Jigra: Alia Bhatt’s High-Octane Rescue Mission Fizzles Like a Damp Firecracker!

Remember Mahesh Bhatt's Gumrah (1993)?

Yup, the action packed thriller where Sridevi gets falsely implicated in a drugs case and languishes in a Hongkong jail until Sanjay Dutt rescues her...

This week's Bollywood offering Jigra is basically Gumrah, but high on steroids!!

In a gender reversal, Alia Bhatt steps in to Sanju Baba's boots and travels to a fictional South-east Asian state to rescue her younger bro (Vedang Raina) sentenced to death row for illegal drugs possession.

The plot may sound promising, but Jigra's execution gets highly unrealistic, especially in the second half, where Alia Baby just goes on a gun blazing spree in a high security prison. Worse, the supporting characters helping her with this jail break plan, are ill written and appear too casual and buffoonish to pull it off...

By comparison, Mahesh Bhatt had infused his characters in Gumrah with the right emotional quotient and a solid purpose. Like the jailers Kunika and Bob Christo were truly evil personified versus the chief warden (Vivek Gomber) here, who leaves you doubtful whether he is bad or ugly or just doing his duty. Mind you, it's not the actor but the writing at fault!!

Alia as the 'Jigra' wali avenger, might satisfy her fans but somewhere, I found her lost and disinterested in this fare. Probably, she did a favour to mentor Karan Johar, who was in the mood to make a modernised remake of his dad's home production Gumrah. Vedang Raina is impressive but should choose better roles in Bollywood.

I had loved and relished Vasan Bala's previous two directorials: Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota (2019) and Monica O My Darling (2022). Jigra left me glum and quite ho hum!! I now want to rewatch Gumrah once more. Oh Bhatt Saahab of the '90s, you are missed!!

Ratings on some key aspects* :
1. Acting : 3/5
2. Direction : 2/5
3. Music : 2/5
4. Story, Screenplay and Dialogue : 1.5/5
5. Cinematography : 3.5/5
6. Editing : 2.5/5
7. Costume Design : 2/5
8. Special Effects and VFX : 3/5
9. Action : 3/5
10. Production Quality : 3/5

#SNRating for #Jigra : 2 stars out of 5.

- Sumeet Nadkarni

* - The overall film rating is not a simple average of all ratings on key aspects but a weighted average of the ratings where some crucial aspects (like direction, acting, story and screenplay etc) are assigned more weightage than others.

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#SNRatings barometer:
1 star = Poor
1 & 1/2 star = Below average/ Avoidable
2 stars = Average
2 & 1/2 stars = Above average/ Risk it
3 stars = Good enough/ Endurable
3 & 1/2 stars = Definitely worth a watch
4 stars = Very good
5 stars = Masterpiece/ Outstanding.

2024 SNRatings. 

Also Read: Alia Bhatt and Vedang Raina was shot in Singapore for their newest film Jigra