Jail Review

 Very few filmmakers break the banalities of usual trite and spell awe-inspiring flicks. If at all, you hankered to experience and feel what a real cinema is, call off your day's plans and book your tickets for `Jail'. Don't ever presume this flick to be a usual prison drama of protagonist thrown behind the bars, fight against the odd things and finally head for the hills.

Of course, there are certain elements that turn to be already experienced. Nonetheless, asunder in many terms, `Jail' takes us through an unflinching gaze into the melancholic niches of physical and emotional cruelty. In simple terms Madhur Bandharkar stuns us with a riveting testimony of Jailhouse's enigmatic day-to-day life.

Parag Dixit (Neil Nithin Mukesh) is living a dream life with a great job and his loving girlfriend Maansi (Mugdha Godse)! However things take an ugly turn when after a series of unfortunate events he suddenly wakes up in Jail; handcuffed and randomly beaten up by the cops.

Parag is perplexed and in a place far from his utopian life. He tries hard to face away from the ugly truth and wish it's all a bad dream but soon succumbs to the prison anarchy. The only salvation he finds is in Nawab, a convict and a warder who believes that Parag is innocent.

Soon, Parag discovers the inner mechanism and the science responsible for the wretched status inside the prison and hordes of broken hearts and shattered souls which grappled to find comfort amidst the four prison walls.

He is left with a choice, to either live a life that controlled and exploited or fight against the system!

Neil Nithin Mukesh throws a performance of ne plus ultra and let himself jumped into the main league of Khans and Kumars now. Naturally, the young actor has been laying his hands over exceptional flicks from his very beginning of career. Be it `Johnny Gaddar' or his previous flick `New York', the young lad is exalting with his overpowering performance. Be the situations when he thirsts for freedom or the emotional outburst in hard times is fantabulous. Mugdha spells a splendid show as she projects at a wider space away from a red-hot model in `Fashion'. Finally, we have Manoj Bhajpayee outperforming his very own showcase in Ram Gopal Varma's `Sathya'. Delineated as Nawab, he strikes with a Herculean task while Arya Babbar is a best actor to watch out in town.

Madhur Bhandarkar brings you the clear-cut picture about how goons operate their sources outside and how things get worsened for an innocent guy, who never had an idea about what a prison life could be.

Technically, the film lacks the rich musical fiesta that was very much prevalent in Madhur's `Fashion'. No wonder! Things have to suit the drama - that's a strict order that a filmmaker must follow. Indeed, Madhur has given up his trait by inserting an item song to the drama. Maybe, it's an order by producers and perhaps, the song is quite impressive.

Marking our verdicts - `Jail' has got more interesting elements that'll keep arrested your senses. Indeed, it's a must watch movie for those fed up with commercial films that tends to be beating the same bush.

Verdict: Madhur Bhandarkar - an undeniable genius

Rating: ****