Thoughts on ‘JIL JUNG JUK’
** Mild Spoilers Ahead **
I knew it’s too late to write review for a movie that is 3 weeks old, but I felt that I must write about this film in detail definitely. Better late than never! I watched this film on the day of its release itself, but did not write much since I missed the initial 20 to 25 minutes; later, when I watched it second time after a few days, I loved it so much 🙂
Tamil cinema has seen ‘n’ number of films on drug smuggling and lot of comedy films on the same in the recent years. But, what makes ‘JIL JUNG JUK’ so special is its presentation. Deeraj Vaidy has got a very unique style for himself and he has stamped it very impressively in his debut film. Be it the character sketches, screenplay or technical brilliance, he scores distinction!
Few people complained about the writing in the second half (the length too). I felt that the length was completely justified, there was no scenes ‘out of the plot’; coming to the writing, the director could have avoided being convenient in one or two scenes (say the entry of Juck’s father in the climax) and a few jokes on ‘Jai Shankar & Jessi hunger’ and Kottalakkal did not work for me (which looked forced, more of a gap-filler). Other than these minuses, the film had an unblemished writing mostly; infact, I felt that the film was a little advanced for our audience. There were some minute nuances in writing and detailing in characters, which many might fail to note (referring to few dialogues like ‘Un pondaatti pathini, padi thaanda maattaa’). The characterizations were fresh and original – the long-time rivals Deivaa and ‘Rolex’ Rowther, the wise ‘Jil’ who is an idea factory and a jack of almost all trades 😉 , the ever-nervous ‘Jung’ and the innocently humorous ‘Juck’. In the second half, Deeraj connects the dots perfectly between Jil Jung Juck, Deivaa and Rowther making it an interesting ‘Cat & Mouse’ game. The writing and dialogues sparkles in many scenes such as the scene where Deivaa reveals a truth about Rowther’s ROLEX, the scene where Jil explains about the plans . , and ! There are few interesting ideas such as the ‘Butterfly Effect’ that help the story progress, but they look scanty; more such ideas would have made this film even more exciting.
The humour was quirky often, and witty in some places 🙂 Some of the dialogues / jokes made sense only after few minutes we pass it, and that is the main reason some people were not able to enjoy / relate to the film. So what? Deeraj seemed to very clear about his target audience for whom he made this film, he did not want to spoon-feed his audience or simplify his film. The whole theater ROFLs in scenes of Uganda drug deal, the scene where Jung speaks about his knowledge on ‘World films’ and the thievery at a petty shop which ends with Juck asking for bill 😀 The film has an important character called ‘Pai’, for whom the popular ‘Mahadevaki’ voice has been used; it was hilarious but a set of audience had complaints about using that voice. I see it the other way, for a film which has been made uncompromisingly with no heroine or any crowd-pulling masala factor, it is one thing that could help attract the mass (good thing is that PAI did not speak anything out of his character or the film, to bring in humour forcibly)!
Casting was at its best on the whole, it was just perfect. Siddharth fits easily into the role of JIL who believes that ‘One should be ready to do 9 small tasks, to do 1 big task’. Avinash Raghudevan and Sananth were the best choices for this roles, that demands the actor to be neither too subtle nor too dramatic; both of them have done great justification. Radha Ravi proves right his expertise once again in the role of Rowther, and is good to see him back doing deserving roles as seen in films like Irudhi Suttru and Pisaasu. The director has used under-utilized actors like Amarendran very well, who is a less-noticed yet great performer.
On technical stand, Jil Jung Juck is outstanding! Be it the spectacular cinematography by Shreyaas Krishna or the path-breaking music by Vishal Chandrashekhar, lot of time has been invested to bring in novelty and perfection on-screen, which is evidently seen. Vishal Chandrashekhar who has already composed music for a few films in Tamil and Telugu, sets a benchmarking style with the songs and background score of this film. The detailing in ‘Red Roadu’ song and the background score in the scene where the Petrol silo explodes are an example to refer how striking his work was. The whole technical team including the works in costume desiging, editing, VFX and locations have put-in a lot of effort to create a different world which has worked big time; all credits to the ‘Captain of the Ship’ Deeraj, who is a terrific find! Provided a solid script in his upcoming films, he will reach great heights, for sure! Siddharth must be appreciated, for giving opportunities to young talents continuously 🙂 (he is doing another film for the same team once again (y) ) Salutes to him!
On the whole, ‘Jil Jung Juck’ might not be a flawless film, but an enjoyable entertainer that is fresh and unique in various aspects. This film opened to positive and mixed reviews equally in its opening weekend, and few of my friends also shared that they liked it a lot in the second watch (alike me). Am not sure how profitable or successful it was in the box office, but I am definite about one thing that it will be celebrated a cult comedy classic in a few years (in a decade, may be!) 🙂
Veridct: A unique entertainer which might be celebrated as a comedy cult classic in few years! A terrific debut film.
Rating: 3.5/5
Review by: Rahman
‘FOLLOW’ us at https://boxofficebossblog.wordpress.com to read more movie reviews & interesting cinema articles… Movie buffs, do subscribe..!!
Box Office BOSS 