Softwing
Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??
Freaktana
A Major Disappointment
Lollivan
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Suman Shakya
With "Jazbaa," Aishwarya Rai Bachchan makes a comeback in movies as a criminal lawyer, who defends a case of a rapist and murderer as a ransom to flee her kidnapped daughter. The film is said to be based on a Korean crime thriller "Seven Days" (haven't watched the movie). The pace is fast and the events succeeds before you have a time to think. Aishwarya Rai's voice has been kept loud and fast, and it appears less that she's a lawyer who is defending a case. Aishwarya Rai is a fabulous actress but she appears a bit miscast for the role. Others like Irfan Khan, Shabana Azmi, Jackie Shroff, all brilliant actors, do little to make an impression though Irfan Khan gets a higher footage and plays well. Though the film is fast paced, gets you with adrenaline rush and surprises, by the end the film just doesn't touch you. Neither the film claims any relevance to the social reform or touches the emotions for which the audiences find it mere a watchable time waster.Rating: 1 star out of 4
bobbysing
A perfect choice of subject by director Sanjay Gupta (an official remake of a Korean crime thriller titled SEVEN DAYS), JAZBA's script had all the essential elements presenting a young, strong (lawyer) mother fighting for her kidnapped daughter along with a suspended police officer helping as a dear friend. But sadly the strong merit couldn't help the film falling way short of the expectations raised and even the potential borrowed plot didn't turn out to be that supportive for Aishwarya due to many major visible issues in the execution. Giving you the basic reason for this less impressive result, it's the more than required, hyperactive efforts put in almost every department of the film converting it into a visibly 'over the top' product trying too hard to present its case in front of the common viewer. And the biggest culprit of them all remain the so unrealistically written cheeky dialogues (especially of Irrfan), that are intentionally added just to (vaguely) entertain the audience aiming at some occasional applause in the theater.Admitting the truth, yes the dialogues work well as the film begins and one enjoys watching Irrfan rendering them stylishly too till the first 30 minutes are over building a fine base. But once the characters start emoting as per the script's main track, every such line spoken with all forced philosophy of life becomes irritating enough, straight away reminding you of many copy-pasted life teaching quotes regularly found at FB, Twitter and Whats App. Exactly the same can be said about Aishwarya's performance too, that also remains fairly impressive in the beginning but soon steps on to the avoidable 'overactive' & 'emotionless' gear once the director asks her to start shouting as loud as she can in many repetitive sequences. Besides, I was really surprised seeing the pre and post interval portions in particular where she was made to do everything so hyperactively right from the widely open red eyes to all forceful screaming and the so well-controlled, stylishly conceived running in slow motion. Moving ahead the next insertion in the film that fails to make any impact whatsoever is the so overly done colour correction of the frames, particularly the ones (repeatedly) showing Mumbai and its skyline taking it far away from anything seen in the real life. Talking about the music, I have started writing less and less on this specific department of our latest Hindi films, as they are really not interested in giving anything worth writing about since long, with only a rare occasional OST proving to be the important exception. So same is the case with JAZBAA too that does have a couple of above average songs which as usual don't fit into the film tensed narration from any angle. To be exact, apart from the painfully loud and interfering background score, the film opens with a soul-less track played along with its opening titles and then after some 40 minutes throws a good sounding ghazal appearing from nowhere only to be followed by a typical club-item-rap-song, exactly like the one Irrfan himself had made a spoof of just a few weeks before associating with the AIB boys. (A true irony of our system, quite clearly!)Coming back to another well intentioned merit of JAZBAA, it does try to present itself as an anti-rape and women empowerment supporting film in its final 30 minutes (ending with a text slide too). But unfortunately the over dramatic melodrama and an easily predictable suspense executed without any inspiring vision, doesn't let it become one of those significant movies made with a noble aim or purpose of some kind of social awakening.In the performance section, where Aishwarya plays her strong character of a mother and lawyer in a confusing-overactive tone, there Irrfan Khan looks like walking on a very thin line of getting typecast in all similar looking roles speaking some nasty lines with a straight face, exactly like we have seen him in the last few films. Honestly I also felt as if I was not watching the same exceptionally talented actor in the scene when he starts throwing some hamming tantrums after being told that Aishwarya's daughter has been kidnapped.Moreover another specific sequence of the film dealing with the allergic child & her medicine reminded me of an exactly similar scene in a different movie featuring Irrfan Khan only playing the kidnapper worried for the kid-girl (suffering from an asthma attack). The film was DEADLINE - SIRF 24 GHANTE (2006) which was itself an inspired version of an English flick titled TRAPPED (2000). But I really wonder did Irrfan even remember the film and if yes then did he also mention the same to Sanjay Gupta just to provide some added information to his director. Continuing with the performances, JAZBAA majorly struggles in its supporting cast department too with only Shabana Azmi partially succeeding among many other talented actors in the list. And surprisingly the list includes names such as Atul Kulkarni, Jackie Shroff, Chandan Roy Sanyal and Abhimanyu Singh, simply wasted in their given roles not presented with any kind of powerful portrayal in the script.So other than few entertaining 'Irrfan moments' in its initial reels and then some fairly engaging moments coming in the final 45 minutes dealing with the case investigations and the court proceedings, JAZBAA doesn't turn out to be anything great or exciting enough as a comeback film of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan made on a potential subject. But you can still consider it as a one-time watch crime thriller saved by Irrfan Khan that surely could have been a lot better minus the overactive treatment given by its director Sanjay Gupta.
Suman C. Tharan
When I first heard that Aishwarya Rai was back on the silver screen after a five year hiatus, I immediately checked out the trailer for the movie Jasbaa. There seemed to be an overuse of the green filter but also featured some great action scenes. What tweaked my interest even more was to find two other Bollywood legends, Irrfan Khan and Shabana Azmi were also starring. If you did what I did next and watched the music video for Bandeyya, where Aish is like Venus descended, you will be fooled as none of those scenes nor locations were featured in the movie.Filmed close to perfection in terms of pacing, timing and dialogue, Sanjay Gupta has taken the story from the Korean film, Seven days (2007) and delivers this simple plot line of a mother's desperate need to save her daughter in four days! Single mother, Anuradha Verma's daughter is kidnapped. The ransom is not for cash, but for the services of Anuradha's expertise legal maneuvers as a prominent defense (criminal) lawyer, who has never lost a case, to acquit a death row prisoner on appeal, Miyaaz Shaikh (Chandan Roy Sanyal). Miyaaz, convicted for the rape and murder of Sia, a young art student, has all the evidence pointing to him. Surprisingly, Anuradha agrees. Suspended police officer and long time friend of Anuradha, Inspector Yohaan joins her quest to re-investigate Miyaaz's case to save Anuradha's daughter.We meet Garima, a headstrong lady, Sia's mother, who wants nothing more than to see Miyaaz punished for his crime. There are a slew of other characters that make the legal and investigatory journey, a thrilling one, notably Sam (Siddhanth Kapoor), a drug crazed classmate and boyfriend of Sia, who later transpires to be part of he crime. You will spend the interval, wondering, what twist lie ahead and most of the second half of the movie will be spent second guessing what the purpose of the acquittal of Miyazz serves. I guarantee you will be surprised at the end. Don't stop watching when the credit's start as there is a short epilogue, wrapping up Anuradha and Yohaan's relationship. And the film's final message of the fight against rape in India is a great message that needs to be applauded.Sanjay Gupta's green filter signature style is a little disturbing at first but I found that it worked well with this movie, setting the tone and mood of the scenes. There were other filming aspects which worked well, especially the interesting aerial shots, the dark clouds shrouding Mumbai's skyline in background shots, the amazing lighting design, especially in a night time fight scene between Yohann and Vijay, another convict. Some may find the dialogs a little preposterous, but I found that they were relevant as in real life, we do say and react sillily. Irrfan and Shabana's parts were better written and executed; Irrfan for his delivery of over the top dialogs with flair and Shabana, was on fire in the final scene as well as the one where she finds out that Anuradha, who she believed was on her side, is now defending her daughter's killer. Aishwraya's performance hasn't changed much from before. She is reasonable good in the part but there are parts of the film is performed with a dead stare in her eyes, and the roar of a lion. Perhaps, that is how Sanjay Gupta wanted her role to be played. She screams a helluva lot in this movie, so be prepared!What boggles the mind is the insertion of two songs in a thriller movie that can do without. OK, the hip hop, Badshah's Aaj Raat Ka Scene happens in a nightclub so that was acceptable. The courtroom scenes and reenactment of the murder scene were great. There were some witty lines in the courtroom scene, where the two advocates battling out the case, whilst the judge was virtually asleep. My recommendation is that Jasbaa falls short of being in the league of some great movies this year, but still a watchable and enjoyable one. This 119 minute film will keep you entertained enough.
srikanth-g
Whats good about the film is its fast paced with enough suspense to keep you engaged. Jazbaa is tight, gripping and shot in Gupta's signature style. Clearly the film belongs to Aishwarya. She manages to make Anuradha believable. Atul Kulkarni, Shabana Azmi, Jackie Shroff, Irrfan Khan fill up the frame with their strong performances.Despite having a good story, the director has badly written characters that stands out like a sore thumb in an otherwise stellar star cast. The slow motion scene where Aishwarya runs and screams her daughter's name before interval is too over the top and theatrical. It ruins the subtleness. The flawed moments in Jazbaa are those where Gupta asks his actors to do more, whether it is to scream louder, fight harder, or say the lines with more drama. Over all, the film is an edge of the seat thriller that delivers because of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Irrfan Khan's able performances, Jazbaa is definitely not a worst film. Had it been a different director, then the film would have been the best.
