Jabariya Jodi Gets It Right

Jabariya Jodi: Movie Review

Starring Siddharth Malhotra, Parineeti Chopra

Directed by Prashant Singh

Rating: ****(4 stars)

For a  film that has  not been shot Bihar/Patna at all, Jabariya Jodi gets  the details  right,  including place names  and even random public places.Also everyone  is  drinking all the rhyme  in  ‘dry’ Bihar. Groom-kidnapping which form crux of this splashy, gaudy, riotous saga  , is  no more that prevalent  in Bihar. 

For a  film that has  not been shot Bihar/Patna at all, Jabariya Jodi gets  the details  right,  including place names  and even random public places.Also everyone  is shown  drinking all the time  in  ‘dry’ Bihar, although  there  is  a passing reference to alcohol-free Bihar. But what the  ‘hic’.

Groom-kidnapping which form crux of this splashy, gaudy, riotous saga  , is  no more that prevalent  in Bihar. But  you  know what? Jabariya Jodi is nonetheless an endearing slice -of-laugh raucous ode to rusticity with  the  lead pair and supporting cast  hellbent on having fun. So who are we to  resist?

The  film wraps its  head in a swirl  of  mischievous  mayhem, making the whole cult  of anti-dowry groom-kidnapping syndrome seem  like a  cauldron of conflicts  simmering in a scintillating seductive  stratosphere. The director knows how to control mob incidents. He  plunges into  rumbustious wedding events to wiggle  out the  ironies  that control such  festive  opportunities.

In  an all-out image-building exercise,  Siddharth Malhotra plays Abhay Singh a  loud aggressive overdressed Biharilout whose family business is  groom kidnapping.  Abhay has his own bullying issues with his   father(JavedJaffrey,intimidating) . The whole nexus  of violence greed abduction and seduction  spirals its way from  Abhay’s character  into a  kind of edgy out-of-the-box anti-romance between Abhay and  the village bombshellBabli(Parineeti  Chopra) who has  tried everything to get away from her smalltown ennui. Babli is Kriti Sanon  inBareilly Ki Barfi,  Kareena Kapoor  in  Jab We Met and Parineeti in  Hansi To Phansi.

She can’t be  controlled. Though her story can.And is.

 The  two principal actors  have a whole lot of infectious fun with  their parts. The writing gives them a chance to  banter without the fear  of falling. The free-fall feel  is  amply supported by the dialogues which are  sharp and naughty .In one sequence someone reads out the item ‘haath gadi’ in an elaborate  dowry list.

“Haath  ghadi(watch),”  corrects  a know-all.

Writer Sanjeev K Jha knows  his Bihar and director Prashant Singh knows  how much the actors can be pushed into shaping the final  destiny  of a  film that falls  short  of story-content  somewhere midway. In the second-half  the narration tends to get  repetitive  and more than a a little petulant.

Malhotra  as  the  groom-whisking goon  tries very hard to blend into the smalltown environment. His efforts  hit some  right notes specially when ‘Babli’  Parineeti get too cuddy-feely  for his comfort.

There  is  a prevalent  chaos in the  mood of this  know-your-Bihar-on-google smartass fable of  fiscal  avarice masquerading as social service. It is an opportune subject to allow its two principal actors to  shed  their urban plumes and strut in  an entirely  different environment. Malhotra and Chopra  do well, though their urbane personality  keeps  impinging. The supporting cast is impressive, though not in an exceptional  way ,  specially Aparshakti Kapoor  as Parineeti’s on-hold love interest Santo ,Chandan RoySanyal as  Siddharth’sright-hand man ,Sanjay Mishra as  Babli’s  empathetic father and Shiba Chadha(wish there was  more of her) as  Siddharth’s oppressed  mother.

The climax  at a wedding where everyone is shooting at each other seems  to go out of control. But otherwise director Prashant Singh does  an admirable  job of controlling the riot of  colours,sounds and flamboyant  visuals  that assail our senses in a film about Bihar which is not  shot in Bihar.

The  film wraps its  head in a swirl  of  mischievous  mayhem, making the whole cult  of anti-dowry groom-kidnapping syndrome seem  like a  cauldron of conflicts  simmering in a scintillating seductive  stratosphere. The director knows how to control mob incidents. He  plunges into  rumbustious wedding events to wiggle  out the  ironies  that control such  festive  opportunities.

In  an all-out image-building exercise,  Siddharth Malhotra plays Abhay Singh a  loud aggressive overdressed Biharilout whose family business is  groom kidnapping.  Abhay has his own bullying issues with his   father(JavedJaffrey,intimidating) . The whole nexus  of violence greed abduction and seduction  spirals its way from  Abhay’s character  into a  kind of edgy out-of-the-box anti-romance between Abhay and  the village bombshellBabli(Parineeti  Chopra) who has  tried everything to get away from her smalltown ennui. Babli is Kriti Sanon  inBareilly Ki Barfi,  Kareena Kapoor  in  Jab We Met and Parineeti in  Hansi To Phansi.

She can’t be  controlled. Though her story can.And is.

 The  two principal actors  have a whole lot of infectious fun with  their parts. The writing gives them a chance to  banter without the fear  of falling.Writer Sanjeev K Jha knows  his Bihar and director Prashant Singh knows  how much the actors can be pushed into shaping the final  destiny  of a  film that falls  short  of story somewhere midway. In the second-half  the narration tends to get  repetitive  and a little petulant.

Malhotra  as  the  groom-whisking goon  tries very hard to blend into the smalltown environment. His efforts  hit some  right notes specially when Babli get too demonstrative  for his comfort.

There  is  a prevalent  chaos in the  mood of this  know-your-Bihar-on-google smartass fable of  fiscal  avarice masquerading as social service. It is an opportune subject to allow its two principal actors to  shed  their urban plumes and strut in  an entirely  different environment. Malhotra and Chopra  do well, though their urbane personality  keeps  impinging. The supporting cast is impressive,  specially Aparshakti Kapoor  as Parineeti’s on-hold love interest,Chandan RoySanyal as  Siddharth’s  friend  ,Sanjay Mishra as  her empathetic father and ShibaChadha(wish there was  more of her) as  Siddharth’s oppressed  mother.

The climax  at a wedding where everyone is shooting at each other seems  to go out of control. But otherwise director Prashant Singh does  an admirable  job of controlling the riot of raucus sounds and flamboyant  visuals.