Jigra (Hindi Movie) - "Unpaid" Movie Review

TL;DR - It is not a must watch, especially from a storyline perspective. There is indeed a novel factor of the sister trying to save her brother which I don't remember seeing before. That said, if you are an Alia Bhatt fan / admirer or are looking for an excuse to visit the theatre it is alright. You won't be disappointed.

Long Version -

For a movie about a prison break, the actual planning and execution of one isn't all that good. If you have watched the Prison Break web-series you'll scoff at what you see here. There isn't Rajnikant / Singham / Jawaan level craziness but you still need some amount of disbelief to digest the second half of the movie.

The movie is all Alia Bhatt and her perfect dialogue delivery. Her acting, expressions and screen presence are spot on. She'll even surprise you with her realistic action in this one. I don't think it is feminism at play here but it was quite interesting and refreshing to see the sister as the fighter and the brother as the one being saved. If you are a brother-sister duo then the movie may worker better for you than it did for me.

Vedang Raina as the brother is alright. Manoj Pahwa as an accomplice / partner in Alia's endeavour has a meaty role to play. The Indian origin warden of the prison also deserves a mention for his performance though there is a bit of cartoonish touch to his character.

Even before I walked into the theatre I sensed a similarity with Gumrah from the 90s which had Sanjay Dutt and Sri Devi. The similarity is indeed there but the role is reversed and the treatment is contemporary.

I cannot end the review without mentioning the direct and indirect references to Amitabh Bachchan throughout the movie. Whether it is Alia saying "Ab toh Bachchan hi banna hai", her watching Agneepath and executing a scene from that movie, a mention of Akhree Rasta, songs of Zanjeer and other Amitabh Bachchan movies playing and probably more that I missed, that certainly added some humour and trivia to the movie.