Ashdoc's movie review---Jigariyaa ( October 2014 )

by ashdoc Sun Mar 22, 2015 3:35 pm

Agra---famous for the world's most iconic monument for love , the Taj mahal built by mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory for his lost wife Mumtaz mahal....and therefore a fit setting for some old fashioned no holds barred romance that seems to have happened in another age....

....But that age still lives in India , for this story is supposed to be actually inspired by true events that probably occurred in the 20th century....

So we head towards the state of Uttar pradesh where Agra is situated , to those backwaters of India where practical matters rarely rule young lovers' minds like they do in modern cities like Mumbai/Bombay and Delhi , and people are ready to do and die for love....

.....And where such stories exist , there ashdoc goes---for somewhere inside me there is the heart of a hopeless romantic....
I could not watch this movie in the theatres when it was released a few months back , and all my efforts to get a DVD/VCD of it failed for the simple reason that the film has not been released in that version....so I was forced to watch it in youtube , where a grainy video of the film exists....

So Shyamlal Gupta ( Shamu---played by Harshvardhan Deo ) is the son of the owner of a sweetmeats shop . He is a wastrel---fails in college repeatedly , does not help his father in the shop , and spends his time idling the time away with his good for nothing friends . His only passion is creating poetry , a talent in which he excels and in which he is really original---to the point of dreaming of becoming a writer . But one day he lays his eyes on Radha ( played by Cherry Mardia ) , the goodlooking daughter of a rich man .And he falls in love with her . Showing an enthusiasm which he rarely shows in studies and work , he chases her rentlessly with the help of his friends till he locates her , and then claws his way into her house by winning the admiration of her grandmother using various tricks . Radha is initially reluctant to befriend him , but he is helped by a stroke of fortune----she turns out to be a aficionado of poetry just like him , and she is so impressed by his poetry that she gradually falls in love with him .

And then life gets the soft and endearing glow of requited romance....a romance that is played out in the magnificent monuments that the city of Agra possesses ; historical monuments that are the legacy of the rule of mughal emperors who had made Agra the capital city of their sprawling empire . It happens in the shadow of the Taj , and in a fashion which the emperor Shah Jahan would have approved....Shamu sits on an imaginary throne with a rose in his hand in the fashion of the great mughal , and Radha dances in front of him as if she is a dancing girl dancing in front of a mughal emperor ; and at the end of her performance , the emperor of her heart bestows her with his rose....needless to say , such scenes are possible only when both lovers are fond of poetry....

Uptil now , the film had a lighthearted tone and was full of funny scenes ; but suddenly the movie became intense as reality strikes....and that reality is all too familiar to people in these backward parts of India---the girl's family comes to know of the romance , and predictably they are appalled by their daughter's love for a person of a status that is not equal to them....
To be honest , I must congratulate the director for not showing violence being unleashed at this point ; for the situation was ripe for that . Ultimately the violence does come however , though only towards the end....

So what happens to the romance of the two lovebirds ?? Can it overcome all the obstacles to fulfil it's destiny ??
Watch the movie for the answers....I waited a long time to see a pathetic quality video of this film on youtube , but still felt that it was worth it....
And unless the film comes on TV , only that video is available for watching it....but those who have yen for romance as well as poetry will not regret watching this film .

The director and the actors excel in showing passion of love , a passion that may seem far fetched for those with practical minds ; and passion that can make the lovers cross the threshold of the impossible....but that passion seems fit in the shadow of the world's most iconic monument for love---the Taj mahal , what else....
Photography and music is good , and acting by everyone is good too .

At the end of it all , my only wish was that the film should have had a happier ending . But the film is supposedly based on a real life incident , and reality is always grim....so sometimes is life !!

Verdict---Good .
Three stars .