Jazbaa.

Phew! What a film!! If you can see it, don’t miss it.

I had seen the trailer for this film when I had gone to see Talvar. I was intrigued to see some very powerful acting from Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Irrfan Khan and had decided to see the full film on release and duly went earlier this afternoon to our favourite theater just ten minutes driving distance from our homes.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Shabana Azmi and Jackie Shroff also putting in appearances and what with some excellent direction from Sanjay Gupta, excellent camerawork and editing, it was a very satisfying outing.

Aishwarya and Shabana put in stellar performances as mothers with their own agendas and the way the story takes a surprising twist towards the end enables their histrionic skills to get showcased. There is a bit of current topicality by including female foeticide to explain Aishwarya’s single status, which too sends a message.  On the other hand, Irrfan who was half inspiration for my decision to see the film was under utilised and his role could have been expanded to get more out of his presence in the film. Jackie Shroff’s is more or less a cameo role and he carries it off with aplomb.

The theme of rape and the justice system with some very critical observations about the police department adds spice to the narrative but the latter could well have been left alone as it did not contribute in any way to the story.

Despite that little negative criticism, I have no hesitation in giving the film a [rating=5] rating mostly for the remarkable performances from the two female leads.

I understand that the film is an adaptation of a Korean film Seven Days, and I intend exploring possibilities of getting that on DVD to compare.  If I succeed, I shall write a comparison review here in my blog.