One of the finest thing watched on theatre. Jagat Panda, an angry cinephile who is a taxi driver who is also a part-time assassin, rides a blue taxi around the city looking for clients during the day, takes money, and kills their target at night (sometimes during the day). Jagat says, "No money, no murder," and "Jagat Panda doesn't have a caste." He has no ideology or empathy; he believes in money, is a huge fan of Sriram Panda (yesteryear Odia Star), and has memorised each dialogue from all his films. He asks his victim before killing them : "Are you a fan of Uttam Mohanty or Sriram Panda?" (Maybe no country for old men.). Both are two of the biggest stars ever in odia films at the same time (until Sriram Panda renounced his stardom, films, and materialistic life and became a sadhu till this age). Jagat Panda, played brilliantly by Devesh Ranjan , brings out the reflection of odia people who are angry about the fact that odia cinema and language have been neglected for too long and never talked about in the mainstream. Devesh Ranjan is the star of the film (jointly shared with Abhishek Swain ). His facial features remind us of the stars of the 1970s, an era that has long ended. Maybe Jagat is stuck in nostalgia in this new era, reminiscing about it and killing people. Jajabara is a road film (also a thriller) directed by Abhishek Swain, who has paid occasional homage to Scorcese, Tarantino (read Kill Bill: O Ren's Revenge Scene, one of the best anime scenes of the film), and Odia films of the past. Having seen some of his past work, he is a fan of pulp, noir, and dark psychological dramas. He brings out some interesting scenes, whether it is the car scenes (almost the whole movie), the night cabaret sequences, or the morning outdoor scenes. Parallely, there is the character of femme fatale, played by Sonali, who is a cabaret dancer (whom her boyfriend doesn't like) stuck in this city, which is exploiting her. She just wants a single chance to get out of the city. Only Jagat Panda empathises with her. The other hero, played by Prasanjeet Mohapatra (pleasing to look at), a wonderful actor, gets into Jagat's cab, tense and agitated. Jagat Panda is not just a cinephile; he loves reciting poetry and has a flair for philosophy. He understands humans and their dark sides. He knowingly gets out of the cab and opens the car trunk to find a man, killing him in front of Prasanjeet. Prasanjeet is scared and relieved to share the darkness with someone. Which reveals the fact that Prasanjeet killed his fiancé and her lover moments ago and has been running since. Jagat laughs at this, and Prasanjeet asks him to kill him fast. This is where the film starts. Abhishek and his team have been efficient and quite impressive with their miniscule budget and resources. The only problems in the film come with a couple of sequences with noticeable sound design (a good sound design is when the audience can't notice that it is designed), but it remained good in most parts of the film. The femme fatale character, by the end of the film, felt like either it should have more meat to it (involvement) in the story or the character was not needed completely. I liked the fact about the story (Abhishek cowritten with Satya Ranjan ) that instead of having a convenient structure, it decides to move around the city and meet new characters, leaving them and encountering new situations throughout the film. Another thing that makes this film a little short on greatness is the character of Jagat Panda. A psychopath always reflects society and its injustices towards its own people, but will poverty and obsession with a superstar and cinema drive someone to kill people? Not sure..Jagat Panda, an angry cinephile who is a taxi driver who is also a part-time assassin, rides a blue taxi around the city looking for clients during the day, takes money, and kills their target at night (sometimes during the day). Jagat says, "No money, no murder," and "Jagat Panda doesn't have a caste." He has no ideology or empathy; he believes in money, is a huge fan of Sriram Panda (yesteryear Odia Star), and has memorised each dialogue from all his films. He asks his victim before killing them : "Are you a fan of Uttam Mohanty or Sriram Panda?" (Maybe no country for old men.). Both are two of the biggest stars ever in odia films at the same time (until Sriram Panda renounced his stardom, films, and materialistic life and became a sadhu till this age). Jagat Panda, played brilliantly by Devesh Ranjan, brings out the reflection of odia people who are angry about the fact that odia cinema and language have been neglected for too long and never talked about in the mainstream. Devesh Ranjan is the star of the film (jointly shared with Abhishek Swain). His facial features remind us of the stars of the 1970s, an era that has long ended. Maybe Jagat is stuck in nostalgia in this new era, reminiscing about it and killing people. Jajabara is a road film (also a thriller) directed by Abhishek Swain, who has paid occasional homage to Scorcese, Tarantino (read Kill Bill: O Ren's Revenge Scene, one of the best anime scenes of the film), and Odia films of the past. Having seen some of his past work, he is a fan of pulp, noir, and dark psychological dramas. He brings out some interesting scenes, whether it is the car scenes (almost the whole movie), the night cabaret sequences, or the morning outdoor scenes. Parallely, there is the character of femme fatale, played by Sonali, who is a cabaret dancer (whom her boyfriend doesn't like) stuck in this city, which is exploiting her. She just wants a single chance to get out of the city. Only Jagat Panda empathises with her. The other hero, played by Prasanjeet (pleasing to look at), a wonderful actor, gets into Jagat's cab, tense and agitated. Jagat Panda is not just a cinephile; he loves reciting poetry and has a flair for philosophy. He understands humans and their dark sides. He knowingly gets out of the cab and opens the car trunk to find a man, killing him in front of Prasanjeet. Prasanjeet is scared and relieved to share the darkness with someone. Which reveals the fact that Prasanjeet killed his fiancé and her lover moments ago and has been running since. Jagat laughs at this, and Prasanjeet asks him to kill him fast. This is where the film starts. Abhishek and his team have been efficient and quite impressive with their miniscule budget and resources. The only problems in the film come with a couple of sequences with noticeable sound design (a good sound design is when the audience can't notice that it is designed), but it remained good in most parts of the film. The femme fatale character, by the end of the film, felt like either it should have more meat to it (involvement) in the story or the character was not needed completely. I liked the fact about the story (Abhishek co-written with Satya Ranjan) that instead of having a convenient structure, it decides to move around the city and meet new characters, leaving them and encountering new situations throughout the film. Another thing that makes this film a little short on greatness is the character of Jagat Panda. A psychopath always reflects society and its injustices towards its own people, but will poverty and obsession with a superstar and cinema drive someone to kill people? Not sure..
0 out of 0 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
