No One Killed Jessica Review By Komal Nahta
Business Rating:
Star cast: Rani Mukerji, Vidya Balan.
Plot: The film is based on the Jessica Lall murder case.
What’s Good: The characterisation of Rani Mukerji; the performances of the two lead actresses; the bold script; the music.
What’s Bad: The lack of emotions; the tame climax.
Verdict: No One Killed Jessica will be liked by the city-based, multiplex-frequenting audience but not by the public in smaller centres and those going to the single-screen cinemas.
Loo break: None at all.
To Watch Or Not? Definitely! Aesthetically, very good.
UTV Motion Pictures’ No One Killed Jessica (A) is based on the true-life story of the Jessica Lall murder case and how it had to be reopened by the court due to public outcry against the verdict of holding the murderer not guilty. Although it does not profess to be a blow-by-blow account of the real-life murder case, it borrows heavily from the case
Sabrina Lall (Vidya Balan) and her family are woken up one night by a phone call informing them that her sister, Jessica (Myra Karn) had been shot at. On rushing to the hospital, they are informed by Jessica’s friend, Vikram (Neil Bhoopalam), that Jessica had been shot at by a customer at the pub at which she was volunteering as a bartender that night with him. The customer’s instigation to shoot at Jessica was her refusal to serve him a drink after the bar was closed for the night.
Jessica breathes her last the same night. The murderer and his two friends are soon arrested. What seems to be an open-and-shut case because of the hundreds of eyewitnesses in the murder case, who were present at the pub when Jessica was shot at, turns out to be a nightmarish experience for Jessica’s family. Most of the eyewitnesses back out by lying to the police that they had left the pub when the firing took place. The handful of witnesses, who do decide to testify in court, are bought out and/or threatened by the influential political family of the killer, Manish Bharadwaj (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub). Finally, the killer is pronounced innocent in the absence of any witness in court and is set free.
Mira Gaity (Rani Mukerji) is a fiesty news reporter working for a television news channel. Shocked by the court’s verdict, Mira decides to educate the public by presenting the truth about the murder before it. No sooner does she gather some evidence to prove that Manish is guilty and telecast her story than public support starts building up. Mira tries to get Sabrina on her channel but a dejected and disgusted Sabrina doesn’t respond to the TV channel’s calls. By now, Sabrina’s mother has passed away because of the shock of her daughter’s killer going scot free. Sabrina’s father has been hospitalised due to the double shock. But once the momentum builds up and the public is ready to come out in large numbers to condemn the court verdict in the Jessica Lall murder case, Mira gets Sabrina to participate in the candle march held in her memory.
The growing public outcry forces the president of India to ask the court to reopen the murder case. Manish’s family members are exposed for buying out the eyewitnesses in the case. Finally, the court holds Manish guilty and punishes him with life imprisonment in the same case in which he had been earlier held innocent.
Related Posts
Comment via Facebook
8 Comments
u gav d movi 2 stars n on d othr hand u say it is a definite watch…???
cant under stand dis…
rest al critics hav rated it 4 stars or 3 n half stars…
2 stars is BUSINESS rating.Sometimes,watchable films may not be equaly commercial.As simple as that. Confusion over? #FACEBOOK
no komal, the confusion stays. I’ll explain:
- if you want to give business rating do it separate from the regular critics rating. Perhaps, based on a movie’s meritocracy give it a higher critical rating but a lower business rating due to the economics surrounding a particular film.
Food for thought?
Hey XYZ,
It would have been great if you would have published your real name here. We really appreciate your suggestion. In fact @koimoi.com we have been toying with this idea for sometime. Only – Komal’s views are prominently trade based and two types of ratings shouldn’t create more confusion in people.
definitely it’s a good movie….every1 must watch it…But one thing is clear that the film will be score only city based area….and i agree with komal nahta
I liked the move “No one killed Jessica” because it of the 2 ladies :). They did a great job.
In the “No one killed Jessica Movie review”, I feel it is more than stars, I read the review to understand the movie. At times even a low rated movie is a good time pass. It depends on my mood actually.
i agree wit wat shrey saxena says. almost al critics rate d movie on d basis of if its gud or nt. its nt justified tat u r givin this so called business ratings. many ppl may nt find tym 2 read ur review. they may jst luk at d stars tat d film scored n pass away d film as an averag one. y cnt u giv d busines ratings seperately.
komal u say ure ratings are based on boxoffice status how come u give 1 star to a super hit there are many reviews whr u have goofed do u agree sir???
31 Trackbacks
[...] No One Killed Jessica, as predicted, did very well in the city multiplexes, whereas it failed to pickup at multiplexes in smaller cities and towns and in single screen cinemas. [...]
[...] You might also like:No One Killed Jessica Review By Komal Nahta [...]
[...] Spotboy’s No One Killed Jessica dropped badly in 2nd week at many places while holding on reasonably well in some big [...]
[...] 2011 began well with No One Killed Jessica, says Komal Nahta. In the second week, Yamla Pagla Deewana made good money for distributors, [...]
[...] Pagla Deewana is excellent in North India. No One Killed Jessica is good in the big [...]
[...] very first release of 2011, No One Killed Jessica, has turned out to be a commission earner in spite of being a woman-centric film, that too, without [...]
[...] Vidya Balan to pick the most unconventional roles. After playing Jessica Lal’s heroic sister in No One Killed Jessica, Vidya sports a baby bump through most of her next film, [...]
[...] knows that in India, it is the male actors who command an opening, not the female stars. No One Killed Jessica may have been a happy exception but the rule is that heroes command an initial, heroines don’t. [...]
[...] year 2011 started with a good note with four hits in the first month. No One Killed Jessica proved that there was an exception to the role that woman oriented films don’t work in Bollywood. [...]
[...] No One Killed Jessica made a total Rs. 37,03,800 from 118 cinemas in its fourth week. Well into its 8th week, Band Baaja Baaraat made a total Rs. 14,09,175 from 30 cinemas. [...]