Movie Review: Jalsa depicts Inner Turmoil
Mumbai: Bollywood film, Jalsa forces the confrontation of several weaknesses in the police, political, media, and financial institutions in a quest for truth. Another issue of the less-fortunate surviving on leftovers has been highlighted in the film.
Director Suresh Triveni, who co-wrote the film with Prajwal Chandrashekar, paid close attention to the plot and it’s progression. The makers failed to pay attention to character arcs as all characters appear to be half-baked and one-dimensional.
Jalsa is about two powerful and feisty female characters and is rife with intense debates, emotional upheavals, and dramatic happenings, and one gets all of it in spades. The climax is something you should watch out for.
It starts with Maya Menon (Vidya), a well-known TV journalist, who is engaged in a position where a girl has been hit by a car and is on her deathbed. Her domestic helper Ruksana (Shefali) is the wounded girl’s mother. Maya seems to conceal something.
The film is about a man who wants to close the case by paying Ruksana’s relatives. This terrible circumstance pits Ruksana and Maya against one other, and they both try to deal with the situation by narrating falsehoods and keeping secrets that can’t be revealed.
However, one of Jalsa’s strengths is that it is not attempting to make a social statement, sound preachy, or educate people about the class disparity. There may be several subtle references to societal inequities, but never to the point of boredom.
Throughout the film’s 128-minute length, Jalsa impresses with its performances. Vidya Balan is looking fantastic. She performs her part to perfection, sassy as a boss lady, vulnerable as a devoted mother, and rebellious as a daughter.
The sequences in which she screams or trembles in terror reveal a lot about her comprehension of the role. Shefali Shah, who gives a reserved performance, is a perfect match for her. Shah’s ability to convey only via her eyes and emotions is incredible. Even though she remains silent for most of the film, you identify with her character the most. The turmoil she faces, which she manages to keep contained inside herself, is compelling.
Rohini Hattangidi, Iqbal Khan and Manav Kaul in pivotal roles and with great acting potentiality proved.
Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Vikram Malhotra and Shikhar Sharma and was Distributed by Amazon Prime Video.
(Sunidhi Bhatt)
