Source: https://www.newslaundry.com/2022/03/08/jhund-triumphs-but-with-a-flawed-depiction-of-ambedkarite-movement
I wrote a long review of Jhund and then decided against posting it. I realise that I have no lived experience as a Dalit for me to go commenting on this film.
But I can tell you what I felt. To be honest, it did not move me. At all. As I mentioned, the issue could be elsewhere (and inside me and my own baggage, history, and the lens through which I gaze at life because of my own privilege that may be preventing me from seeing it) rather than bad art by a director on his off day.
That said, this looks very much like Nagraj Manjule’s vanity project because he probably dreamt of working with AB (playing a character named ‘Vijay’) at some point, like hundreds of directors before him have. To me, Sairat was head and shoulders above this. I laughed, cried buckets, got angry, and even joined in a group dance in the theatre during the viewing of Sairat without realising it. Manjule seduced and hypnotised me into suspending disbelief so naturally, I did not notice when the boundaries between his art and my reality melted. Jhund did nothing of the sort to me.
But great artists and auteurs are hailing Manjule and Jhund. Dalit writers and influencers, film scholars and students of the art, hard-to-please critics and superstars have all unanimously voted this to be one of the best films they have seen in recent times. So, as I said, I may be wrong. Perhaps for the simplest of reasons that I understand neither art nor identity. And that is why my entire review, which went into details of why I did not like this or that, or what I thought of the story, or my views on its underlying theme, etc. has been written, modified, thought over, changed, deleted, rewritten, and finally consigned to the bin. I simply do not understand enough to opine on this beyond my instant and immediate feelings.
In all my research though, I found one writer, called Mayura Saavi whose review in Newslaundry was the most compelling and scholarly take I have read. So, instead of listening to an urban, educated, Savarna who has no clue about art or filmmaking whine about why the film did not ‘do anything’ to him, I present to you the most nuanced and studied take on the same. Take a bow, Mayura Saavi. You’ve got a fan.
P.S: As an aside, why are Thosar and Rajguru billed on the credits so prominently? I mean, the story is neither about them nor do they have the most screentime?
By a complete coincidence, last night Vikas and I went to see the movie wearing blue. Jai Bhim!
