Just before the interval, Jai Gangaajal is tantalisingly poised. An innocent girl is raped and left hanging on a tree. The minor plays a pivotal role in the film’s plot, that of politicians and corporate men in cahoots with each other as they play land mafia to the poor farmers of a small town in Madhya Pradesh.
The first half is a solid setup. We’re introduced to a beguiling range of characters - wily politicians, their thug brothers and friends, corrupt cops, activists, and innocent farmers. These stereotypes are efficiently used by the film’s writers and director to establish the plot. It is by no means gritty cinema( note the background music when a goon at a road rally molests a local teenage girl, and the thundering score when Priyanka Chopra’s Abha Mathur comes to her rescue), but it is undeniably effective.
Making his acting debut with this film is its director, Prakash Jha. He plays a cop, Bhola Nath Singh, who has built a wealthy empire by servicing the local politician. Singh is a savvy character. He is not evil, but does not hesitate to put his interests above the rest. Mr Jha has a physically arresting persona, one that suits the duality of his character to the tee.
As his last few films have shown, taking a socially relevant theme within the parameters of a Bollywood movie has been Prakash Jha’s favored genre. He has gone about this template almost religiously over the last decade, with mixed critical and commercial acclaim.