Jai Gangaajal Review

Priyanka Chopra has been on a roll recently what with the success of Bajirao Mastani, then her TV show Quantico becoming a sleeper hit and being cast as the main villain in Baywatch opposite The Rock. So it seems very strange when she stars in this film about corruption in the Hindi heartland of India. This movie seems like an outlier not only because of that but also because it has the word Gangajal in the title, which lends itself to being a spiritual successor to the 2003 Ajay Devgan film.

Story: Bankepur is a place in the middle of India, which is torn by corruption, rapes, kidnapping and is ruled with force by politician Babloo Pandey (Manav Kaul). He has police officers like BN Singh (Prakash Jha himself) on his payroll. In comes SP Abha Mathur (Priyanka) who is a hardtalker and deals everything with a stubborn idealistic attitude. Things get out of hand, when Babloo tries to get hold of the villagers land for his personal gains. A mass agitation against this ensues. Amidst all this, there is BN Singh who finally decides to do things for his uniform rather than for money.

Jai Gangaajal Review

Screenplay and Direction: Jai Gangaajal is a film that has its heart in the right place but falters due to the uneven narrative. The story elements and cases of torture shown in the film have all been seen before. Coming down to it, Jai Gangaajal doesn’t offer anything new. The screenplay is a test on the nerves especially in the second half. The dialogues, however, are ingrained in the Hindi speaking milieu of the setting.

Technically, Jai Gangaajal is well aligned with the nature of the film. The cinematography captures the rough terrain of the land, the editing is decent. The action scenes seem a bit unrealistic which takes the audiences farther away from the film. The background music also blares too loudly and sometimes it becomes difficult to even hear the dialogues.

Acting: Priyanka Chopra is almost miscast as Abha Mathur. She is earnest and carries off the dialogues with ease. But, sadly, her makeup and looks don’t go well with the setting. She tries her best but can only do so much. Prakash Jha does well with his part as it is the best written part. He looks the part too. Manav Kaul is menacing but it is sad to see him getting typecast as a politician. Such a talented actor needs to be explored more. Rahul Bhat also does well. It is good to see actors like Manav Kaul and Rahul Bhatt getting good roles in mainstream Bollywood films.

Conclusion: Jai Gangaajal is helped by the setting of the film but a lot of it feels like old wine in a new bottle. It is commendable that they made a woman centric film which relies on action and drama but the film eventually falls flat in the only criteria it is meant to be judged as. It fails as an entertaining, coherent film. It fails as a cop drama. If you have time to waste, go watch this flick.

Reasons to watch Jai Gangaajal

• Prakash Jha’s acting
• The setting of the film

Reasons to skip Jai Gangaajal

• Prakash Jha’s directing
• Priyanka is miscast
• The background score is too loud
• Nothing feels new in this film

Rating: