A year back I was amused when I came to knew that the critically acclaimed director Nagesh Kukunoor has signed the ace of acting
Naseeruddin Shah for his forthcoming movie.A year later the movie came and went and despite flopping badly made its mark at international film
festivals and got rave reviews.I watched the movie a few days back and must say that it is a superb movie.
The movie stars in a jail and the camera shows the regular life of the prisoners.the focus is kept on Jaggu(Jackie Shroff)
and Nagia(Nagesh Kukunoor).Jaggu is very popular in the prison as he is the head cook and cooks really great food.Infact he gets special orders of
cooking even for parties which are held outside the jail.Jaggu was a lawyer by profession.He is sentenced for death for killing his wife(Sujata Mehta).Jaggu
is a thoughtful soul who writes poetry and always accepts the court’s verdict as he thinks that he should be punished for commiting the henious crime.His
old mother and sister often visit him and ask him to plead to the court but in vain.
Nagia on the other hand is anything but a thoughtful soul.He is also suffering a death sentence for killing his wife.Nagia plays the flute and vehemently
denies the murder and refers to it as an accident.No one believes him accept Jaggu.Jaggu and Nagia share a special bond.Jaggu recites his thoughtful poetry
to Nagia, which Nagia obviously does not understand.Jaggu is the only guy Nagia is friendly with.
After sometime a 3rd prisoner Ishaan(Naseeruddin Shah) enters the prison.He is also sentenced for murder. Ishaan had murdered the cashier of the
bank, which he looted.The cashier was heavily pregnant with a pair of twins who also died due to the bullet fired by him.Ishaan hails from Lucknow and
has the habit of escaping from every prison.
The jailor of the jail is Mohan(Gulshan Grover) who is a very understanding man and does not treat prisoners like animals.A young documentary
maker Chandrika(Juhi Chawla) enters the jail to make a documentary on the inmates of the prisoners.She chooses the 3 criminals who are charged with
murder and slowly she develops a bond with all 3 of them.She has a drunkard husband(Vallabh Vyas) who beats and abuses her.
The story of 3 Deewarein written by Kukunoor himself is absolutely brilliant.Although the story has strong influence from hollywood
classics like Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and Dead Man Walking yet the script is rivetting and the twists in the latter half makes it altogether
a very original movie.The screenplay is equally great although I think that the showing of Juhi’s husband as a typical bad husband and her filmi outburst
could have been avoided.Other than that the screenplay is flawless and has crispy dailogues which make the movie rivetting.This is without doubt Nagesh’s
best work as a writer.To think that he is a chemical engineer from IIT and worked in USA for a couple of years it is absolutely amazing how well a story
of 3 prisoners can be written by a person like him.Sanjib Datta has edited the movie very well and the cinematography by Ajayan Vincent is great.
Naseeruddin Shah proves once again that he is an actor par excellence.Seen after a long gap in a lead role Naseer is the lifeline of the
movie.His usage of Lucknowi language and mannerism is just about perfect(I can vouch for that as I am also a Lucknowite).His facial expressions, the great
smile and his eyes prove that there are few in the country who can match his talent and versatality.Kukunoor deserves an ace for giving Shah a great role
after a long gap.Jackie Shroff also gives a good performance.It has been since ages that Jackie had got a decent role and given a decent performance.
As Jaggu, Jackie yet again proves that he is one of the most charming actors of India.Juhi Chawla as usual looks beautiful and gives a very controlled
performance.In a role which was very different from her other movies Juhi does full justice to her role.Coming to Nagesh, I must say that it is Kukunoor’s
best performance upto date.Inspite of the presence of the big names Nagesh still manages to make a mark as the Hyderabadi prisoner.Gulshan Grover
surprisingly is also quite decent but Vallabh Vyas disappoints.I wish if Kukunoor had made the movie without adding the character of Vyas.
The movie belongs to Kukunoor, the director.After making movies like Hyderabad Blues, Rockford and Bollywood Calling Kukunoor
directs 3 Deewarein in such a way that it becomes his best work.The way he has shown prisoners and the harsh reality of the jail life is absolutely
convincing.The irony of a prisoner who kills a bad inmate as he does not want to move out of the prisoner on one hand and the showing of a prisoner actually
escaping the jail on the other hand at the same time is brilliant.
Overall, 3 Deewarein is one of the best Hindi movies in recent times.