'Jigra' movie review: Alia Bhatt and Vedang Raina-starrer let down by its second half

Jigra

Film: Jigra
U/A: Action, thriller
Dir: Vasan Bala
Cast: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina
Rating: 2/5

I'm hardly revealing serious insights to suggest there are few scripts (in the world), blessed with stamina to equally pull through the second half.

Most start with a promise, progressively losing steam - once the novelty of the world, or picture, starts to wear off.

This could also be, because fewer scripts still work their way backwards, first determining the end - something that director-writer Zoya Akhtar says she does with all of hers.

The end of Jigra is its genre, ie prison-break.

Only the entire second half of the movie plays out like a never-ending climax, with music - curated like a playlist of different moods - to salvage the screen. How much can you possibly set up, to explain a payoff, that lasts forever?

It feels, hence, as if they filmed an unfinished script. Stopping at a point, and upon being asked, what happens next, simply concurred, "Second half, bas goli-barood (just guns, bombs)!"

Why such disappointment with Jigra then, given the phenomenon is so common, after all?

It has everything to do how, as an audience, I was rooting for this film, not just before its release (although that too), but more so, up to a good hour of the movie itself - soaking in the sights and sounds, unlocking mysteries of this universe that we're transported to.

Observing some clever transition shots - from cigar to crackers, glasses to skyscrapers. Witnessing that gentle scene of fingers of the inmate and visitor, touching through the gap of the window in prison.

Totally nodding at the movie references/nods. Acknowledging Robert Rodrigues on the phone line; Wong Kar-wai, Kim Ki-duk, etc, for prisoners.

Noticing actor Manoj Pahwa wear Urf Professor T-shirt - naming his own, lesser known (early-digital) cult film. Likewise, tipping hat to Zanjeer, Agneepath, Hare Rama Hare Krishna…

Easter eggs warm up movie fans to a world, while the plot is being hatched. Call it the Sriram Raghavan space, if you may. Keeps you alert, as a viewer, all the time. But to what end?

This film is directed by Vasan Balan, who's made the popular cred, with his two releases so far (Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota, Monica O My Darling). Jigra is a smart title too.

It stars Alia Bhatt, who exudes main-character energy, regardless of where you place her. Where is this picture placed, exactly?

It's gottabe Singapore. Sure-shot death penalty for drug possession is a dead giveaway. Political dissent isn't allowed in public.

People go "lah" at the end of sentences, signifying what else, but Singlish, in Singapore - although the setting is supposed to be a fictional city-state (Hanshi Dao, or some such), bordering it, instead, with some chaos of the streets of Jakarta/Bangkok, perhaps.

Either way, it's ‘abroad', where an Indian guy gets jailed for capital punishment, for allegedly carrying a tiny quantity of cocaine.

Think of it then as an episode from the stellar documentary series, Banged Up Abroad (2007). Rather than Mahesh Bhatt's Naam (1986), where the hero gets dragged into the underworld.

The male lead, Vedang Raina (The Archies) has his sister pumped up to save his life. That's Alia - on the back of Heart of Stone, Gangubai Kathiawadi - kicking some ass.

Now, you wouldn't ordinarily imagine the petite star in a full-blown, mortal combat actioner. But then it's about the attitude, not the physique, right? How else have we grown up believing Bachchan beat the crap outta Bob Cristo!

She's frickin' ferocious, as the saviour/protector of her brother, upturning the idea behind ‘rakhee', as it were. What's the dynamic between the siblings?

Way too spelt out, rather than ever felt - with the film itself opening with their father jumping off a balcony, to die by suicide; a recurring scene.

The drama that follows is mostly around the East Asian prison. Usually, desi characters get introduced into Indian movies, set outside India, chiefly so they can talk in Hindi, in this case.

Vivek Gomber plays the (jailer) villain in the prison. That's an Indian actor, brought in to converse in English, throughout - only to subvert expectations.

He keeps showing up, refusing to die, or for the film to end - while the picture itself has travelled from Bombay, Singapore to Michael Bay.

And I momentarily switch screen to my phone to learn new things from the movie. Such as, google, "Hope experiment with rats", given the instruction for a dialogue in the film. That's the survival instinct with some rats, coming purely from hope, or never giving up, when they're thrown to get drowned. Which is roughly with the female lead character here, too.

Yeah, you wanna ally with Alia, but how to keep pace, with everything needlessly blowing up, anyway? Well, if you've got the jigra (courage), go figure.