Directed by Jai Basantu Singh, Janhit Mein Jaari makes the grave mistake of taking a promising story and turning it into a tedious watch. Nushrratt Bharuccha aka Manokamna Tripathi is a sales executive for a condom company based in Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh. Her job is considered scandalous and “shameful” as it is, but the stigma worsens further after she marries her husband, Ranjan.
Manokamna is convincing as a small-town woman– initially unable to accept the concept of her own job, she finally grows to believe in its power and uses it as a means to spearhead social change. However, she is the only character in the film that has an ounce of originality.
The rest of the film is riddled with characters that are trapped in worn-out clichés– the best friend who is secretly in love with her, the husband who has a difficult time choosing between his wife and his family, the father-in-law who despises his daughter-in-law’s job but finally comes around in the end.
Janhit Mein Jaari tries to sprinkle jokes here and there to lighten its theme, but this attempt only comes off as desperate.
When Confusing Messages Become Problematic
While Manokamna is constantly trying to do the right thing, this is where she gets it wrong: She is determined to divert her attention to women and teach them about condoms. By doing this, it somehow feels like Manokamna is putting the onus of responsible sex only on the women. Things such as “men don’t like using a condom” and “unki zaroorat hai, but hamare liye yeh zaroori hai” (sex is their need, but protection is our necessity) are said and it seems like the film is furthering the “men will be men” trope.
Another Film Unsuccessful in Portraying Abortions
For Manokamna, this sudden shift of focus towards women stems from the death of a girl in her town due to an illegal abortion. Her eyes are opened to the alarming rate of abortions in India, and in Manokamna’s quest to educate women, the film conflates illegal abortions with consensual ones.
While talking about the perils of abortion, “illegal” is mentioned only once by Manokamna in the entire film. Even though it might not be the intention, this lack of clarity leads to the assumption that the film is against abortions in general.
Asking women to take charge of protection in a scenario where they simply don’t hold that kind of agency is presumptuous. The film started off by focusing the advertising of condoms towards all genders, and there was no reason to discontinue that.
The film strays from the plot several times. For instance, the courting phase between Manokamna and Ranjan takes up too much space and it gets rather confusing as to where the story is actually going. In all, Janhit Mein Jaari is all over the place, and the distractions finally end up overshadowing the well-intentioned (but still flawed) message of the film.
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