Movie Review: Jagga Jasoos..an entirely different case

When I first heard of Jagga Jasoos – I thought this would be Anurag Basu’s answer to Detective Byomkesh Bakshy. Then the trailer came and I was utterly baffled. It looked more inspired from Jim Carrey’s Ace Ventura: Pet Detective than the famous sleuth. Thankfully, as it turns out, it is neither – but what it is – well its an entirely new genre – new to Bollywood at least.

Beyond doubt, this is Bollywood’s first true musical. I haven’t done a lot of research before saying this but of all the movies I have seen, this is the one that resembles a musical the most. One that doesn’t use songs as a crutch or a necessity. The music and songs are in the fabric of the movie itself. Okay so maybe it goes a tad too far with songs like ‘Sab khana kha ke..’ (a catchy number but ill-placed in terms of plot progression). Even so, there is a lot to be appreciated on the whole approach to the movie making itself.

This is the movie directed by the man who gave us Barfi. That deliciously thoughtful entertainer that left a distinctly sweet taste in the mouth (I really don’t care for all the talk of it having copied scenes, it was an original script!). While the movie has his signature touch – a poignant theme, good use of sounds and music intermingling well and clear plot progression – its not as refined a product as Barfi was.

Saswata Chatterjee – we first got glimpses of his potential with the thrilling Kahaani. While much of the credit could have gone to his character rather than his acting in that movie, with Jagga Jasoos he more than makes a mark. His fatherly character perfectly conveys every emotion within a heartbeat and when crumples into tears at a sense of personal loss – you’d shed a tear too with him.

Ranbir is in full flow as well but his character itself is not as strong. That said, he catapults into a different league in the more emotional bits. Katrina Kaif looks pretty but her role is pretty minimal despite a fair amount of airtime.

One challenge the movie faces is in conveying what it wants to be – a vehicle to spread a social message, an amateur detective’s foray into an unknown and dangerous world, a musical with the usual song and dance routine – so it ends up being a bit of everything. That’s a bit sad because when it tries to be just one thing, the movie really shines.

Jagga runs along at a fair clip and despite being told in ‘chapters’ – continues to capture your attention throughout. Some of the progression is fairly outlandish but it happens in such a flow that you let it pass. Jagga then is a musical adventure – there’s no case here and no mystery to solve. If that doesn’t spoil things for you, you really should go for this crazy ride.