NO ONE KILLED JESSICA( A)Runtime:- 138 minutes
Director: Raj Kumar Gupta
Most storytellers entertain, a few enlighten. The stoic Murder India has only one speaking-line in this dialogue-oriented extremely thought-provoking treatise on justice and social awakening. "Kuch bhi karo mere Monu ko kuch nahin hona chahiye," she whines from behind the curtains as her powerful politician-husband plots to exonerate their laadla son from the murder charge.
Justice will be drunk. For a while the murderer Manish Bhardwaj (Mohammed Zeshan Ayyub, looking like a cat that got the cream on its head while aiming for the mouth) is allowed to go scot-free. How did this monstrous travesty of justice happen in this celebrated real-life case?
This, as they say, can happen only in India. Apna Bharat Mahaan. And one says this without irony after watching in rapt attention Rajkumar (Aamir) Gupta's stupendous take on a headline that ripped across the lives of the rich and powerful and the exceedingly pretentious elite of Delhi.
The movie starts with D da da da Dilli title track and it slowly gets into you. Rani Mukherji captures the life of Delhiites with strong conviction
No One Killed Jessica straightaway takes us into the world of Jessica's sister Sabrina Lal. The phone rings in the dead of the night to announce that Sabrina's ebullient sister has hurt herself. "Go get her treated. She's always hurting herself," Sabrina mumbles in her sleep.The hurt, this time, is far deeper than expected. Wounds too deep to be repaired open up in our socio-political and legal system as Sabrina's case becomes a cause celebre...once again! In re-creating the heinous crime from 1999 and the woeful attempts to suppress evidence to save the life of a bigda raeeszada, director Rajkumar Gupta is dead-on accurate. The mood of justice-smothered prevails from Frame 1. Cinematographer Anay Goswami swoops down on Delhi (the sutradhar of the plot, so to speak) to capture the mood of sweat grime and crime. Amit Trivedi's wry resonant rippling sinewy music casts a zingy spell over the goings-on. Trivedi in fact invests a 2011 feel to the happenings in 1999 without subverting the periodicity.
Aarti Bajaj edits the footage with an austerity that gives us barely a chance to grieve for Sabrina and her distraught parents. We don't miss the mother's glazed eyes, though. The pace is relentless, perhaps a little bit too much so. Why the paranoid persistence about creating a breathless pace? We weren't going away anywhere, Mr Gupta.
No One Killed Jessica is a persuasive powerful and pungent docu-drama. The narrative is remarkably devoid of overt sentimentality. The let's-get-on-with-the-job-of-nailing-the-bastards mood goes effectively with the investigative journalist Meera's character.As the Kargil-returned, cynical, horny chain-smoking foul-tongued bitch (her own description) Rani Mukherjee returns to the screen with a bravura performance. Looking like a million bucks and exuding a torrent of temperamental emotions Rani furnishes the fight for justice with an emphatic elan. Yup, she's got what it takes.
Cleverly Sabrina Lal's character is transformed into a mousy timid quivering virgin-working girl (which the real-life Sabrina is not). By portraying Sabrina as an anti-gregarious creature of the shadows, Gupta immediately and effectively creates a contrast between Sabrina and her deceased vivacious sister Jessica (Myra, sunny screen presence) and of course between Sabrina and Meera.
The contrasts are not killing. This is an implosively crafted screenplay shot with deft unsentimental hands that avoid the over-emotional moments by simply getting on with the business of getting justice for the Lal family.
Indeed, No One Killed Jessica does full justice to Jessica's memory. There are moments of great cinema strewn across the plot. Moments such as the one where Sabrina tells Meera she has no emotional freedom to do any of the normal things that girls her age do, or when the awkward untrained journalist struggles to tell Sabrina on camera that she can understand what the family is going through. And Sabrina retorts, "No you can't. You don't know."
The performances are pitch-perfect...in Rani's case, bitch-perfect. She makes the aggressive journalist Meera come alive in places like the conscience,that are not visible to the naked eye. Like the conscience. Vidya Balan's slouch, hesitant demeanour, soft-spoken speech patterns and a smothered pain and hurt make Sabrina Lal a character you empathize with because she isn't screaming for your attention. She's just doing what her conscience tells her.The rest of the cast of virtual newcomers is outstanding. Rajesh Sharma as the conscientious cop (the only voice of reason in an establishment filled with treason!), Neil Bhoopalan as the primary witness (who turns hostile because in his words he was offered a bullet or a crore and he wanted neither), Satyadeep Mishra as Rani's quietly professional boss (Pranoy Roy knocking 30 years off) and of course Myra as Jessica...these are real people, not actors.
Cleverly No One Killed Jessica ends with Jessica posing pouting and blowing kisses into the camera. The poignancy of the provocative postures somehow reminded me of Jodie Foster in The Accused where the girl having fun is gang-raped in a bar.
NO ONE KILLED JESSICA belongs to the unique hard-hitting, gut-wrenching genre of cinema. Script-wise, the director has tried to remain faithful to the episode that occurred during that fateful night and also what transpired subsequently, but besides depicting reality on celluloid, he adds the thrill element to the plotline, which makes it very viewer-friendly. The events have been chronologically put forth and the daring story of two women who challenged the system hits you like a ton of bricks. The film truly celebrates the human spirit and also reflects a vital change in the society and in the attitudes of people.
Final word? This gutsy film deserves a standing ovation!
Usually the period of January releases do not work, but this one definitely does. It earned approx 4crores on day one.. Only thing missing is that bit where I felt that the movie could have been outstanding. But, excellent efforts by the director
I rate the movie 3.5 stars..
I'll sign off for now...
Enjoy the weekend!! Danish Lakdawala
Fantastic!!
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