Anurag Basu’s musical adventure was an aberrant sleuth escapade that defied norms and normalcy. It was a staggering, stunning world of ‘Magical realism’, designed and described by Basu himself.
'Jagga Jasoos' Poster, Picture Courtesy: Mid-day Archives
Good things take time, someone said. It took four years for Anurag Basu's 'Jagga Jasoos' to hit the screens. The film was conceptualised around 2013, filming began in 2014, it found a release in 2017. The ingenious filmmaker wrote an equally imaginative, impressive story about a stammering detective who's father has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The Tintin style narrative was mingled with Disney-esque style treatment.
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This was truly a film for children that had something for the grown-ups too. Just like 'Barfi', the frames of 'Jagga Jasoos' made eyes gleam and hearts swell. Basu described the world he created as the world of 'Magical realism'. 'Is it possible for this to happen?' met 'This has indeed happened.' Our hero, Jagga, stammers, and yodels while communicating. Everyone around him is either charmed or compelled to speak the way he does, the first one being his adoptive father, a superb Saswata Chatterjee, who imparts the most basic knowledge to Jagga in the most inventive ways.
The story of Jagga and his (mis)adventures is narrated to a group of children by Shruti (an endearing Katrina Kaif). In fact, the whole film is narrated in chapters, how one would read comics with titles and cartoonish posters. In most murder mysteries, songs are injected to pace the story, here, a murder mystery is solved through a song sung by Jagga. Remember how he speaks? He narrates (read sings) the whole crime and solves the puzzle effortlessly.
But now, he has to find his father who hasn't come back as promised. He sends a cassette on his birthday every year but this time, the cassette has something else. An accidental exchange forces Jagga to embark on a journey to unearth the truth. He's accompanied by Shruti and he soon senses both his father and she are the brand ambassadors of bad luck, which ultimately becomes his good fortune. Unlike a lot of other Bollywood movies, this one sticks to its theme and does complete justice to its juicy premise.
We aren't used to watching true-blue musicals, at best, we are content with one chartbuster song or a heartbreaking melody that can comfort us for years to come. 'Jagga Jasoos' had a protagonist whose only weapon of communication and comfort was to sing. And he does right till the end. Even the villain of the story, to mock his handicap, breaks into a song to unleash a threat. Pritam's terrific tunes are for the ages. 'Galti Se Mistake' and 'Ullu Ka Pattha' stand out and legitimise the film's wildness.
So why did the film fail? Why the polarising reactions? There could be multiple reasons. Actors breaking into songs every minute isn't an idea one would jump at immediately. Many would scoff even at the idea of a filmmaker's attempt to write such stuff. Second, Basu, attempting an ambitiously mounted extravaganza, goes a little indulgent along with imaginative in his intent to make a wholesome entertainer. He chews more than he can bite. It ultimately becomes a potpourri of all the genres one can imagine.
The climax has explosive action and flying cars one would normally associate with a Rohit Shetty potboiler. At once, 'Jagga Jasoos' is a musical, a detective drama, a mystery, a children's film replete with fantasy and sugar-coated messaging, a film about a hero's fight to save the world from the villains, and also his love story with his partner-in-crime. Watching the film is like eating Pasta, Pizza, and Biryani all at once, the hunger would satiate, but the stomach may not be able to digest. But give it a shot if you haven't, especially when your hunger is at its peak.
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