Movie: Jilla
Rating: 2.75/5
Banner: Sri Obuleswar Productions
Cast: Vijay, Kajal Aggarwal, Mohanlal, Brahmanandam, Soori, Sampath Raj, Surekha Vani, Pradeep Rawat, Meenal, Mahat Raghavendra, LB Sriram and others
Dialogues: Sreedhar Seepana
Music: D Imman
Cinematography: Ganesh Rajavelu
Editor: Don Max
Producers: Kumar Reddy, Prasad Sannidi
Screenplay and Direction: Neason
Release Date: July 24, 2015
After impressing Telugu audiences with Thupaki, Tamil superstar Vijay is back with Jilla. This is dubbed version of his Tamil film by the same name and it also stars Kajal Agarwal and Mohan Lal. Let’s check the film...
Story:
Shakti (Vijay), loses his father and is raised by don Shivaiah (Mohan Lal). Shivaiah raises Shakti like his own son and Shakti starts hating police officers from childhood. Once he grows up, he follows the footsteps of Shivaiah, who runs crime syndicate in Vijayawada and indulges in illegal activities.
Shakti falls in love with a girl Shanti (Kajal) for her daring attitude not knowing that she is a cop. One day, Shivaiah is humiliated by Commissioner of Police and he decides to make his son Shakti a police officer. Shakti who has aversion towards police forcefully becomes Khaki officer. Once he becomes police officer, the father and son are fitted against each other.
Artistes’ Performances:
Vijay is his usual self and is at ease in the mass hero role but he is very effective in confrontation scenes with Mohan Lal.
Although the movie is Vijay's film, the one actor whose presence makes all the difference to the regular set up is the Malayalam superstar Mohan Lal.
An actor par excellence, Mohan Lal in the role of rowdy leader commands awe. His getup, his gait is perfect.
Kajal Agarwal has not much to do but looked glamorous in songs and share good chemistry with Vijay. Brahmanandam is wasted.
Technical Excellence:
Jilla has rich production values, shot beautifully too. Movie throughout has a grand look thanks to cinematographer's good work.
D Imman's two songs Veluge Poddalle and Ayyare Ayyare are very catchy and shot beautifully.
Editing is weak, the pace of the movie is uneven and also it has many unnecessary tracks which should be cut. Dialogues are perfect.
Analysis
What do you expect from a movie that has a star who has mass following in Tamilnadu?
A riot of scenes that elevate heroism, great fights, sentiment scenes and punch dialogues are mandatory for such movies. Jilla treads that template. Added attraction to this is inclusion of another top hero from Kerala sharing the drama.
Storyline of the movie is as old as Himalayas but pitting two big stars Vijay and Mohan Lal against each other in the familiar backdrop has made all the difference.
The frames, sequences involving Mohan Lal and Vijay are riveting. There is also one fight episode which brings us the memories of Hari Krishna and Nagarjuna from 'Seetharamaraju'
Vijay and Mohan Lal share great bonhomie. All the episodes between them are perfect. The romantic episodes on Vijay and Kajal are also engaging especially the scene when Vijay comes to her house and finding her in police dress is funny.
On the flip side, the movie is too long. Pace also slackens towards the end. Comedy falls flat. Story has not properly developed too as it has many loopholes and dull moments in between.
On the whole, it is aimed for mass audiences.
Bottomline: Strictly Okay!
(Venkat can be reached [email protected] or https://twitter.com/greatandhranews)
