Jazbaa: Irrfan in driving seat of Aish's vehicle

Jazbaa
Cast: Aishwarya Rai, Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi, Jackie Shroff
Rated: 7/10
Aishwarya Rai’s comeback movie, after her long hiatus due to motherhood, may not dazzle you as completely as her stunning beauty does, but it sure keeps you much more than mildly interested all throughout.
Though an out-an-out Aish vehicle with director/producer Sanjay Gupta quite overtly in awe of her beauty and persona, it is startling how Irrfan pulls you inexorably towards his unkept, alcohol doused, corrupt character. He is a complete counterfoil to Aish and her pristine looks and yet it is no measure of his screen presence that in a woman-oriented vehicle, he takes the best position — the centre-corner seat.
Despite the film being a taut thriller born out of a single mother’s battle to save her kidnapped daughter, the chemistry between Irrfan and Aish is crackling and much of the credit for that goes to man of the film, his laconic one-liners, his portrayal of self-defeatism and his complete cynicism of the system he lives in as a much decorated but thoroughly corrupt cop. His one-liners (like mohabbat ki hai isliye jaane diya, zid hoti to bahon mein hoti) keep taking you away from Aish every once in a while.
As the best criminal lawyer in town, Aishwarya unscrupulously defends her desperado clients and lives in the rarified world of topnotch legal razzle-dazzle even as Irrfan washes off his hangovers in dingy and run-down washrooms of Government offices and spends nights in a sepia-shaded dirty house after being hounded by corrupt anti-corruption sleuths.
Despite all these shades in the movie handled and executed beautifully by Sanjay Gupta, the core is taut, engaging and keeps the accelerator pressed. The no-nonsense editing, the appropriate use of background scores and the engaging plot of a kidnap-mystery-courtroom drama makes this film an above average thriller.
The comeback of veteran actor of meaningful cinema, Shabana Azmi, who plays the grieving mother of a daughter whose rapist and killer Aishwarya is defending in court, may not have been fleshed out too much by Gupta but her seasoned presence does add to the proceedings. Jackie Shroff, on the other hand, sleepwalks through his footage.
As for Aish, yes she has lost her post-natal weight so perfectly that you will tend to whip yourself for being so mean to her mummy flab back when she was nursing Aradhya. As for her film, it is a perfect return to Bollywood with hope that the Gowarikars and the Bhansalis are watching out to bring out the best in this seemingly ageless Miss World. 
Source: Sunday Pioneer, October 11, 2015

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