Sometimes a star shines brightest in an insipid film. Ranveer Singh is jordaar and more but even with all his charm and earnest effort Jayeshbhai Jordaar is majorly “bore-daar”. Alas, good intentions alone seldom make great films!
The need for a male heir is driving Jayeshbhai and his family crazy. The pregnant bahu Mudra Ben (Shalini Pandey) is lying scared in bed as her in-laws hover around her to determine the sex of the unborn child.
Divyang Thakkar’s challenge is to make a film on a serious subject like female foeticide and domestic abuse and somehow make it entertaining and massy. The problem is he is unable to decide what tone to adopt to tell the story.
From satire to dark comedy to emotional melodrama and a realistic assessment of the ills of society; till the very end we keep oscillating between these contrasting genres.
The result is that we look at the film and its characters with skepticism throughout. Of course there is Ranveer whose full-bodied commitment to play Jayeshbhai, without the macho saviour complex our Hindi films’ heroes so easily slip into, is commendable. The film makes an important point about how patriarchy is stifling for both men and women and Ranveer Singh and Shalini Pandey showcase it beautifully. In the case of the latter though the scope is much more limited and doesn't do full justice to the flourish she displays .
Boman Irani and Ratna Pathak Shah are left to play typical stereotypes. He, the stubborn family patriarch with a scowl and perpetually knit eyebrows. And she, the strict mother-in-law whose own transformation takes less time than the song that plays with the end credits of the film. The precocious young daughter has a lot to do and Jia Vaidya seems to enjoy the attention.
There is an inherent limitation to how much one can weave a satire around themes like domestic abuse and female foeticide. In the absence of smart writing, the film dumbs itself down to a level that makes the narrative feel childishly contrived and characters seem like caricatures.
Rating: 2 Quints out of 5
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