he lost the plot. He should have made this with someone else.

Vedang is good though and he has a good future ahead . Deserved more screen time . He sings well too.

Bgm is good , cinematography is great , Music is underwhelming.

Few action scenes are good , majority bland .

3/10 .

What could have been one of the year's most heartfelt films unfortunately settles as a popcorn entertainer with technical brilliance, but ultimately offering little to no food for thought.

That said, it still justifies its ticket price with numerous strengths-well-fleshed-out characters brought to life by applause-worthy performances, a riveting score that elevates the film, and Hollywood-level art direction making full use of the Dharma budget. The brilliant use of colors adds a nostalgic - campy vibe. Flawless editing lets the scenes breathe, but also tightens the story's grip when the script demands. The fast pacing leaves no room for dullness throughout.

However, all these strengths are thrown out the window in the final act. While the film's technical brilliance kept me engaged in the theater, in retrospect I realised that it merely acted as a bandaid on a lackluster script.

The film suffers from repeated exposition, convenient plot devices, and a tonal conflict where forced comedic moments undermine the story's serious elements.

At one point in the third act, a character essentially declares, "I'm going to commit war crimes and look cool while doing so, and you won't question it." This sudden shift fails miserably. Characters break out of their established personalities, and the film loses all moral grounding, embracing and glorifying war and terrorism. The once-grounded brother-sister story becomes over-the-top and comical, with characters inexplicably mastering military weapons and vehicles with no prior experience. It really feels like it went big, for the sake of going big. You can count plot holes on both hands and still run out of fingers.

The first half is exceptional, with few sequences that rank among the best this year. But the jarring finale completely undermines the journey that led upto it.

Vasan Bala is huge fan of Bachchan & there are Bachchan ester eggs throughout the movie!!

Alia's character is vaguely based on iconic Bachchan angry young man characters. The movie is strongly uplifted by BGM.(Always a forte for Vasan Bala films). Cinematography is good. The colour frames lit up big screen. First half is good. Builds up Alia's character.2nd half is bit streched but climax lives up to expectations. (Even climax could have been 5-7 minutes shorter.)

Somehow it's missing the thrill of Monica oh my Darling benchmark. It's Prison break+ emotions+ Bachchan movie without Bachchan himself!!

Overall a good movie!

Satyabhama Anand (Alia Bhatt) and Ankur Anand (Vedant Raina) are siblings who got orphaned as kids. Satya had always been her brother's protector and circumstances only make her firm on playing his life long savior. They are raised by their uncle but are not truly considered as family. Satya knows they are on their own and when Ankur is sentenced to death in an unknown country for a crime he did not commit, Satya makes it her mission to save him at any cost. She finds support from ex gangster Shekhar Bhatia and ex cop Muthu, both wanting to save someone from the dreaded prison. What happens when their plan goes awry and with time running, what havoc Satya brings in to save her brother, forms rest of the story.

Vasan Bala's films are guilty pleasures with enough old film references he puts in as an ode to those films he loves, has been highly relatable for me. With Jigra, Vasan Bala pens down an adaptation of Gumrah with gender reversal. The characterization of Alia Bhatt's Satya to be a badass is established at her introduction scene itself. The making is top notch and it's a story which has the appeal even now. The problem is in the way Vasan Bala tries to juggle the narrative which is realistic and also filled with light-hearted humor, which he couldn't find the perfect balance. The serious tone of the film fails to gel with the humor during / before jailbreak scenes. For a film that jokes about masala films, the final act is extremely masalafied. Also, it is not regular to show the protagonist to harm an honest character and it stood out as a sore point. It could be argued that she can go to any extent, justifying the actions in the final act but nevertheless it was hard to digest. Alia Bhatt shines in her role, bringing in the balance between enacting her emotions subtly to her outbursts. The film gets too over the top in the second half, while the cinematography aids a lot in selling those shots, the writing doesn't. Manoj Pahwa and Rahul Ravindran's Shekhar Bhatia and Muthu are another reasons for giving this film a shot. There is a reference to Zanjeer's hit song in the end and it proves how predictable the writing got at the very conceptual level.

I got hooked with the trailer. Mindblowing.

Then I felt bombed by the film. Underperforming to put it in one word.

Alia delivers, all other actors seem to have skipped acting school. Maybe it's also the dialogues which are just week.

The main problem is that the entire story is event driven. One event and song chases the next one.

What about a character driven story once in a while? Character development not stupid stereotypes with punchy lines just to get to the next scene.

Who is writing those dialogues?

I watched 20 minutes and then skipped through the rest.

Sorry, but it did not catch me.