Jana Gana Mana Review (2022)

JGM is a terrifically crafted film with an absolutely thought provoking story. The basic premise of the film might seem to be the investigation of the murder and possible rape of a college professor. The sensation of the news creates radical public opinion and when the encounter of the accused 4 is done, the public is overjoyed. However when questions are raised by the Human Rights department, fascinating shocks hit us.

When we normally read "sensational news" like the one here, our reaction is naturally to kill the criminals. But what is they are not criminals and what if they are not even associated with the crime? JGM asks us these extremely thought provoking questions which might have never even occurred to us in the first place, because we are also so swept by these sensationalism and the attention that the Social Media posts, news headlines which gave us these news in the first place.

There are so many brilliant lines in the film such as “Instant Tea, Instant Coffee, Instant Justice” or “Does the Media report the truth or whatever is reported by Media that is the truth”. The slow and steady screenplay builds steadily and with a certain restraint which borders on lackadaisical as the events portrayed are emotional and conventional even though the situations surrounding the death of the Professor Sabha is fascinating. Sabha’s character is brilliantly built and we can see her by the way her students protest for her or the song montage where we see how her interaction with the students influenced. We even see them apologise to the very cops who they had accused in the past.

The direction is also is extremely minimal and simplistic which is an absolutely important thing for such a story like this whose complexity, to be understood and to not be distracted from, needs a simpler form.

Wherein we get classically composed shots such as the majority of the 2nd half portions in the courtroom wherein the Prithivraj’s character Aravind is captured with simple tracking shots moving beautifully within the frame to show the various levels of the incident he is talking about. Or even the overall editing of the film which is filled with either shot reverse shots or long takes (1 mins not the Orson Welles’s types).

The clean, minimal editing/ direction is intentional as it allows us to focus instead on the provocative content being displayed on screen. The content, written with absolute finesse, is extremely layered such that the revelations are extremely shocking. 2 incident play out at different levels of time and the reaction we feel the first time we see them is completely opposite the reaction we feel when we see them the 2nd time.

Or this moment when 1 of the four convicts who constantly jokes about wanting a cigarrete is finally given right before he is encountered. The film makes us think constantly about the nature of the crimes that take place around us and the possible reasons for them. And this is why Jana Gana Mana 2 is something I am desperately waiting for.