Filmy Friday: Jazbaa Review

1994 Miss World winner Aishwarya Rai returned to the big screens today and it was simply wonderful to see her back in action, literally!

Director Sanjay Gupta known for making films which keep you at edge again had as at the edge of our seats at the movies with his film Jazbaa. Selecting a fantastic cast from Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi, Jackie Shroff, Chandan Sanyal and of course Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

From beginning to end I was taken into the films story and fully engrossed in this action-drama film which in fact was touched upon the topic of a rape case and the kidnap of a little girl. A lot of the story had dialogue focusing on women empowerment and how corrupt the system in India is. A lot of reality was put into the film, but it was conveyed on the big-screen in a discrete and semi-comical way, especially when Irrfan spoke his one-liners.

Speaking of Irrfan, well we already know he’s an outstanding actor of all industries. His character was quite different from what we typically see him in. He had a suave streak to him and you wanted to listen to his dialogues over and over again. And in addition there was this unspoken chemistry between both him and Aishwarya which was simply beautiful.

Aishwarya of course killed it with her performance! Where a lot enjoyed seeing her play her infamous role as Paro in Devdas I enjoyed seeing her in simple clothing, less jewels and express natural emotion. She plays the role of a lawyer and single mother in this film and she did an outstanding job.

All the supporting actors played their parts well, each and every character had a story and it was very intriguing to see where the story went from the first to last scene.

I didn’t get a glance of the music before I saw the film, but there are two tracks I’ve had on repeat since I walked out of the film: Bandeya and Jaane Tere Shehar. Bandeya was played in the credits, and when Jaane Tere Shehar came on during the film, first I thought, why is there a sappy song in such a film? But the dialogue that Irrfan delivered during this track was heart melting and pleasing.

Only thing I was turned off by in the film was the excessive amounts of slow-motion effects and extreme dramatic scenes where Aishwarya is lost and screaming for help. It was pleasant to see the Mumbai skyline repetitively every couple scenes, but it felt constant and as if it was inserted to fill in time.

On whole though Jazbaa was a good and entertaining film!

Urban Asian’s review of Jazbaa is