Story

Maya Menon (Vidya Balan) is a celebrated journalist who makes headlines for her honesty. She is such a person who does not hesitate to question even the biggest officer. The story of the film revolves around Maya and her househelp Rukhsana (Shefali Shah). Life seems to be going pretty flat when one night Rukhsana’s 18-year-old daughter Aaliya becomes the victim of a hit-and-run incident. She reaches to the point of death. But Maya makes every effort to give life to Rukhsana’s daughter. With this incident, Maya and Rukhsana’s lives get entangled with each other in a strange way. As the veil of the culprit of the incident begins to be removed, one character after the other, the mask is removed from many faces, many lives are changed.

acting

The cast of the film is its strong side. Vidya Balan has settled in the character of Maya Menon in such a way that for a second you can’t take your eyes off her. Best in her character, Vidya Balan has once again won hearts with her performance. While she looks confident as a reputed journalist, there is a clear change in her expressions in front of her mother, son, husband as soon as she reaches home. It has been wonderful to see Vidya and Shefali Shah together on screen. Shefali looks completely honest in her character. The director has also given full scope to his character. Rohini Hattangadi, Vidhatri Bandi, Iqbal Khan, Manav Kaul, Surya Kasibhatla and Shafin Patel are impressive in supporting roles.

directing

After Tumhari Sulu, Suresh Triveni is back with Vidya Balan. But this time the style is different. The director has tried to present a crime drama in an emotional way and he succeeds too. Especially he has shaped his characters so well that you will feel yourself connected with every character. From Maya, Rukhsana to driver, police officer, builder, everyone has a story behind it and that story generates a lot of interest. The film seems very close to reality. Every character is flawed in some way or the other. How all these characters are intertwined due to an incident, this director has shown in a tremendous way. There are many twists in the film, which will surprise you. However, going into the climax, the film slows down a lot. It seems that while taking you to the very height, the kahani pushes you straight down.

technical side

Saurabh Goswami’s cinematography is one of the strongest sides of the film. He has brought Mumbai to the camera like a character. Busy streets, narrow lanes traversing local stations, tall buildings and night-time silence.. The cinematography of the film takes the story to a different level. Shivakumar’s editing is terrific, especially as the second half of the film passes very fast. Apart from this, the background score given by Gaurav Chatterjee deserves praise.

see or not see

With a strong starcast and an intriguing subject, ‘Jalsa’ keeps you hooked for 2 hours 10 minutes. This crime drama woven with an emotional touch is a must watch. 3.5 stars for ‘Jalsa’ from Filmbeat.