Ajji

The story of Ajji is an average classic revenge drama, but with some brilliant & authentic elements of film making within it. The movie touches on the delicate subject of child rape and that too from a under privileged family. What makes Ajji to work in its favour is its ability to transfer the pain and suffering of the protagonist into the minds of the audiences. Though the entire premise is heavily cliched, and utterly unbelievable at times, its ability to arose certain curiosity in audiences mind drives the awe factor in Ajji.

Aided with some brilliant camerawork, which sets a dark tone to the movie, Ajji transcends us to a place, where only a few of us would venture. Director Devashish Makhija work is top class to get the horrors of the story into our head, his portrayal of the aftermath of the child rape and the police visit to the victim's home is exceptionally accurate. Screenplay could have been a little better and more believable. Top class acting by Abishek Banerjee as the antagonist will sent shivers down our spine. Yes such people do exist. Ably supported by Smitha Tambe, most of the supporting cast's acting is good. Editing could have been a little better considering the 105 minute length of the movie.

I completely agree that, Ajji has its set of flaws, especially the revenge part and the protagonist's ability to pull of such a thing. Taking law onto ourselves maybe right for people like you and me but what about the poor and the helpless? Can they afford such privileges? When they can hardly afford 3 square meals. This movie is made for audiences who don't have those luxuries in the corrupt world of ours. Though disturbing in many places, Ajji is a must watch for movie buffs to understand certain emotions & reactions in acting.

The Screenplay is perfect. You are anticipating the ultimate revenge. The practice is shown beautifully. An Old woman plans and executes a perfect revenge. However there were a lot of aspects to this gritting tale. The film makes you cringe on the actions of the characters and leaves you with an impact . It is not for the fainthearted and there are moments that will make your stomach churn and you will really need a lot of patience to watch certain scenes. Well executed.

This film perfectly showed us what should be done to a rapist. It is not for the faint hearted as it's very much disturbing. Devashish Makhija & Cinematographer Jishnu Bhattacharjee have done a splendid job.

Performances of all are simply superb. Even the little girl (Sharvani Suryavanshi) acted so brilliantly. Abhishek Banerjee gave one of his career best performance, Vikas Kumar is always underappreciated and of course Sushma Deshpande will blow your mind away.

DON'T MISS THIS ONE.

The unconventionality of having a grandmother as the protagonist about crime and revenge is what makes Devashish Makhija's cold thriller a tantalizing watch. Ajji is an ambitious story of an old woman who takes the law into her own hands – cliché in the town – and asks us to wonder about the consequences. You tend to incline to the positive because you want her to win and so do the colorful characters who help her, but what we don't see are the obvious superhero powers that she possesses which you cannot blame on the power of will or circumstances. Sexual molestation of minors is definitely a grave topic and one that must be discussed openly but that doesn't mean you celebrate the idea of self-righteousness especially when related to the matters of justice. Ajji is definitely an engaging watch with clever camera work, mirror placements, wonderful performances, and above all, a magically complementing sunless setting. Everything works except for the enthusiastic plot for a film that is evidently the wheels of this crime drama. An accident is inevitable. TN.

(As part of the Young Film Critics Lab 2017 at the 19th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.)

I saw this film at the UK Asian Film Festival in London - the lead actress rightly won the best actress award - don't miss this gripping drama - brilliant !