Ram Gopal Varma is one director who looms large over his works. May be its the low-key star cast He chooses for his film or just the small-house feel He lends them, Its ultimately Ram Gopal Varma You praise or Bash at the end of his films.
And I finally caught another of his low-key affairs this weekend. Jungle was indeed a sleeper hit(Well, atleast an above average one) at Box-office. It gave a new birth to Fardeen Khan’s doomed career, and even more importantly made Rajpal Yadav a known name.
Jungle is a peculiar blend of Mush and Darkness. A Love story which starts on a bright note and ends somewhere as dark as a Jungle ruled by A Veerappan kinda character. But somewhere, Varma fails to do justice to the love story part. May be its Fardeen’s inability to breathe life into a part written casually or Varma’s dark side himself, but somehow the Romance is not that infectious. Urmila Matondkar too is just about average.
Where Jungle actually scores is while establishing the character of Durga(Sushant Singh) and his henchmen and the maniacally terrorising ambience. Its at complete contrast to the Picnic Anu’s(Urmila) family comes to the Jungle for, where weird men fight on which part of a Woman’s body to chop but still burst into tears after seeing what the Law has done to one of their men.
Its something really impressive. Rajpal Yadav is marvellous and somehow ends up overpowering Sushant Singh and his restrain. And surprisingly enough, Suneil Shetty does a commedable job. Makrand Deshpande is good too.
The camera-work is top notch. And the editing is first-class too. But post-interval when Fardeen and Urmila get lost in the Jungle, Somehow The film didnt manage to grab my attention. I was quite hooked up till Durga releases everyone except. Anu!
Thats where I felt the movie began dragging despite some endearing coversation between the lovers and the wonderfully sung’Do Pyaar Karne Waale Jungle mein’.And though the film picks up towards the end, I had lost most of my interest somehow. Sad!
Never-the-less, Jungle is a good one time watch for sure, what with some truly hummable music by Sandeep Chowta(unusual for a RGV Film now-a-days) and a decent drama quotient. Its also one of the fewer times Ram Gopal Varma actually cared to think about the audience while writing his script. I can’t recollect when was the last he did that(Sarkar Raj being an exception).
Rating - 2.75/5
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