I missed out on this movie when it first came out but the songs were a big hit at the time and I used to play them on repeat, especially Aali Re. Moving on to the plot, this movie enlightened me to the Jessica Lal murder case, something I was previously not very well aware of. The case itself seemed to be an open and shut one. Jessica Lal was shot and killed by a man who was refused a drink. The situation itself begs the question: Why? Is someone's life cheaper than the price of a drink? Unfortunately, even though there were about 300 witnesses in the location of the crime, the prime accused were acquitted due to gross miscarriage of justice, backtracking witnesses and evidence tampering. Later, due to awareness campaigns by media and human rights protection groups, the case was brought to a higher court and the perpetrators were punished.
The movie did a good job in portraying much of the facts, although it did border on over-dramatic representations. The primary cast fit their roles- Rani Mukherji as Meera, a tough journalist who dismisses the case at first but takes it up after she finds out about the acquittal, and Vidya Balan as Sabrina Lal, the victim's sister. Here, Rani took up a role that completely went against her image, she did full justice to her character. On the other hand, Vidya was understated and extremely believable as the sister who has to witness serious personal turmoil in the form of her sister's death. The supporting cast was good, especially Rajesh Sharma. Myra, the actor who played Jessica Lal was also given enough personality and screen time to make a connection with the audience, through the effective use of flashbacks.
I had two major annoyances with the movie. First, there were a lot of interviews of Indian citizens reacting to the miscarriage of justice and I found the acting in those clips especially overdramatic and caricaturish. I understand that these clips were essential as they showed the public outcry, but couldn't they have gone with better actors? My second annoyance lies with the fact that the timeline of the movie is all weird. I was expecting minor scenes having anachronistic moments, considering this movie was shot in 2010-2011 and the original story was in 1999-2000, but there was a major scene which was inspired from Rang De Basanti- a movie released in 2006- that should not have made an appearance in the 2000 timeline of this story. The timeline is slightly confusing.
Overall, this movie does succeed in putting the message across. Power and Money can help, but when a united front stands against Corruption and Perverse Morals, Justice and Truth have a way of shining through.
The movie did a good job in portraying much of the facts, although it did border on over-dramatic representations. The primary cast fit their roles- Rani Mukherji as Meera, a tough journalist who dismisses the case at first but takes it up after she finds out about the acquittal, and Vidya Balan as Sabrina Lal, the victim's sister. Here, Rani took up a role that completely went against her image, she did full justice to her character. On the other hand, Vidya was understated and extremely believable as the sister who has to witness serious personal turmoil in the form of her sister's death. The supporting cast was good, especially Rajesh Sharma. Myra, the actor who played Jessica Lal was also given enough personality and screen time to make a connection with the audience, through the effective use of flashbacks.
I had two major annoyances with the movie. First, there were a lot of interviews of Indian citizens reacting to the miscarriage of justice and I found the acting in those clips especially overdramatic and caricaturish. I understand that these clips were essential as they showed the public outcry, but couldn't they have gone with better actors? My second annoyance lies with the fact that the timeline of the movie is all weird. I was expecting minor scenes having anachronistic moments, considering this movie was shot in 2010-2011 and the original story was in 1999-2000, but there was a major scene which was inspired from Rang De Basanti- a movie released in 2006- that should not have made an appearance in the 2000 timeline of this story. The timeline is slightly confusing.
Overall, this movie does succeed in putting the message across. Power and Money can help, but when a united front stands against Corruption and Perverse Morals, Justice and Truth have a way of shining through.