Monday, May 2, 2022

Jana Gana Mana: "Pertinent queries raised about public perception!!!"

With the  holy Ramadan month coming to an end, we had a major release in the form of the much awaited Dijo Jose Antony's "Jana Gana Mana". The trailer itself was rather unique as the makers had piqued the curiosity of the audience by revealing that the sequences that were shown were actually from its sequel. I fact, the blast sequence was just brilliant as it was impactful & pretty realistic. To add to the thrill, it saw Prithvi & Suraj rub share screen space yet again after the successful "Driving License". Well it certainly lived upto expectations as both the script & performances managed to keep the audience engaged.

Prof Saba Mariam (Mamta Mohandas) of a reputed university in Karnataka, a socially responsible individual & philosopher who was adored by her students was raped & murdered. As expected, students retaliate and demand justice which was dealt with an iron fist by the law & order system. This led to the rise of a nation wide student protest & that's when the authorities decide to entrust the case on ACP Sajjan Kumar (Suraj Venjaramoodu). His sincerity & empathetic attitude calms the situation and soon enough he manages to nab the culprits who were behind this heinous crime. But that was just half the job done after all quite a few of them had political affiliations. 

This is Dijo's second venture after "Queen" which also becomes a court room drama in the latter half & in that sense, his present movie also takes the same path. However, Sharis Mohammed who has collaborated yet again with Dijo penned the script in a manner that raises numerous relevant queries regarding the manner perceptions could be created & modified to satiate the whims and fancies of the concerned individuals. Actually it does seem inspired from the murder of a professor in Hyderabad a couple of years back & events that panned out subsequently. The makers hit the ground running with no time wasted in building the story as the first half is an investigative flick which subsequently becomes a courtroom drama that takes the thrill up by a few notches courtesy of some hard hitting dialogues. Even at a run time close to 3 h it doesnt quite test our patient but there was certainly scope for Sreejith Sarang to trim it as the back story related to Prithvi could have been avoided after all it was already evident that they would be showing it in the sequel.

Kudos to Jakes Bejoy's fantastic BGM as he managed to elevate the mood of many sequences & the same praise also goes to Sudeep Elamon's visuals. On the performance front, Vincy Aloshious absolutely nailed her part & is steadily making a niche for herself in the industry with each performance. Both Prithvi & Suraj did their parts impressively, with this being one of the former's best performances to date. The rest of the cast have also done their parts aptly such as Ilavarasu (Constable), GM Sundar (as Home Minister), Shammi Thilakan, Mamta etc.  

Verdict: It belongs to those set of movies that linger in her mind even after leave the theatres not just coz of the performances but also coz of the relevant questions that the makers poses at us. In short, do check it out!!!

Rating: 3.5/5

Regards...Ben


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