Jai Gangaajal (U/A)

Director: Prakash Jha

Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Prakash Jha, Manav Kaul, Ninad Kamat

Running time: 159 minutes

The cop car comes and stops. He comes out in slow motion. His hair is blowing in the wind. There’s smoke in the air. He walks into the police station, pulls out the bad guy and starts beating him up with thunderous sound effects. Then he drags him to the streets in the middle of cheering onlookers. Look, he’s Salman Khan... he’s Ajay Devgn... no, he’s Prakash Jha! 

Jha has taken the “a Prakash Jha film” tag a tad too seriously. He is the writer, director, producer and even lyricist for a song in Jai Gangaajal. But he hasn’t stopped there. He is also the leading man. Yes. Don’t let the posters, the promotions or the climax of the film fox you. If Jai Gangaajal were to be sent to the Oscars, or the Razzies, they would consider Priyanka Chopra in the supporting actor category and Jha in the leading role.

Incredibly it’s his first major acting assignment — he’s done cameos and special appearances before — in his 34-year-old career. Maybe because Jai Gangaajal is also his first ever sequel. But it’s a sequel only in spirit — and title. None of the characters from the 2003 film Gangaajal return or are mentioned. We are not even in the same state.

This one’s set in Madhya Pradesh, in the fictional district of Bankipur where the local legislator Bablu Pandey (Manav Kaul) runs the land mafia with his brother Dablu Pandey (Ninad Kamat). All their evil ways are dutifully safeguarded from the law by DSP Bhola Nath Singh (Jha) in lieu of material gains. He’s not the only one, as the entire police force seems to be exclusively serving the Pandeys.

So when, half-an-hour into the long, very long, film, the morally upright SP Abha Mathur (Priyanka Chopra) is asked to lead that rotten pack, it gets a little awkward. But what really sizzles the pan is Dablu raping and killing the poor farmer’s daughter after she refuses to sell her piece of land. Abha is, of course, angry and all that, but it is Singh who has the change of heart and a sudden respect for his uniform.

You know how it goes from there, just that with the police deciding to do their job, the locals also feel empowered. So much so that they start knocking around the baddies and soon start hanging them from trees and calling them suicides. The police start supporting and hushing up the public lynching till the politically correct climax is predictably reached.

Many times milder than the angry Gangaajal and Apaharan, Jai Gangaajal is engaging in parts — none of Jha’s films are ever unwatchable — but after the never-ending 160 minutes running time, it just seems like a futile exercise given that it covers no new ground or offers no novel cinematic experience. Some of the action set-pieces work, choreographed to a rollicking soundtrack by Salim-Sulaiman, but the whole is way lesser than the sum of the parts.

Jha the actor is not a complete bummer — his snotty attitude works well in the initial scenes — but given the incredible amount of footage he has, he doesn’t have the presence or the charm to keep you hooked right through. And when he goes all emotional in the last hour, you should run for cover.

There’s nothing much to complain about Priyanka. This is not a character or film which will make it to her top 10, but it’s not something she needs to hide from her Hollywood agents. When she beats up the thugs in the middle of the road, she looks as sexy in khaki as she would in her Baywatch reds. The bad guys overact gloriously, led by the otherwise good Manav Kaul.

Sequels are the last resort for filmmakers. You may argue that acting in your own films comes even after that. Either way, Jha seems to have run out of ideas. To quote his character from the film: “Elaichi khaiye, soch mein sugandh daal dega.”

Pratim D. Gupta

I went to watch a PC film but it turned out to be a PJ film. It was like... (complete the sentence in 20 words and tell t2@abp.in)