Jai Bhim: An Emotional Intense Investigative Courtroom Drama

Before starting, kudos to Suriya for helming the project despite knowing the backlashes he might receive.

Jai Bhim was an intense investigative courtroom drama that excels largely by its performances and an engaging narrative that keeps us hooked for the entire 164 minutes. The story is about a pregnant woman who faces the extremities of power misuse by the police and her journey to seek justice for the same. Firstly, appreciation to the director TJ Gnanavel for the story and the way he has penned the screenplay. While there has been immense opportunity to turn the movie into preachy and get applause, the director steers clear and stays true to his story whilst as well touching upon the politics in a subtle manner.

Even though it’s a Surya film, it’s actually Lijomol Jose and Manikandan who steal the limelight with excellent performances. Suriya’s character is one-dimensional yet he does what he does the best. What I liked about his portrayal is that there is generally a thought that would arise “Can anyone be this good?” but with Suriya whom we have seen enough representation as an honest person, it wasn’t the case. He fitted the bill perfectly and gladly there wasn’t any scene that overdid his “Goodness”. Most of the other casting was good as well however Rajisha Vijayan felt the odd one out on the screen to play a teacher from the past.

Coming to the crux of the story, the police brutality and oppression against the scheduled tribes. There have been mixed noises over this topic. There isn’t a better way to represent their power misuse and hence I felt the illustration of brutality to be justified. The oppression as well was empathizable and it was right on point. Talking about the story and screenplay, it exceeded my expectations multifold. While the first hour picturized their livelihood, the next 90 mins entirely focused on crime-solving and I was truly intrigued to know the plight of leading characters.

Technically, the movie was adequate. Sean Roldan’s music tempo was partial like there are places where his pulsating BGM was felt while at places they were mellow and didn’t justify the proceedings on the screen. Regarding the songs, while the power song and the climax song were memorable, the rest were passable and hardly created any remark.

Proceedings to the negatives, the opposition consisting of police and public prosecution were really dumb. It was irking throughout the second half. They could have handled it in a better manner. There are certain logical loopholes here and there that mildly affect the proceedings.

However, these minor negatives can be overlooked as on the whole, the film is an intense and earnest tale of a tribal woman who tries to get justice for the unjust power abuse she had suffered.

~Fantastic watch that is sure to make you shed at least a couple of tears.

The movie is streaming on Amazon Prime. Do watch it.