Jugjugg Jeeyo

Jujugg Jeeyo, the new Dharma Productions Multi-Starrer, is an attempt to mix a serious debate into the loud Bollywood format of dance and drama. It feels like a constant ideological battle between the movie’s writers. On one side, the film wants to show the viewers why divorce is essential if respect is not there in a relationship. On the other, it wants to please that segment of the audience who believes compromise is better than divorce. Interestingly director Raj Mehta manages to crack a balance that doesn’t look problematic.

Kuldeep Saini, aka Kukoo, is married to his childhood crush Naina Sharma. The couple is living in Canada, and things weren’t smooth between the two. When Kukoo and Naina reach India to attend his sister Ginny’s wedding, Kukoo decides to tell his father about his divorce plans. But surprisingly, his father, Bheem, opens up about his plans to divorce Kukoo’s mother, Geeta. The drama that happens during the wedding of Ginny is what we see in Jugjugg Jeeyo.

At one point, Neetu Kapoor’s Geeta tells Kukoo and Naina that divorce is something that she will never allow to happen in her house. She is the type who can’t handle such decisions in a positive way, and the movie here also caters to that audience who has the same vision. But the writing here is clever. Instead of making the men preach about the necessity of maintaining a relationship, it gives the mic to the women who suffered in those “adjustment” relationships. Thus it smartly overcomes (to an extent) its regressive tone. The last quarter of the movie is where the writers of the film are fixing things that looked problematic in the first place. And thankfully, women aren’t forced to bury their dreams for the sake of relationships.

Varun Dhawan, as Kukoo, has done this character with his stock expressions, and he was able to portray the cluelessness of the character neatly. Anil Kapoor is getting celebrated for his looks and youthfulness even as a character. Neetu Kapoor, as Geeta, gets a meaty role, and it was a character that has got all the important dialogues in the movie. Kiara Advani luckily has got the scope to perform as an actor in this family drama rather than being cute and showing off her dance moves. Manish Paul is there just for the sake of comedy, and Prajakta Koli as Ginny doesn’t have much screentime in the film.

Raj Mehta, who previously made Good Newwz, has treated this story also in a similar manner. You have emotional drama and high pitch comedy happening in the same scene. The stark contrast of the emotional pitch of certain scenes is a bit jarring. But fortunately, it isn’t disturbing the rhythm of the movie in a significant way. The writing has definitely diluted the major talking point of the movie to make it look like a modern-day Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum. But somewhere, it felt a bit like a tiny step in the right direction. The songs were fine, and they were placed neatly. Jay I Patel’s cinematography was also impressive, mostly in marking the emotional state of the characters.

Jugjugg Jeeyo is a mixed bag of all things. It has glossy Dharma songs and gloomy bits of character dilemmas. It wants to explore the post-marriage reality, and yet it wants a typical happy ending. There are bits that you will find relatable or atypical, like the conversation between Neetu Kapoor and Kiara Adwani in the second half. Jugjugg Jeeyo is not achieving anything extraordinary, but the packaging makes it a watchable flick.