Jayeshbhai Jordaar

Divyang Thakkar’s directorial debut Jayeshbhai Jordaar is definitely a movie that is preachy for a large part. But it never felt like a film that was using its theme just for the sake of having this “relevant” movie tag. With Ranveer Singh shedding all his heroic tropes and delivering a sincere performance, Jayeshbhai Jordaar is a film that ultimately works because of its emotional layers, despite being so loud in terms of messaging.

Jayeshbhai is married to Mudra. The couple has a girl child, but Jayesh’s family wanted Mudra to give birth to a boy child. Mudra has gone through 6 abortions so far, and she has conceived a baby girl again. This time Jayesh decides to go against the abortion. What all he has to do to convince his patriarchal family is what we see in Jayeshbhai Jordaar.

Female infanticide, the oppression faced by women, gender equality, social implications of uneven sex ratio, etc., are the various topics that get highlighted in this comedy. And if you ask me how successfully the film addressed all these issues effectively, I would say the effort was there, but the result was half-baked in many areas. Yes, there is this political issue of the movie being presented from a male’s perspective who also acts as the savior. But I felt this decision to make the hero a less macho guy who doesn’t hesitate to cry reduces the bitterness of the perspective. Having said that, a bit more importance and screen time for the female characters in the film would have made it a much better film, in my opinion.

The texture Divyang Thakkar tries to maintain here is the feel-good comedy vibe we see in those Ayushmann Khurrana movies. The movie never becomes overtly silly or excessively melodramatic. But the screenplay is a bit wavery in terms of pacing. Some sequences get stretched far too long. The way the chase sequence gets elongated and the phase where Jayesh realizes how women in his village dealt with their sorrows etc. are key areas in the script that seem to lose their grip due to the length. Towards the end, the movie has certain winning moments along with some emotional bits that would put a smile on your face.

Ranveer Singh as Jayeshbhai was indeed Jordaar. He has transformed entirely for the role. The way he looks, sits, restrains himself, etc., shows you the scary life of Jayesh. The dialect sounded convincing, and even in highly emotional scenes, he was in control of the melodrama. Someone who should be appreciated along with Ranveer is Jia Vaidya, who played the Jordaar daughter Sidhi of Jayesh and Mudra. The girl’s confidence was spectacular, and there were times when Ranveer and Boman Irani were in the frame, but she became the scene-stealer.

As the patriarch of the family and the head of the village, Boman Irani was convincing. Shalini Pandey was an odd choice, and her performance, too, had no big impact. Ratna Patak Shah as Jashoda Patel and Deeksha Joshi as Jayesh’s sister delivered a much better and memorable performance when compared to Shalini’s.

Jayeshbhai Jordaar is a movie with good intentions. The crowded nature of the multiple political statements it wants to make somewhere demanded a better craft in the making. And thus, only a few tracks really manage to make an emotional impact, while the others sound a bit like those central government Beti Bachao ads. With an earnest Ranveer Singh at the center of the drama, “Jayeshbhai Jordaar” is a passable social preach.