“Uff! That was intense,” exclaimed a woman just as the credits started rolling after Vasan Bala’s Jigra. I shared the sentiment. My heart was full. Every aspect of the film worked for me.

In fact, Jigra made the aspiring filmmaker in me extremely envious of Vasan, for he has hit the perfect balance I wish to achieve in a “mainstream” film – between class and mass, sophistication and fun, substance and soul, intensity and tenderness, and complexity and simplicity.

This is perhaps why I felt compelled to write this piece. Jigra may become the latest victim of “early snub syndrome,” courtesy of reviews that don’t do justice to it. I hope Jigra doesn’t become one of those movies––like Vikramaditya Motwane’s brilliant “Bhavesh Joshi Superhero”––you wished you saw in the theatres.

Before getting into why I feel the movie deserves a deeper, closer look, let me brief you about the plot, just in case you don’t know it already. It’s simple – a young man is sentenced to death in a foreign land and his sister is determined to do all that it takes to save him.

The sister (read superwoman) is Alia Bhatt’s nonchalant Satyabhama Anand or Satya, a kid who turned a single parent to her only brother Ankur Anand (Vedang Raina) from the moment she “protects” him from witnessing their father taking his life falling from their home’s balcony.

From that haunting opening sequence, Vasan gives the siblings enough moments to convey their bond, and the audience, enough time to comprehend it. The equation is clear––and if it is not, Satya spells it out too––Ankur ties her rakhi, and he is under her protection, come what may.

Jigra is mounted on a gargantuan scale yet its moments are deeply personal. Vasan delivers a cinematic spectacle without compromising on nuanced, personal storytelling.

It sure has the mask of a prison-break genre film, but it offers more from behind the mask. Jigra is fast-paced and is also a slow-burn. There’s an urgency to everything, but there’s enough time to plot and plan. The supporting characters may not necessarily have an “arc” but we sure get time to learn their motivations and limitations. I don’t see this duality as confusion or weakness, I see it as control and balance.

For me, this duality is what gives Jigra its appeal. Like in the theatre I saw it, it resonates across diverse viewer preferences. Jigra isn’t afraid to be many things at once, and I feel that is where its true brilliance lies.

Watch the trailer of Jigra here:

If we break Jigra down to Blake Snyder’s “Save the cat” script beat, Vasan, who co-wrote the film with Debashish Irengbam, doesn’t waste much time with “Act 1”. Within the first 25-odd minutes, not only is the “theme”––that Satya will always protect Ankur––stated, but the “inciting incident”––Ankur’s arrest and subsequent death sentence by electrocution in a fictional southeast Asian island nation “Hanshi Dao”––is done with. The “catalyst”––Satya’s chartered flight to Hanshi Dao in war-mode, and the “debate”––if she can’t get Ankur out of the prison by law, then what––are also established in this time.

It is in “Act 2” that the writers take their time. The “subplot”––two groups planning independent prison breaks––is extensive, and this is possibly where some felt the movie could be tighter, but like a character says, “This is no masala film. It is complicated.”

The “fun and games”––Satya’s time with Bhatia, a retired gangster (an endearing Manoj Pahwa) and Muthu, a conscience-heavy former Hanshi Dao cop (a compelling Rahul Ravindran), the “midpoint”––one group’s successful prison break––the “bad guys closing in”––the group’s defeat by police led by Hans Raj Landa (a menacing Vivek Gomber) take its own sweet time.

The “all is lost portion”––what happens after the group being busted––and the “dark night of the soul”––Satya being forced to lose all hope by her accomplices––are not rushed either.

In “Act 3,” however, the film picks up necessary pace in terms of events––the “break into three,” “finale,” and “final images”––but the many ultra slow-motion sequences must have given some a feeling that even this part is “too long”. The truth of the matter is that it is not, and these masterfully-staged and shot high-octane action sequences are visual treats.

 

 

A post shared by Alia Bhatt ???? (@aliaabhatt)

Actors who have achieved superstardom often have that one movie that catapulted them into that status, a movie after which everything changes. While many would argue Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi is that movie for Alia, I would say it is Jigra. She shoulders this movie so effortlessly, almost like it’s a given. That is the mark of a superstar; only of a superstar.

Vasan doesn’t shy away from using Alia’s star power throughout the movie, and even directly positions her as “Bachchan”. The balance I spoke about earlier plays a big role here too. There are enough moments for the “star” and “actor” in Alia to shine.

Two aspects of her performance stood out to me. One, the sheer power she projects as Satyabhama. She means business. When she is angry, you know no one can mess with her. When she says she wouldn’t mind bombing the prison if need be, you realise she can do it (and she does). When she says “I will have to kill you,” you believe her (and she does).

With the kind of frame Alia has, such projection––with the level of believability she offers––is a masterclass in acting. We have seen some brilliant actors––Fahadh Faasil and Nawazuddin Siddique––pull this off. So does Alia. It’s about the attitude, it’s about the conviction.

Secondly, yes, Satya is mostly stone-faced. She is supposed to be, much like Mammootty’s iconic portrayal of Bilal in BigB (2007), a performance that got similar critique when the movie released. We get to see Satya’s vulnerability and final release too.

To me, performing the seldom-blinking, perennially angry and alert, highly-inflammable, remorseless and violent Satya is as tough as playing the constantly anxious, physically affectionate, loveable Satya.

I hope, again, that Jigra doesn’t become one of those films you rave about when you eventually watch it on Netflix, and regret not watching in the theatre.

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