Jai Bhim movie review: Solidly Performed, Illuminating & Powerfully Hard-Hitting

 

Jai Bhim movie review: Solidly Performed, Illuminating & Powerfully Hard-Hitting

What: Jai Bhim takes an illuminating look at a real-life injustice with solid performances led Suriya backed by Tha. Se. Gnanavel’s steady directorial hand.

Jai Bhim movie synopsis

Inspired by a legal case fought by retired Madras High Court Judge, Justice K Chandru (a renowned judge who has disposed of 96,000 cases and is well-known among the legal circles for some of his landmark judgments), who fought for a woman from the Irular tribe.

Jai Bhim is based on one of the case that happened during the 1990s in Tamil Nadu.

A couple from the Irular tribe – Senggeni (Lijo Mol Jose) and Rajakannu (Manikandan) are leading a normal life. Their normal life is catching rats and snake, and also working as laborers in the fields of the landlords during the sowing and harvesting seasons or in the rice mills.

Irular – the Dravidian scheduled tribe is often ridiculed by the upper caste and is a soft target for caste discrimination.

One day the above mention normal life of Senggeni and Rajakannu falls apart when Rajakannu is arrested on false charges and later goes missing from police custody.

Sengenni in her efforts to find her husband seeks the help of Advocate Chandru (Suriya), who takes it upon himself to unearth the truth and fight all odds to bring justice to the tribal woman.

Jai Bhim movie review

An illuminatingly striking tryst with truth, the urgent need to understand the power of ‘power’ and justice and for whom its needed the most in an entertaining and tight courtroom drama hits on the right place and hits hard enough to make you ponder.

Jai Bhim is also a salute to the father of Indian constitution where Suriya as Advocate Chandru (inspired from real life Justice K Chandru) advocates the right use of power in a brilliantly balanced amalgamation of reality and fiction by Tha. Se. Gnanavel.

Opening with Senggeni and Rajakannu performing the traditional earthen pot fumigation method top catch rats, Tha. Se. Gnanavel is bang on in showing us the roots and displaying his remarkable realistic approach.

Slowly as the story moves, the audience is introduced to the brutality and inhuman behavior towards the Irular tribe which turns into an ugly metaphor serving as a shocking reminder of the caste system that prevails in India and gets more deadly in the rural areas.

Amazon Prime Video and Tamil Cinema had collaborated early also in such shocking reminders of class struggles onscreen with powerful cinema like , Asuran, Karnan both starring Dhanush.

Jai Bhim is an addition to the chorus but that chorus comes with its own independent echo.

Performance

Suriya is superb as an advocate who advocates the right use of power. The no nonsense and brilliantly intense portrayal by Surya brings the right dose of power and hope to the movie. Suriya just gets into the skin with tremendous ease and never overplays his act as a vakil (lawyer).

Lijo Mol Jose as Senggeni is terrific. She accepts the challenge with striking maturity and amazing balance.

Manikandan as Rajakannu compellingly portrays the picture of pain, suffering and the survival crises of the tribe.

Rajisha Vijayan as the teacher is fantastic and has her moments.

Prakash Raj shines as a senior police official and once again displays his ability to live the character with ease on screen.

Rao Ramesh as the lawyer against Surya leaves his mark.

Technicalities

Brilliant cinematography by S.R. Kathira especially during the night and jail sequences adds to the thrill and shock. editing by Philomin Raj is sharp.      Art Direction by K. Kathir is perfect.

Final words

Jai Bhim is profoundly relevant reminder of the importance of truth, justice, power and equality powered by Suriya’s superb act and Tha. Se. Gnanavel’s compelling story telling.