JAGGA  JASOOS- A BLAND  MUSICAL  JOURNEY

Arrogance takes the better of us sometimes; and this time it is Anurag Basu who is victim of excess and indulgence. Bad films are caused  by creative failures, essentially; however sometimes our sympathies with the star or the director dilutes our response and understanding specially in an emotionally buoyant  country as ours. Anurag Kashyap   indulged in ‘Bombay Velvet’ his brother in 'Besharm’ on both occasions Ranbir Kapoor  suffered the most. There is History of such indulgence and failure. Guru Dutt failed in ‘Kagaj ke Phool’ which in my opinion was flawed.  Devanand  indulged in ‘Ishq Ishq Ishq’ touted to be   another Musical but the very music fell short of expectations. Ram Gopal Verma also experimented with musical in ‘Mast’ which failed.

  

The problem with’Jagga Jasoos’ is that there is no foundation. The story/screenplay is very thin. The so called selling point-Music/Musical is prosaic , but for few independent songs. The premise of this musical is western as we have seen in ‘My fair Lady’/’Sound of Music’/’ Fiddler on the roof’. But the western musical outfit does not jell with Indian emotion/setting and after sometimes gets on your nerves!! It seems flat and routine. Anurag Basu should have taken a page from our cinema and noted that we have made many musicals( our roots are musical) ; but on solid story foundation- Barsaat by Raj Kapoor; ’Baiju Bawra’ starring Bharat Bhushan and Meena Kumari. ‘Heer Ranjha’ of Chetan Anand was truly musical and despite having  Priya Rajwans ( a weak heroine) was a success because of its strong foundation.Here  the filmmaker mounts the film on the shoulders of Ranbir Kapoor and proceeds on musical cartoon journey  with erratic structure  which  falters from the beginning.It also reminds of ‘Barfi’ in terms of setting ( here he moves further from Darjeeling to Manipur)/Ranbir’s inadequacy/father-son relationship and music

  

The only source of happiness is Ranbir who emits such subtle emotions that one feels sad for his choices and luck. He seems to have been conned most by mediocre filmmakers posing as creative masters- ‘Roy’;’Aye dil hai mushkil’’Bombay velvet’,’Besharam’. As far as Mr Basu is concerned this is his second big indulgence in terms of failure, money and time. ‘Kites’ was the first one!!