Jigra

Jigra Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Rahul Ravindran

Director: Vasan Bala

What’s Good: The performances, background scores, an engaging first half, cinematography, and the dialogues add a sense of badassery and emotion.

What’s Bad: There are much ambiguity and vagueness in the plot, the prison break sequence could’ve been choreographed in a more slick manner, and there is a lack of character development for the supporting cast members.

Loo Break: The movie is otherwise fast-paced and gripping, so we suggest the interval as the ideal time to take a loo break.

Watch or Not?: All the Alia Bhatt fans who wish to see her in a semi-actioner before she dives into a full-time one with Alpha, this is your film.

Language: Hindi

Available On: Theatrical release

Runtime: 153 Minutes

User Rating:

There is a scene in Jigra wherein Alia Bhatt’s Satya, with a lack of remorse, says that she has never claimed to be an ethical person but has always been Ankur Anand (Vedang Raina)’s elder sister. This is before she is about to embark on a suicide mission to rescue her brother from the death penalty in Hachi Dao’s impenetrable prison. There are several such moments in the movie that etch out the female protagonist’s stone-cold determination, past trauma, and, most importantly, a sense of over-protectiveness towards her younger brother, having lost both of their parents at a young age. With Amitabh Bachchan’s songs playing in the background in several sequences (also, it’s his birthday today) in a classic Vasan Bala style of filmmaking, Jigra makes for a badass and emotional rollercoaster ride which also has its moment of misses here and there.

Satya (Alia Bhatt) and her brother Ankur (Vedang Raina) were orphaned at a young age. This led to them staying at a rich distant relative’s place wherein Satya is also employed as a housekeeper. While Ankur feels at home, Satya knows that somewhere, her only family is her younger brother, whom she is fiercely protective of. When Ankur travels to a stranger country for a business pitch, he is made a scapegoat and framed for a drug peddling case by those same ‘relatives.’ He is sentenced to the death penalty, which makes his sister travel to Hachi Dao and leave no stone unturned to try to save her brother. When the law fails to provide her with a solution, she befriends fellow allies who have their loved ones trapped in the same prison. Together, they embark on a dangerous prison break mission as the death looms closer to their loved ones.

Jigra Movie Review: Script Analysis

One of the main high points of Jigra is that it remains consistent with its tone. At the heart, the film is about a sister going to any lengths to protect her brother, and the movie maintains this tonality with the performances and screenplay. Alia’s Satya is uneasy right from the beginning of Ankur’s abroad trip. She forgets all the sense of morality after being betrayed by their relatives, after having the law providing them with a dead end, and most importantly, with an acute battle of her past traumas. The film does not waste time to dive deep into the execution of the prison break mission. Satya finds an ally in Manoj Pahwa’s Bhatia and Rahul Ravindran’s Muthu, who are also struggling to bail out their loved ones from prison. Despite knowing the mammoth risk the mission holds, they are possessed by an unexplained courage to get the ball rolling. On the other hand, Vedang Raina’s Ankur also befriends companions who have their own set of plans to escape from the prison, with the death penalty ticking closer and suffering police brutalities.

However, Jigra falters regarding the ambiguity in the plot and a shoddy climax. There are several loopholes in the storyline that bother you in the underline. How is Satya managing the funds to pull out this suicide mission without even landing a job in a foreign country? How are they managing to design this mission without the Hachi Dao police not being vigilant? How are the boys inside the prison also being able to pull out a prison break attempt just like that? A lack of logic seeps in. The prison break sequence does not appear to be slick and has a lot of ambiguity. A scene earlier before this extravagant sequence, Alia’s Satya suffers life-threatening injuries, and immediately the next moment, she goes into a full Jhansi Ki Rani mode even without being a trained army personnel or soldier. The climax does not land despite having the aesthetics and an uber-cool background score. There is also a lack of character development for the supporting characters.

Jigra Movie Review: Star Performance

Alia Bhatt is Lady Bachchan indeed in this one! She has her protective mode on and unleashes the fire, courage, and vigilance in her performance. Especially the scenes wherein she sheds off her morality like a snakeskin or the scene wherein she gobbles up all the food inside a plane while battling the turmoil in her head. Her character is always in a sense of unease right from the beginning of the movie with her lioness mode on, and the actress portrays the same brilliantly. You can see how special this movie was to Alia with the sheer vigor in her performance. Vedang Raina shines throughout the film and is an excellent complement to Alia as her ‘Jigra’. The actor is particularly brilliant in the scenes wherein he experiences police brutality and the painful anxiety of being unfairly framed for the death penalty. Manoj Pahwa and Rahul Ravindran are also a treat to watch in this one, and the former particularly delivers a flawless act as Satya’s father figure and an unwavering ally.