Review- No One Killed Jessica

I loved Raj kumar Gupta’s debut film Aamir and that was enough reason for me to be excited about the NOKJ despite Ms. Mukherjee’s antics for the last few weeks to grab attention by public kissing, doing stings and lying on the dance floor to show respect for Madhuri Dixit.

Gupta one of the brilliant breed of new age directors including Dibakar Banerjee, Motwane(I like them much more than the gang leader enfant terrible Anurag kashyap)have the courage of making films in the most non compromising, no nonsensicalway. Negative characters are not cardboard villains. You could feel the awkwardness when the father of the accused visits Jessica’s parent and they have nothing to talk and then he offers them a cup of tea. This movie is full of such wonderfully executed scenes.

The plot as is known to all revolves around Sabrina’s quest of getting justice for her sister shot down by son of a politician in a party in front 300 people and how the case is closed by buying/threatening witnesses and then media’s role to reopen the case and getting the justice. Film moves around the space of 7 years and note the subtle changes in Vidya and Rani’s wardrobe, car and flat done very smartly.

The 1^st half moves at breathtaking pace and you immediately look at your watch at intermission to see it has come too early.Superb cinematography, crisp editing and excellent music and background scorekeeps you hooked on. Amit Trivedi continues to prove that he is the best that we have today.

2^nd half unfortunately moves on a more predictable path and lack the pace and energy of the first. Nevertheless this would still be one of the best movies you will see this year.

As for the performances Rani Mukherjee does well but ends up trying too hard to look the part of aggressive, modern, profanities sprouting NDTV journo. It’s Vidya Balan who by far steals the show with the way she underplays her character. She doesn’t have the best lines but her expressions, consistent body language (check the gait) and way she stays in the character throughout the film makes this performance phenomenal. Infact all the supporting cast is perfect specially the inspector (you would remember him as Boman Irani’s sidekick in Khosla ka Ghosla), key witness and Vidya’s mother.

Another fun part like most Madhur Bhandarkar movies is the guess game for identifying the real life characters.  Enjoy the film which entertains you despite not being mindless and infact makes you ponder on the times we are living in.

Rating : ***1/2