Jill Jung Juk - review

Somehow the so called movie critics have an altogether different view point than average movie watchers like me. Maybe watching movies day in and day out make them more immune to watch out for finer aspects in any movie and make them miss out on simple sheer fun aspects of a masala movie. You can also factor in the charm of the lead or clout of the production house, which results in, almost always, a not less than 3 star rating, for any hindi movie with a who's-who cast. The critics pour their pent ire on any other B-grade movie which they would've never watched otherwise. Till now, Tamil movies are somewhat insulated to this concept is my naive belief for i often found the review to match the movie content. Jill jung Juk, came in the aftermath of chennai floods and with over pouring sympathy and support for Sid for his true efforts during the floods, the word of mouth support for the movie was tremendous. The teaser for the movie was unique in its deadpan way and was a rage. Wish the movie had managed to live a percentage upto the expectation magic created by the teaser.

It coud've been a cult movie - had it been a hit, had it been shamelessly more dumber, had the lead been unabashedly more foolish, had the second half that had bit more logic than first half been more stupider. The problem with the movie is, it starts on an absurd premise, promises to dwell more into absurdity towards the interval block only to step back into realms of logic. Blame it on the stardom of Sid, that claimed the movie or on the playing it safe fear that caught up with the director who couldn't more stretch what was at best a short film script. No wonder the sidekicks who team up with Sid garner all praise for their characters remain true from start to finish. They are the dumb and dumber to Sid and had his been made the dumbest, the movie would've been a riot. It could've gone on to prove that you dont need intelligence to win while at times the dumber attempts do reap rewards. It could've been the "Dude where is my car" or "Dumb and Dumber" of tamil cinema had the script stuck on to its original absurdity. Though cherished as a cult movie, i really wonder if either of those English movies made any money at BO. If the producer Sid showed bit more strength to swallow any further loss on the movie and suggested a more lunatic script, it might've actually worked.

Storywise its nothing special as i've mentioned numerous time, its the absurdity that runs the script. For some reason the movie is set 4 years into future. The wacky trio had to take a road trip to Hyderabad to deliver a pink, dope coated, ambassador car to chinese mafia on behalf of a local dada. The rival of the dada is brought into the mix unknowingly by the trio due to the backstabbing shenanigans of the black sheep in the local dada group. How the trio escape sure death by setting off each of the rival groups onto themselves form the story. Whatever is the outcome of the movie, its no ordinary script and no producer in his sane mind would've taken it up. Kudos to Sid for taking that bold step. More than bleaching his hair blue, had he put on bit more effort on acting front, this could've well been the movie of his career.

Gils verdict: The movie is neither too stupid and for its Tarantino-ish finish is not any brainy either. Wish they could've cut down on the length and released it as an one hour long one as the story could only stretch so far.