Jazbaa

A remake of the 2007 South Korean film Seven Days, 'Jazbaa' Directed by Sanjay Gupta, is a stylish thriller, but sadly, its soulless! Though not without its share of moments & a cast that willingly delivers, this visually striking film, lacks depth.

'Jazbaa' Synopsis: After her daughter is kidnapped, An idealistic lawyer has to defend & bail out a heinous criminal, in order to get her child back. She's accompanied by a disgraced cop, who realizes there is much more to what's happening, than what it appears to be.

'Jazbaa' begins tepidly & remains dull for its most of its first-hour, but it gathers tremendous momentum in its second-hour. The pace is fast & the visual appeal holds. But, Gupta's Adapted Screenplay appeals in bits & pieces. The Protagonist's struggle to win back her daughter, with many twists & turns, sometimes arrest, but are predictable otherwise. Though the climax, is well-done. The corny dialogue, however, seem too filmy for a thriller such as this.

Gupta's Writing needed to have more force! Gupta's Direction, on the other-hand, is stylized. Sameer Arya's Cinematography is stark. Editing is decently done. Background Score is a bit too loud. Action-Sequences are ordinary.

Performance-Wise: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan returns on-screen after a hiatus & the actress is very sincere in her portrayal of a desperate mother. But its Irrfan Khan who steals the show. Despite being given the most filmy lines, the fantastic actor has a ball playing the cop. Shabana Azmi is quite effective, while Chandon Roy Sanyal hams it up as the convict. Atul Kulkarni is first-rate, as always. Siddhanth Kapoor & Jackie Shorff are wasted.

On the whole, 'Jazbaa' isn't a bad watch, but it could've been sharper nonetheless!

I watched this movie . And as a movie lover or audience if i talk about this movie there are some mistakes which destroyed the complete movie . if we talk about story . amazing story . but they wasted it . if we talk about acting irfan khan did great acting but ashwaria acting was not good . and the biggest mistake in movie was dialogues . this movie didn't perform well in cinemas and didnt get success its all because of dialogues

Jazbaa is termed as the copy of a Korean movie Seven Days (2007). However after watching it, I am able to contrast the theme of Jazbaa with an old Bollywood movie - Daag The Fire (1999) starring Sanjay Dutt, Chandrachur Singh and Mahima Chaudhary which was directed by Raj Kanwar. While all the reviewers are singing in chorus that Jazbaa is the Indian version of Seven Days, not a single one is pointing out that Seven Days itself could be inspired by the Bollywood movie - Daag The Fire. The scripts are different, no doubt but the theme and the undercurrent is the same. Jazbaa is looked upon as a thriller based on the issue of rape but in fact, the real theme of Jazbaa is different. It's the story of a corrupt lawyer whose personal tragedy proves as an eye-opener for her. The same is the theme of Daag The Fire though there is no suspense element in Daag The Fire like this movie. The role played by Aishwarya Rai in Jazbaa is akin to the role played by Chandrachur Singh in Daag The Fire. And anybody can verify this fact that the final interaction of Aishwarya Rai and Shabana Aazmi in Jazbaa is a ditto of the final shot of Daag The Fire involving Chandrachur Singh and Sanjay Dutt. Then who is a copycat ? Is the maker of Jazbaa only who has unfortunately earned the ill-repute of lifting stories of his movies from foreign movies ? But the thief is always the one who gets caught. Whosoever knows the trick of the trade, i.e., not to get caught escapes the stigma of being called a thief.

Now for the assessment of Jazbaa. It's a quality suspense-thriller though the filmmaker, i.e., Sanjay Gupta has focused more on style than substance.

As clarified in the opening para of this review, Jazbaa is the story of a corrupt lawyer (Aishwarya Rai) who takes the cases of the outlaws and the guilty only in order to earn handsomely which is not possible by fighting for some cause or ensuring justice to innocents. However when her daughter is kidnapped, this lawyer who is a single mother, finds the world as upside down for her. With the help of her silent lover who is a suspended cop (Irrfan), she pays the ransom not in cash but in kind which is to get a convict of rape and murder free from not only the gallows but also prison. The bulk of the story goes in the efforts of this lawyer-cum-bereaved mother and her silent lover. On one hand, they are busy in arranging evidences in favour of the convict, on the other, they are busy in searching for the kidnapped child. What happens in the end, proves to be an eye-opener for the corrupt lawyer.

Though the director Sanjay Gupta has not done proper justice to the good stuff at his hand, the movie is nevertheless gripping right from the word 'go' to the climax. The issue of rape is imposed on the script and the data of this crime given in the end are useless and irrelevant. Actually the focus should have been on the corruption in the profession of law when reputed lawyers become defense counsels for the people guilty of heinous crimes like rape and murder for the sake of getting exorbitant fees from their clients. But the director has not done so. There are 'n' number of plot-holes and untied loose ends alongwith inconsistencies and contradictions in the script and many things are not clarified till the very end, the most prominent of which is the mastermind's getting complete information of every move of the lawyer after the kidnapping of her daughter. How could it be possible ? Sanjay Gupta may be knowing. The audience couldn't make it out even after watching the complete movie. Besides, Sanjay Gupta only must be knowing the relevance of the title of this movie which has nothing to with its story.

All the same, the movie works because of its pace. The fast pace of the narrative does not give any time to the audience to pause and think. The viewer just keep on watching while holding his breath. Besides, this is not a pure thriller. It's a suspense-thriller. The suspense element has been kept intact till the climax which is a big achievement of the director.

No songs are required in this type of movie because songs only interrupt the flow of the fast-moving narrative. All the same, Jaane Tere Sheher Ka Kya Iraada Hai is quite impressive in terms of both lyrics and composition (plus Irrfan's performance on that).

This is termed as the comeback movie of Aishwarya Rai and her admirers are going gaga over her performance in this movie. However though the aging actress is quite beautiful even in her forties and post motherhood in her real life, her performance is so-so only. Those who are admiring her performance are not able to differentiate between acting and shrieking. Despite being a heroine-centric movie, Irrfan takes the cake as far as the clapping and accolades of the audience are concerned. However it's Shabana Aazmi who is the best performer though she is definitely miscast for the role of the mother of a teenager (being in her sixties, she straightaway looks as the grandma of a teenager).

While advising all the reviewers to check the facts properly before terming any Indian movie as a copy of some foreign movie because almost all are copycats now (including both the Indian and the foreign filmmakers) sending originality for a toss, I recommend this fast-paced engrossing movie to all those who are fond of suspense-thrillers. It will prove to be no less than a roller-coaster ride for them.

Can't say much. I was focused on the law and order. In how this is Aish's comeback after maternity leave. Irrfan K's movie, and they made it cool.

I will break down the things in some segments. First, casts. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Irrfan Khan. Good point. My intention was Irrfan, who ever regret watching his movies? Furthermore, we got Aish at her best form. I love her. She's dazzling. She's that hot, as always. Some major actors like Jackie Shroff and Shabana Azmi was good in their part, especially the last name appears. Second, story. It is good, but do not have a bold reason to show. Whether it is an agony of a mother whom her child has been abused (to death) or simply talking about rape and murder. It just blundering some. Third, added value. I think it'll be more tactical movie, in how Shabana Azmi took a major part to the film. Even, mini romance between Aish and Irrfan unintentionally developed, but it is just a miss.

And yeah. This is my review about Jazbaa. It is just do not have a clear intention, whether it wants to show about rape and murder case, or revenge, or law and order. We have various movies like Jolly LLB in Law and Order form. No body killed Jessica, even, Rahasya would make great case of murder.

It is just... a waste of time, but Irffan K never fail us (or it is just me?).

Anyway, that's it.

Where do I start with this film? I had initially put this film on for my gran to watch whilst I payed away on my laptop. Despite being occupied by the game, I couldn't help my attention being drawn to the screen multiple times, and ended up getting drawn into it. Now, in a normal situation, this would be because the film is so good, it begs to be watched. In this instance though, it was mostly because I was completely befuddled by the filmmaking choices being made.

First of all, the tint/filter! The film has a very weird greenish filter to it. My guess is to kind of ground it into a gritty atmosphere, but it's very distracting, and there are multiple points in the film where this, combined with the poor lighting leads to very jarring scenes. Just awful.

Second, what the hell is up with the camera work? The film breaks several reasonable rules to follow when filmmaking. A very simple one, for example, is how to shoot two characters in a conversation. You'd usually film their talking heads in sequence of the conversation, but on opposite sides of the screen when showing their heads. Now, this is a loose rule, and you can be creative, of course, but this film makes some very questionable choices. There's a scene where Jackie Shroff is talking to some weasel whilst leaning into the right side of the screen, and the other dude is shot with his head in the hard left of the screen. Why? This is just one example, but in general, the camerawork and cinematography is just poor. I have seen better camerawork in student films.

Then there's the editing, the actor's direction for some scenes etc. All shoddy. You may think me overly harsh, especially if you enjoyed this film, but the reason this particularly irked me is because the film has some good actors and a decent plot to work with (writing somewhat dodgy as well, but let's ;leave that for now). This film could have been so, so much better if a careful hand had tended to it. The actors deserved better than this.