Jigra Review: The Alia Bhatt-starrer is Fully Loaded But Doesn't Fire

The trailer of Jigra promised a coup too delicious to resist: Alia Bhatt as the Angry Young (Wo)man. At one point, Manoj Pahwa tells her, 바카라�Arre, [Amitabh] Bachchan nahin banna hai. Bach ke nikalna hai.바카라� A stone-faced Bhatt replies: 바카라�Ab toh Bachchan hi banna hai.바카라� This exchange hides loaded meanings: reverence (Bhatt, the best Bollywood actor right now, paying tribute to the best Bollywood actor of the 바카라�70s), inversion (a heroine playing an anti-hero), and nostalgia (a drug always in short supply). There바카라�s a bit of serendipity, too: the movie바카라�s release date, October 11, coincides with Bachchan바카라�s birthday.

The similarities between Zanjeer (1973) and Jigra바카라�and a sincere yearning for old Bollywood바카라�start from the start. Like Vijay in Zanjeer, Satya (Bhatt) sees her father die. As a kid, she tells her brother, Ankur, that she바카라�ll protect him from his bullies: 바카라�Amrish, Jeevan, Ranjeet바카라�바카라�the names of the iconic Bollywood baddies. While spinning a top with her friends, she channels Mithun da: 바카라�Koi shaq?바카라�

Satya and Ankur (Vedang Raina) grow up in their uncle바카라�s house바카라�a protection that functions as a transaction. Satya is, in essence, the head of the household staff and when their cousin, Kabir (Aditya Nanda), gets caught with drugs in a fictional South Asian country, Hanshi Dao, the family lawyer brainwashes Ankur to take the blame. He does and finds out the punishment: death by electrocution. Burning with rage, Satya lands in the country: to save her brother, to kick some ass, to make revenge look like casual breakfast.

Even though the set-up takes longer than usual in this 155-minute film, Jigra still blazes with possibilities. Its director, Vasan Bala, has a genuine love for Bollywood and world cinema, amply evident in his Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota (2018) and Monica, O My Darling (2022). So even if the story seems straight-forward and the climax not hard to guess, you wait for the concoction of Bhatt, Bala, and Bachchan.

The director바카라�s cinephilia doesn바카라�t disappoint. You get film references and meta winks aplenty: the name of the anti-hero (Satya); her accomplice Bhatia or 바카라�Tiger바카라� (Pahwa), a stand-in for Sher Khan (Pran) from Zanjeer; the convicts in the Hanshi Dao jail (바카라�John Woo, Kim Ki-duk, Wong Kar-wai바카라�); Bhatia wearing a t-shirt that says 바카라�Urf Professor바카라� (an unreleased comedy starring Pahwa); a plot like Gumrah (1993, financed by Jigra바카라�s producer, Dharma Productions, and directed by Bhatt바카라�s father, Mahesh); and on and on.

But the references should function as garnish바카라�imagine dhaniya patta as the whole dish. That바카라�s the main problem here. The charm of an anti-hero lies in her prime identity: anti-establishment. But there바카라�s no such thing here, as this movie isn바카라�t even set in India (or anywhere else). So when Satya asks Bhatia, 바카라�What law? What country?바카라�바카라�you want to repeat the same question, though not with anguish but disinterest. This lack of political bite, diminishing the central anger and the Bachchan hat-doff, could have been compensated by compelling characters, but that바카라�s not the case, either.

Like the film, Satya holds promise: her inevitable transition from impassive to explosive makes you wait and hope. Unlike Bachchan, Bhatt is of course not tall and brawny. So what does aggression look like in such a person? Bala gives us an early memorable scene where, in the flight, Satya wolfs down a meal for an entire family, then pukes in the bathroom. But later, the bland writing, depriving her of arresting specificities, makes her inert. Such broad strokes mark and mar almost all characters: Ankur and his fellow inmates; the warden Hans Raj Landa (Vivek Gomber바카라�an Inglourious Basterds reference); Satya바카라�s collaborators, Muthu (Rahul Ravindran) and, to a lesser extent, Pahwa바카라�s Bhatia, a rare performance that shows some spark.  

If the flat characters are one problem, then the lack of humour바카라�or anything else producing tonal variation바카라�is another. Jigra unfolds in a monotonous register, failing to spring surprise or bite. A masala fare like this, centred on an omnipotent hero, will hardly have a surprising end (which isn바카라�t a deal-breaker), but its means should be. It바카라�s not as if the movie doesn바카라�t try바카라�Ankur바카라�s friends plan their own jailbreak, Satya and Muthu erupt into fistfights바카라�but none of them land with any memorable power. The biggest misfire, though, has to be a lack of poignancy and complexity in Satya and Ankur바카라�s bond, especially for siblings with shared traumas. Has their past transformed them as individuals? Has it changed their love? Has it sharpened her feelings of revenge? These questions never find specific and satisfying answers바카라�except for Satya becoming his generic protector. In fact, Jigra imposes pathos through the background score and songs, only to end up looking more contrived and desperate.   

The thriller continues to drag in its final hour, becoming an exercise in baffling irony: the more it races towards the closure, the more it feels deprived of stakes, surprise, and sass. And when Jigra is cheeky in an earlier portion, that meta dig carries the sting and the fate of a boomerang. Consider, for instance, Muthu explaining the jail바카라�s complicated blueprint to Satya and Bhatia. Finding it difficult to follow, the latter says, 바카라�Simplify it for me.바카라� Muthu replies, 바카라�Masala movie thodi na bana rahe hain.바카라� If only it were that easy to make masala films: the Angry Young Man was not just angry.