A still from ‘Jogira Sara Ra Ra’
One more addition to the sprawling list of romantic comedies set in small-town North India, Jogira Sara Ra Ra suffers from generation loss. The Kushan Nandy film has its fun moments but its drama relentlessly gives the feeling of having been there, seen that.
Jogi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) is a caterer and matchmaker who tries to save Dimple (Neha Sharma) from an impending marriage with a self-seeking Lallu (Mahakshay Chakraborty) by orchestrating her kidnapping. As expected, things go wrong and screenwriter Ghalib Asad Bhopali feels he has penned a laugh riot. Jogi thinks he is clever until he finds his match in the quirky Dimple but the chemistry between Siddiqui and Sharma doesn’t last much beyond the first letters of their names as the makers hardly explore the concept of opposites attract. He is looking for meat even in froth; she is taking it as yet another bubblegum film. As a result, we get the taste for a while but after that, we keep on chewing without much flavour.
Jogira Sara Ra Ra (Hindi)
Director: Kushan Nandy
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Neha Sharma, Sanjay Mishra, Mahakshay Chakraborty, Farrukh Zafar, Zarina Wahab
Run-time: 121 minutes
Storyline: Jogi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) orchestrates the escape of Dimple (Neha Sharma) only to be caught in a fix
One doesn’t need to jog one’s memory to delineate the potpourri of ideas and characters lifted and retrofitted into the storyline. In trying to be irreverent, the narrative becomes frivolous with hardly any fresh voice and perspective on the anxieties of youth in the mofussil India. Even at the superficial level, the tension doesn’t hold as obstacles get resolved without even touching our nerves. Like the snapshots of Uttar Pradesh which seem to have been inserted to avail some subsidy, the characters and situations have been painted with broad strokes.
Jogira… is Siddiqui’s attempt to be a hero in a light-hearted, mainstream space. Always an improviser, he tries hard to instill life into the sagging portions through his comic timing but the effort shows. The scene where Jogi reflects on his situation in an inebriated state is a hoot. There are clever references to his demanding family members in real life and there is a line that refers to one of his famous characters, indicating the actor’s graduation to a star.
As a small-town girl who is irreverent to the demands of her conservative family and indulges in smoking and drinking for fun, Neha Sharma as Dimple repeats the prototype set by Kangana Ranaut, Taapsee Pannu, and Kriti Sanon without adding any new layer to the character. She relies on her camera-friendly face to do the magic but soon becomes a one-trick pony.
The narrative is dotted with around half a dozen funny situations that come alive through a strong supporting cast led by the mercurial Sanjay Mishra. As Chacha Chaudhary, the head of the kidnapping gang, who is hit by demonetisation, Sanjay’s performance evokes laughter even when he is repeating himself. The scene between Chacha and Inspector Yadav (Vishwanath Chatterjee) where the latter explains the intricacies of the kidnapping case on a carrom board and Chacha interrupts to bring in social prejudices through the colour of carrom stands out. So does Farrukh Zafar’s hilarious interjections as the outspoken grandmother. This is the last outing of the excellent actress who passed away in 2021.
The jokes, however, could not pad up the weak skeleton of the film beyond a point. The screenplay feels more like a series of skits strung together. Like a protagonist tells another in the movie that his screw is loose, the film also leaves one with the same feeling. There is a spark somewhere but a lot needs to be tightened to ignite the senses.
Jogira Sara Ra Ra is currently running in theatres