In the meantime, the last two films that I remember watching Vidya Balan acting in real were in Parineeta and Paa.[break]
Finally, these two divas of Bollywood join hands, high on their heels to prove that they still have that X-factor to awe many who have been saying that these two have nothing to WOW audiences anymore. In No One Killed Jessica, the two pretty maidens outshine at their best.
After the critically acclaimed film Aamir (2008), director Rajkumar Gupta once again diverts himself from making a commercially saleable cinema and rather picks up a real incident that took place in Delhi, April 29, 1999.
Though director Gupta tried to shy away from the reality that the movie is based on a real life incident, following the controversies it gathered before its release, many in Delhi are however aware of this fact that this film is totally based on the open gunshot incident of 1999 in Delhi.
Okay, for those who are not aware of this real-life incident, here is what had happened. On April 29, 1999, a vivacious, aspiring model of New Delhi, Jessica Lal, was shot dead in a party amidst the presence of 100 socialites. Despite the fact that there were 100 eyewitnesses to the heinous incident, yet the accused Manu Sharma walked out free from all charges in 2006. The Times of India then came out with a headline “No One Killed Jessica.”
Following the incident, Venod Sharma, father of Manu; a high-profile Congress leader of New Delhi paid millions to keep the witnesses shut. All thanks to Tehelka magazine to start a sting operation and Star News for following up with the footages of the operation that served justice to the bereaved family.
Director Gupta follows the case sensitively, not only to question who killed Jessica; instead, he puts a question mark to the entire judiciary system of India. I believe the film stares with aggression at the Indian judiciary, press, politicians, and the police.
Though the story is not something many have not heard of, yet the momentum of the film keeps going with director Gupta raising curtains of the day-to-day reality one suffers in New Delhi, the political and urban capital of India.
The movie begins with a phone call Sabirna (Vidya Balan) receives at 2 in the morning that informs her that her younger sister Jessica is shot.
On reaching the hospital, she comes to know that Jessica was shot amidst the 300 eyewitnesses in a party because she refused to give a drink to a man with a gun in his hand and power in his head.
“Someone with a pistol in his hand and power in his head decided that a life was cheaper than a glass of drink,” is one of the most powerful dialogues resembling the brutal reality of Delhi’s politics and power.
Sabrina fights to give justice to her sister but faces disappointments one after the other. All the three hundred eyewitnesses turn hostile and are bribed. No one saw a thing. The case is pended for years, and to her shock, the accused walks free.
Meera (Rani Mukherjee), a promising newscaster who previously overlooked this issue believing that there was no story in it as there were too many witnesses to get the accused punished is shocked at the news of him being freed. Meera reopens the story and gets into a sting operation.
Director Gupta comments flamboyantly on the society Indians live in and the tendencies of the judiciary not being right most of the time. Who questions who will belt the dogs if the judiciary, press, and the government fail to!
The dialogues are well-rehearsed. A policeman frustrated in the case despite being one of those who took home a bribe of 7 million Rupees to not hurt the accused in the jail, a helpless elder sister with no financial and powerful backing to seek justice for her sister who was shot dead, a minister who goes on doing everything and anything under the sun to free his son from the murder charge, and a journalist overlooking a serious issue believing that it would serve no story to the audiences are some of the elements in the film that powerfully depicts the New Delhi structure.
“Sab Khatey Hai, Kisliye Yeh Aur Baat Hain” (Everyone takes in, for what is a different issue altogether) is another dialogue with an utmost gravity to reflect on the heightening corruption developing in Delhi by the day.
More than soundtracks, there are sound effects that steal the show in the movie. Vidya Balan portraying a bespectacled geek-look-alike sister of the stunning model is worth appreciating. Rani Mukherjee could have certainly been better but is almost there to justify her character.
The only thing that set me aback is why NDTV took away all the credits in the film while in reality it was Star News that aired the footage of this case. Though the makers have acknowledged Tehelka Magazine in the end, it is unfair to say wah-wahs to NDTV while somebody else deserved it.
Screening at QFX
Starring: Vidya Balan, Rani Mukherjee, introducing Myra Karn and Mohammad Zeeshan Ayub
Directed by: Rajkumar Gupta
Produced by: UTV Spotboy
PG Rating: Restricted for children below 18 (Contains abusive language)
Rating: 2/5
The writer is Program Officer at Indian Cultural Centre (ICC), Indian Embassy.
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