JHUND is the story of an unusual football team. Vijay Borade (Amitabh Bachchan) teaches in St John’s college. The educational institute is situated next to a vast slum locality. The youth in this area are not well-educated and do odd jobs for a living. They even resort to stealing jewellery and mobile phones and coal from moving trains. One day, Vijay spots some of these youth like Ankush aka Don (Ankush Gedam), Babu (Priyanshu Kshatriya), Angel (Angel Anthony), Vishakha (Vishakha Uikey), Yogesh (Yogesh Uikey), Raziya (Rajiya Kazi) etc. playing football using an abandoned plastic box. He realizes that they have immense potential but they are wasting their time committing crimes and consuming drugs. He goes to the slum the next day and meets these young people. He asks them to play football for 30 minutes. In exchange, he’ll pay them Rs. 500. They agree. They have a gala time and after they finish their game, Vijay hands them Rs. 500 as promised. This goes on for many days. One day, Vijay doesn’t turn up on the ground. These slum kids then go to his house. Vijay tells them that he doesn’t have any more money to pay them. The slum kids, by now, have become so attached to playing the game, that they agree to play without money. Gradually, Vijay coaches them and soon, they become quite better at their game. Vijay proposes to the St John’s principal that these kids should be allowed to play a friendly match with the football team of the college. The principal reluctantly agrees. The coach of the St John’s team (Kishor Kadam) despises these slum children. He pressurizes the team to score 10 goals and not let the slum team score even one goal. What happens next forms the rest of the film.
Nagraj Popatrao Manjule’s story is splendid and nicely blends sports and social message. Nagraj Popatrao Manjule’s screenplay is hard-hitting. However, he keeps entertainment paramount. The goings-on gets a bit heavy but never turns depressing or too dark; he knows where to draw the line. However, at several places, the writing gets stretched. Nagraj Popatrao Manjule’s dialogues are conversational and quite funny at places.
Nagraj Popatrao Manjule’s direction is first-rate. There have been many films in this space like CHAK DE INDIA [2017], ABCD [2013], HICHKI [2018], etc. Yet, one doesn’t get a déjà vu as Nagraj sets it in a very real world and also because of the finer nuances. His storytelling is supreme and entertaining, and the way he throws light on certain social issues is seen to be believed. What’s great is that he doesn’t let it turn into a niche fare. The symbolism he has tried to convey at various places is easy to comprehend, even for mass audiences. On the flipside, the film is too long at 178 minutes. The introduction of the setting and the characters are quite lengthy. Ideally, the film should be trimmed by around 20-30 minutes. The first half is quite power-packed and the second half also has its share of riveting sequences. The second half of the film touches upon a different kind of struggle of the slum team.
JHUND begins on a great note and Vijay’s first interaction with Ankush is too good. The scene where he pays the kids to play football adds to the fun. However, the film gets better as the makers convincingly show how the kids get used to the sport and are now ready to invest time in it without any monetary returns. The football match with the college team forms a big chunk of the first half and is quite exciting. The sequence where these kids talk to Vijay about their lives is moving and executed brilliantly. Post-interval, a few sequences stand out like the kids themselves cleaning up the college premises, Monika’s (Rinku Rajguru) struggle in getting her passport and the courtroom sequence. The climax is nail-biting.
Amitabh Bachchan has delivered several bravura performances in his long, illustrious career. Yet, he stuns with his act in JHUND. He keeps his act restrained and it works big time. Ankush Gedam is a big surprise of the film and gets considerable screen time. Priyanshu Kshatriya is hilarious as Babu. He raises the maximum laughs. Yogesh Uikey is great in the scene where he plays the banjo. Rajiya Kazi is decent. Kishor Kadam is fine in the antagonist kind of a role. Angel Anthony and Vishakha Uikey don’t get much scope. The same goes for Bhushan Manjule (Raziya’s husband) and Chhaya Kadam (Vijay’s wife). Arjun Radhakrishnan (Arjun; Vijay Borade’s son) is okay and it’s bewildering the way he returns to India to be with his father. Surat Limbo (Khelchand; peon turned footballer) is fine. Ashish Khachane (Jagdish; suicidal person) is lovely but his character suffers due to lack of a back story. Sayali Narendra Patil (Bhavana) looks gorgeous and is passable. Nagraj Popatrao Manjule (Hitler) is wasted. Manik Babulal Gedam (Monika’s father) is good. Suresh Vishvakarma (Shop owner who is asked to help in the identification process) is funny. JHUND also stars SAIRAT’s actors, Rinku Rajguru and Akash Thosar (Sambhya), and both act very well.
Ajay-Atul’s music is decent. ‘Aaye Ye Jhund Hai’ is relegated to the background but is foot-tapping. ‘Lafda Zala’ is well shot and reminds one of the ‘Zingaat’ track from SAIRAT. ‘Laat Maar’ and ‘Baadal Se Dosti’ are passable. Saket Kanetkar’s background score is much better and enhances the impact.
Sudhakar Yakkanti Reddy’s cinematography is novel and the slum and football scenes especially are very well captured. Snigdha Katmahe and Pankaj Shivdas Poal’s production design is very realistic. Priyanka Gayatri Dubey and Mahananda Sagare’s costumes are non-glamorous, as per the demands of the script. Veera Kapur Ee’s costumes for Amitabh Bachchan are a bit dull but it goes with the character. Kutub Inamdar and Vaibhav Dabhade’s editing could have been tighter.
On the whole, JHUND is a superb social entertainer, with Nagraj Popatrao Manjule’s writing and direction, and the performances being its core strengths. At the box office, it has the potential to grow significantly as the word of mouth is bound to be very positive. It also deserves tax-free status. Recommended!
(Courtesy : https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/)
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