Directed and co-written by Suresh Triveni, Jalsa, the 2.5 hours-long movie puts a myriad of affairs in the limelight. The two prolific actresses, Vidya Balan and Shefali Shah, are the night’s cynosures where virtue is being tested. The movie presents a farrago of questions while hiding the answers under a smokescreen for the audience to decipher them on their own. 

Jalsa Movie Review: A Tragic Plot Of Guilt, Internal Conflict, And Morality

Jalsa Movie Review: Story

A reputed television reporter, Maya Menon who has spent an elegant night celebrating a successful interview, is sleep-deprived and returning home all drunk. All of a sudden, a girl steps in front of Maya’s car and is left blood-soaked on the deserted road.

Maya is completely unaware that the juvenile is the daughter of her household, Ruksana. The rest of the movie portrays Maya veiling her guilt under the fame and confidence she amassed all through her professional life. Through the deadlock, Jalsa coerces the characters to introspect and challenge the conviction of truth and principles. 

Jalsa Movie Review: A Questionnaire of ambivalent

The celebrity TV journalist, Maya Menon, finds herself trapped in a situation one day, where a young girl is hit in the noir by a car and is lying on the deathbed. Her housekeeper, Ruksana, is the mother of the casualty. Who ran over her? What all is Maya hiding from everyone? Who is attempting to bribe the casualty’s or Ruksana’s family? These spiky questions make the audience hold the chair’s arms until the end.

Jalsa Movie Review: Female leads

Jalsa, an Amazon original, presents a contrast of two female protagonists in their forty’s. The entire movie is somehow plotted among women characters, protagonists, young girls, or journalists. Both Vidya and Shefali have marvelously played the role assigned to them. Their eminence is outshone when Ruksana turns furious while Maya stands aghast as she struggles with the present. The onscreen spotlight is shared for a couple of moments by Rohini Hattangadi, one of the prominent Bollywood actresses. 

Jalsa Movie Review: Direction

The curtains rise with a young couple heading for a drive on a two-wheeler while things turn upside down as dusk approaches. The entire cast works collaboratively to give a solid stand to the movie. The camera captures precisely each and every frame, eventually giving us goosebumps the way it covers the accident. We could clearly determine the intensity with which the car hits the girl, and stuff falls off the dashboard. 

Jalsa Movie Review: Music

The director has employed a chord crescendo to emphasize the tense mood throughout the narrative. The background music mingles so well with the scenes that it seems they are not two distinct aspects. 

Jalsa Movie Review: Class Division & friendship

Both the female leads belong to distinct social classes; however, their characters are narrowed by toughness and motherhood. Ruksana is no less than a second mother to Maya’s son Ayush, who is autistic. The friendship and close relations stem down to their sons also. Ruksana’s son Imad is the only friend of Ayush, which displays the intimacy within the families despite distinct social strata. 

Jalsa Movie Review: Money

Throughout the movie, money has been influential, from Maya deciding to shift Alia to a high-cost hospital and extravagantly spending money on her treatment. The cops are no away from the picture; rather than conducting a proper investigation, they are willing to close the matter under the table. They even advise Ruksana and her family to accept the money from the culprits and take back the case. Things do not end here; Ruksana even demands more money to stay mum. 

Jalsa Movie Review: Guilt

Guilt persists throughout the sequel and even inserts it to the crux of the story. Maya’s dearth of warmth starts breaking as she wobbles at the edge of an emotional breakdown. 

Jalsa Movie Review: Final words

Jalsa, a word that means celebration, marks a completely contradictory and darker world. Two prolific female actors are leading the entire movie attempt their best to endow the reel world with a real soul.

Share in the comments what moments gave you goosebumps during the movie.

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