Jigarthanda Review - Tantalising Recipe

Bharath Vijayakumar

After rattling audiences with his spicy Pizza, Kaarthik Subburaj promised a ‘Musical Gangster Film’ through Jigardhanda. As per popular perception the second film is a crucial test for any successful debutant to break the myth that his first attempt was not a flash in the pan. The sceptics can take a sabbatical as Jigardhanda delivers in monstrous proportions.

Plot:

If Pizza had a single surprise Jigardhanda has them in scores. In simple terms it is about the meeting and the turns in the lives of two people from opposite ends of the spectrum. An aspiring filmmaker is forced to make a  gangster saga. When he seeks real life inspiration it throws at him numerous challenges and life threatening situations.

Cast:

Bobby Simha is the man to watch out in Jigardhanda. In what is probably a role of a lifetime he delivers a knockout performance.  A couple of minutes after his entry you almost forget that he was the same person who played the timid youngster in Soodhu Kavvum. As the brooding and menacing gangster he will stay with you long after the curtains come down. Siddharth’s role is a subtle contrast and he scores in his own way. He deserves credit for choosing a film that offers a lot of scope for his co actor Simha. And he still looks almost the same as he did probably a decade ago. Karunakaran continues his fine form in Jigardhanda too. The entire cast apart from the principal characters has done a neat job.  

Crew:

The look and feel of Jigardhanda is truly international.  Santosh Narayanan’s score does full justice to the caption “A musical gangster film”.Gavemic U Ary’s cinematography is poetic and that is probably not a term you would associate with a gangster drama. Editing by Vivek Harshan plays a crucial part in the film. Karthik Subburaj’s vision is brought out convincingly on screen thanks to the editor. The scenes rock to and fro at places and yet it seamlessly registers with the audience. The technical team of Jigardhanda has probably competed with each other and the product on screen is something to cherish.

Direction

Firstly the treatment of Jigardhanda is something that you have never seen in Tamil cinema. It is raw, stylish and throws surprises right through it’s running time. The trailer had a gloomy feel to it. The film too is set in such an ambience for the most part. But the laughs keep coming. But you can’t categorise the film as a black comedy either. Jigardhanda almost redefines the term ‘genre’. You name a category and there is atleast a scene in the film that fits in to it. Yet the proportions are so apt that you only enjoy the taste unmindful of the ingredients. The story of gangster Sethu narrated to us  through a star (a surprise package)  enacting it in a movie is such a refreshing idea on screen.

The dialogues are sharp and to the point. Whether an individual is a success or failure depends not on what the society thinks of him but what he feels about himself is one such crucial dialogue about life in the film uttered through the character played neatly by veteran Sangili Murugan. Jigardhanda is a film that does not underestimate the intelligence of the audience. There is no spoon feeding and a lot of small but important aspects register with us even without explanation. There is a  scene where Sethu's mother speaks to him after 12 years asking for water and in a shot later she is shown satiating her thirst from a bowl. Just these two shots and Karthik Subburaj is able to convince us of what happened in between. One just cannot wait for what he has to offer us next. A few logical liberties have been taken. It is tough to imagine how Siddharth would forget to use an evidence that he has to get out of the rot much earlier in the film. The length of the film is on the higher side. But when you have such an intriguing plot there is nothing much to complain.

Bottomline:

Jigardhanda is a must watch for the sheer audacity with which the director has gone about telling his tale. Jigardhanda  is genre defining cinema and a truly unique effort that should stand the test of times.

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