Director: Vikramaditya Motwane, Soumik Sen
Cast: Aditi Rao Hydari, Aparshakti Khurana, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Ram Kapoor, Sidhant Gupta, Wamiqa Gabbi and others
Where: Amazon Prime Video
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
The combination of movies and Mumbai have always walked hand-in-hand when it comes to weaving magical narratives about ambition, aspiration, greed, loyalty and betrayal. Filmmaker and show-runner of Amazon Prime Video’s latest web feature ‘Jubilee’, Vikramaditya Motwane, who helmed the cult-classic ‘Lootera’ and has been the producer on friend and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Bombay Velvet’, probably knows a thing or two about building the world where his characters will dwell in. But, what makes the first five episodes of ‘Jubilee’, also co-helmed by Soumik Sen, (Gulaab Gang, Why Cheat India), an arresting watch, is the kind of layering added to every character on the show.
On April 7, the first five episodes will premiere on Amazon Prime Video, while the remaining episodes will drop on April 14. Considering the attention span that viewers hold today, this is a great move by the makers to release the series in two halves.
Srikant Roy (Prosenjit Chatterjee) is the aristocratic studio head of Roy Talkies, who wants to bring Jamshed Khan (Nandish Singh Sandhu) to Mumbai and introduce him as Madan Kumar, in an attempt to salvage the fortunes of his sinking studio and thwart the budding affair between Khan and Roy’s wife and reigning superstar Sumitra Kumari (Aditi Rao Hydari). He sends his close aide and loyalist Binod Das (Aparshakti Khurana) to meet Khan in Lucknow, while being unaware of Das’ ulterior motives of wanting to become an actor himself. On his way, Das meets and befriends Jay Khanna (Sidhant Gupta), who is also pursuing Khan to revive the prospects of his theatre group in Karachi.
Set a little before the Independence in 1947, the show portrays how the world of movies can be consuming and devastating, leading to a point of no return, despite the seemingly dazzling life and lifestyle it promises. What works largely here is that Motwane and Sen aren’t interested in offering fantasy beneath reality, something that has been done in Farah Khan’s ‘Om Shanti Om’ or Zoya Akhtar’s ‘Luck By Chance’. So, there are no meta references, comic gags or starry hat-tips/cameos. Yet, you can tell how the show pays a smart reference to movie stars and their lives in the early 50s including the likes of Devika Rani, Himanshu Rai and Dilip Kumar.
Written by Atul Sabharwal, the production design by Aparna Sud and Mukund Gupta almost borrows a leaf from what was done in ‘Bombay Velvet’, given Sri Lanka, where the latter was shot at, is credited as one of the outdoor locations. Even a studio bears a striking resemblance to the set used as RC Studios in ‘Om Shanti Om’. Aarti Bajaj’s editing is indulgent, hence, you will have to let yourself be patient. But, when the initial characters and their motives are established, you’re hooked. Stunningly shot by Pratik Shah, his handheld visuals of Jamshed being mob-handled are smart yet disturbing. With original score by Alokananda Dasgupta and songs by Amit Trivedi, Motwane and Sen transport you to a glorious period that was, nearly seven decades ago.
Of the performances, Aparshakti Khurana as Binod Das and Sidhant Gupta as Jay Khanna, particularly stand out. Khurana, who has been routinely subjected to playing the comical best friend, finally gets a shot at displaying his acting abilities a lot further and it’s a revelation to see him unearth his ambition and vulnerability. Sidhant, on the other hand, is particularly a knock-out performer. It’s a tightrope that he walks between being understated yet over-the-top and he easily is one of my favourite characters from the series. Prosenjit Chatterjee lends a towering presence to Srikant Roy but much of him and Aditi Rao Hydari as Sumitra Kumari seems referential. Wamiqa Gabbi as Niloufer Qureshi has an endearing presence and Ram Kapoor as the loud-mouthed financier is, for the lack of a better word, loud.
If revisiting memory lane is your cup of tea, then ‘Jubilee’ is for you.
