Jugni

This movie is an amazing musical journey taken by the protagonist to come to terms with the fire within and then shine brighter in the world.

Sugandha plays the role of a music director who has got her first break but is unable to crack something that pleases her director. So she takes an unplanned journey to find an old forgotten folk singer to give her song an edge. Her character is sketched as a very independent and adventure seeking person, though it doesn't necessarily come out as that in the actual performance. She keeps living every moment as it comes and the way life unfolds in front of her leaves her in a perplexed situation that makes her fight the fire within herself to realize who has what role to play in her life and what she wants from her life.

In Vibs search for the folk singer, Bibi , she meets Mastana, Bibi's son. He too is trained as a singer, but has moved away from his roots to compose modern songs. Sidhant Bhel as a happy go lucky village lad, really brings a lot energy to the screen and the script. Along with Vibs, he to undergoes a roller coaster ride to understand his own self and the role of love and success in his life. He beautifully transitions between bringing comic relief to being very intense for showing his own journey.

Sadhana gives a very measured performance as a forgotten folk singer. Her character has subtle nuances which get beautifully captured in her performance. She shows some contempt for the modern songs that his son composes and his unwillingness to associate with the songs which are the roots to his culture. As an accomplished singer, she takes pride in her own artistic capabilities which is reflected in the way her character is written and in her performance.

Anurita and Samir do complete justice to their roles as supportive and jealous partners to Mastana and Vibs.

Since the story revolves around the love for music that the characters have, it plays a very important role to bind the script together. Clinton is a surprising choice for this kind of music and has done justice to the task at hand and has added a different flavor to the overall mood of the film. The music compositions in themselves are not anything magical, but the songs are beautifully written and do a wonderful job of taking the story forward. If you are not very familiar with Punjabi, then I would suggest that watch it with subtitles to really enjoy the movie.

I had not ever heard of the movie Jugni but found it in the Indian movie listings on an Etihad flight. Having seen all the other movies on offer, I decided to give Jugni a go and was pleasantly surprised.

Jugni has a nice plot, somewhat different from the usual Bollywood fare. Emotions and relationships are realistic and very well portrayed.

The actors are all unknown faces but perfectly believable in their roles. I really wish Bollywood would produce more movies without superstars, and more important that such movies get a fair run at the box office.

The setting - mostly in rural Punjab is lovely and authentic. The music, some of it anyway, was very very good. Especially the fusion Punjabi Sufi and R&B track.

Cinematography was pleasing.

All in all this was a nice movie, a very pleasant watch and Im sure it will soon feature on TV and You Tube.

It's often seen in our Hindi cinema that even when a film has a quite familiar tale to tell, it still largely works because of its likable treatment, fresh faces and good music. The most recent example of this is the new release JUGNI that apart from having the above mentioned merits has also got an unexpectedly mature ending too, that is actually more authentic in comparison to any previous film made on a similar concept.

In fact the best part of the film is unarguably its brave culmination which neither offers a happy or sad ending, but unapologetically remains much closer to the reality, as it mostly happens in life in such relationships formed. Based on the plot of a music composer finding and then (positively) exploiting a raw talent tapped from the interiors of Punjab, the second mature feature of the film is how it so sensibly presents the 'unintentional sexual relationship' between the couple from the girl's perspective in particular, representing the changing mindsets of the generation living in metro cities.

The third merit of JUGNI lies in its genuine performances led by the sweet Sugandha Garg along with Sadhana Singh, Siddhant Behl and Anirutta K Jha. Plus its the natural feel of the beautiful locations and spoken local language (Punjabi) that successfully creates a special mood in the film as required. The songs as its fourth worth- mentioning feature add a lot to the musical base of the subject sounding extremely fresh and great weaved into the fast paced narration. Still it's a kind of soundtrack that might turn out be more enjoyable as an individual creation, not related to the film as I strongly felt.

Having mentioned the merits, JUGNI yet cannot be termed as any path- breaking, novel attempt basically because of its routine subject that doesn't provide the film an exceptional edge (apart from its climax) in absence of any big known name adding a commercial value.

Secondly though debutant director Shefali Bhushan does a worth noticing job in her first attempt in terms of treatment and extracting lovable performances from the talented cast getting the perfect feel, still the film lacks that authentic Punjabi touch which might not be an issue for the non-Punjabi viewers watching it in the different states.

For instance, Siddhant Behl tries his best playing the local Punjabi singer, but at times he tends to go overboard too, turning it all into a forced act. The humour looks like intentionally added in some sequences not generating the expected response. Plus in a music based film, it isn't expected that the sound comes of a piano when the guitar strings are being played by a character on screen.

In addition, in every Hindi film featuring Punjab and Punjabi characters, a special care needs to be taken in pronunciation of words having letters like 'Jha', 'Dha' or 'Bha'. Because just the spoken way of these letters clearly reveals that the actor or the writers do not actually know the exact sound of these words in Punjabi and they have simply added them on the basis of how they have been earlier used in other Hindi films in the same wrong manner.

In all, JUGNI is a fine musical attempt with a bold, mature end and a likable lead performance by Sugandha Garg. But I wish they had chosen a completely different novel storyline using the same premises of the local Punjabi music scenario and the realistically raw characters.