Jhansi

Investigative dramas are very interesting because we get a chance to be Sherlocks, CID officers and intelligent people for that runtime along with the main characters. But if you think about the story behind a crime and unearth it in more emotional way than in an investigative officer’s point of view, how will you feel about it? What will you reaction be? Can you justify that reaction to atleast yourself? Can the crime and power that people enjoy to cover up the crime, make you inhumane?

Plot:

A rape victim, Raashi (Ivana) goes missing and she, her love, Gaali (GV Prakash) are on run from police. She is finally caught by police and even on the same day, her lover, who is accused of raping her is also caught. Jhansi (Jyothika) takes charge of the case and she tries to get to the end of it, as she understands the story is not as simple as it looks. What secrets did she dig out and what is her reaction to them? Watch the movie for answers …

Performances:

Jyothika is very good in her role. She doesn’t really give out much but her body language and the expression behind harsh exterior carries the character and the weight of the film, really well. She is the best among all the actors and if the script had been better, she could have done it even better justice, one feels so.

Ivana is really good and it is her lively face that helps us connect with her as the victim and even her love story. But the writing in her scenes should have been much better. GV Prakash comes up with his best till date and even Rockline Venkatesh is extremely good.

Technicalities::

Satish Surya’s editing is sharp. He is in perfect sync with what the director needs and the crisp runtime helps the movie more. Here, Bala undermines us the most but his choice of technicians is once again top class.

Theeni Eeshwar’s visuals are realistic to go with the penchant of Bala. He doesn’t overlight a scene or never tries to deliberately make you feel that it is realistic and you need to understand it. He comes up with a perfect blend and his work is the backbone of this film.

Ilayaraja doesn’t need a validation about his work from us but he seems to be highly influenced by Hans Zimmer’s work when watching this film. That really hurts a long-term fan of his but again he does understand the emotions better than any other composer out there.

Writer-Director, Bala tried to explore the story in a third man’s eye and that approach might have been good in some other story but in this movie, in which the main character needed to understand the real reasons and motives behind an incident his approach too reserved and steely. Where we needed to feel the emotions behind the characters, we just end up knowing a situation and the reaction to it from the main characters rather than feeling the real pain and resolve behind them.

Analysis::

Bala is a good craftsman and he directs his films really well. The problem is always that he just wants you to connect with his ideology and perspective rather than giving it a universal twist so that everyone can understand what he really wants to say.

He narrates this emotional story and the reaction of an officer to a shameful incident and power politics behind it, in such a nonchalant way that we don’t really care for story or characters as it seems a well-made episode of CID or Crime Patrol than a film.

Rating: 2/5