The Korean rehash/remake king Sanjay Gupta officially adapts "7 days" into Bollywood ishtyle in his latest offering "JAZBAA", the comeback vehicle designed for the most beautiful woman in the planet, Aishwarya Rai Bacchan.Does the film deliver or live up to its hype?
Considering Sanjay Gupta's fancy for sepia toned hues and action, here yellows are replaced by greens..as if to say everyone here is like a chameleon changing colours and Aishwarya Rai's limitations as an actress, this is a fairly engaging action thriller with court room action running on a parallel track.The film benefits from some whistle worthy dialogue..clearly the best lines go to the reliable Irrfan Khan who is content playing second fiddle to Ash but nevertheless leaves his mark.Ditto for Shabana Azmi who literally makes the role her own and even could teach our leading lady a few acting lessons.Ash is fairly competent, looking breathtakingly beautiful and rising like a phoenix in her courtroom scenes and those with her daughter(Baby Sara cuts a pretty picture here) and Shabana Ji.However one cannot deny the overacting when she wails with bloodshot eyes and crimson flaring nostrils.Some of the scenes called for finer nuances without going overboard.Still Ash dazzles with her screen presence and for an actress who has been broadly recogonized for her beauty,glamour and dancing abilities, a comeback with a deglamourised and hard hitting vehicle like Jazbaa should be applauded.
In smaller roles Chandan Roy Saniyal as the accused whom Ash has to defend to get her kidnapped daughter released,Siddhant Kapoor as the loverboy on drugs,Jackie Shroff as the scheming and yet outwordly dignified minister who screams for women empowerment ,Atul Kulkarani as the oppostion lawyer,Priya bannerjee as the rape and murder victim and Abhimanyu Singh as the don who finally does a volte face are all apt and credible in their smaller roles.
At a run time of 2 hours or so, this film is quite briskly paced.Jazbaa is still a worth a watch for some stellar performances from Shabana Azmi, Irrfan Khan and a neat comeback for the stunning Aishwarya Rai Bacchan.The film however you feel could have been better.