Jessica Justifies. Review on No One Killed Jessica

"Your Gluteus Maximus (popularly known as 'Ass') will rip itself apart and miraculously fall into your own hands" retorts Rani Mukherji to a widely-grinning overweight flight co-passenger who inquirs about her Kargil stint as a TV reporter.

No ’beep’ sounds whatsoever (at least in the videsi prints) when she utters the ’G-word’ twice – TWICE! This is when, precisely, I could see family people in the hall somewhat traumatized (especially women) with mouths wide open displaying their respective tonsils. Rajkumar Gupta wanted to spotlight the censor board's flaws alongside the juridic flaws, no? Wink

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Direction-wise, an exceptional job in presenting the fundamental facts and circumstances of the case, from a legal as well as a filmy standpoint.

The movie stages Rajkumar’s unwavering grip on the script and the subject and clearly beams his homework as to presenting the critical characters on screen - specifically, Vidya Balan (Sabrina Lall), the Police Inspector, Rani Mukherji (the TV reporter) and the accused.

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[A special mention here for the accused's grumpy politician father, plus his funny mom who sounds exactly like a female goat and occasionally utters ’Mere Manu ko kuch nahi hone dhoongi" - My personal thanks to you ammaji].

Vidya Balan and Rani Mukherji evenly and symmetrically steal the entire show, all the way. Minimal / zilch make-up by Vidya (to the extent that even her facial hair was clearly visible!) elevates the veridical traits of the movie further up.

Splendid performances by the two ladies certainly deserve glory- quite realistic to say the least - gestures, tones and expressions combined with their unmistakably natural acting experience. Nevertheless, one minor shortcoming I can’t repress expressing here is how undesirable and unnatural was Rani’s forced usage of the magic word "F K" a ridiculous number of times.

Every time she used it, it had nothing but embarrassed lack of natural ease in it’s usage, despite portraying a dynamic and romp TV reporter. Well, perhaps, I might have felt so either due to her stereotype portrayals - Rani-is-a-good-girl-Rani-is-a-homely-girl - in her previous films Or the F-word usage could have been somewhat mis-context’ed in this film Or Both.

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For example:

Rani’s Boss : (when Rani presents a critical evidence for the case) WOW!! It’s really explosive - Ha Ha Ha Ha!!

Rani: What do you mean by explosive? "Say it’s f king explosive!!"

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See, didn't I just tell you?

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The background scores were comforting, fresh and brilliant. The scores evidently added a significant dose of vigor to the movie-watching experience, especially the tunes at the India Gate candlelight mass-protest assembly and during those times whenever a poignant Vidya appears on the screen.

Personally, I couldn't like the police inspector more and somehow strongly feel that he would certainly make recurring Bollywood appearances in the days to come.

The characters who played the accused Manu and the prime witness Vikram were a perfect fit for their roles, including the eponymous Jessica.

Definitely a must watch flick and I guarantee you atleast two incidences of goose-bumps. Full paisa vasool.

Thanks for reading.

Victor

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