A still from ‘Jogira Sara Ra Ra’
Another addition to the vast list of romantic comedies set in small town North India, Jogira Sara Ra Ra Suffers from generation loss. The Kushan Nandi film has its funny moments but its drama constantly gives the feeling of being there, seen.
Saintnawazuddin siddiqui) is a caterer and matchmaker who tries to save Dimple (Neha Sharma) by planning to kidnap her from an impending marriage with a selfish Lallu (Mahakshay Chakraborty). As expected, things go wrong and screenwriter Ghalib Asad Bhopali finds he has written a laugh riot. Jogi seems clever until he finds his match in the quirky dimple, but the chemistry between Siddiqui and Sharma lasts no more than the initials of their names as makers rarely make the concept of opposites attract . He finds flesh even in the scum; She is taking it like another bubblegum movie. As a result, we get the taste for a while but after that we keep on chewing without much taste.
Jogira Sara Ra Ra (Hindi)
director: Kushan Nandi
mold: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Neha Sharma, Sanjay Mishra, Mahakshay Chakraborty, Farrukh Zafar, Zarina Wahab
run-time: 121 minutes
Story: Jogi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) plans to make Dimple (Neha Sharma) go away so that she can be framed
One need not jog one’s memory to picture the potpourri of ideas and characters raised in the story. In an attempt to be irrelevant, the narrative gets trivialised, with hardly any fresh voices and perspective on the concerns of the youth in mofussil India. Stress does not last even on a superficial level because the obstacles are removed without touching our nerves. Characters and situations are painted with broad strokes, like the photographs from Uttar Pradesh, which seem to have been inserted to get some subsidy.
stay tuned. Siddiqui’s attempt to be a hero in a light-hearted, mainstream space. Always an improviser, he through his comic timing tries his best to fill life into the parts that languish but show effort. The scene in which Jogi reflects on his state of intoxication is a hoot. There are clever references to his demanding family members in real life and a line that refers to one of his famous characters, indicating the actor is a star graduate.
As a small-town girl who is nonchalant about the demands of her conservative family and smokes and drinks for fun, Neha Sharma as Dimple repeats the prototype set by Kangana Ranaut, Taapsee Pannu and Kriti Sanon character without adding any new layers. She relies on her camera-friendly face to work the magic but soon becomes a one-trick pony.
The narrative is filled with about half a dozen funny situations, which are brought to life through a strong supporting cast led by Sanjay Mishra. Sanjay’s performance as Chacha Chowdhary, the head of the kidnapping gang who is affected by demonetisation, generates laughs even though he is repeating himself. The scene between Chacha and Inspector Yadav (Vishwanath Chatterjee) where the latter explains the intricacies of the kidnapping case on the carrom board and Chacha intervenes to bring out social prejudices through the color of carrom. So do the hilarious objections of Farrukh Zafar as the outspoken grandmother. This is the last outing of this great actress who passed away in 2021.
However, the jokes couldn’t propel the film’s weak structure past a point. The screenplay feels more like a series of plays strung together. As one hero tells the other in the film that his screw is loose, the film also leaves the same feeling. Somewhere there is a spark but a lot needs to be tightened to wake up the senses.
Jogira Sara Ra Ra is currently running in theaters