Film: Jimmy
Producer: Nawman Malik , Salman Malik
Director: Raj N. Sippy
Star Cast: Mimoh Chakraborty, Zulfi Syed, Ashish Vidyarthi, Ehsan Khan, Rati Agnihotri
Rating: 1/5
There wasn’t much antipication of the debut of Mimoh Chakraborty, son of the still-much-loved Mithun Chakraborty. And whatever existed has been systematically killed by the release of the film.
Jimmy if for nothing else, is a vivid throwback to the 80’s style of film-making with its tragedies, fights, gore and break dances. Wish one could call it a tribute but it isn’t a product well-made enough to suit that title.
Jimmy is a big part Majboor, the Amitabh Bachchan starrer (with a twist in the end) rehashed so badly one could cry. Jimmy is a nice middle-class boy working as an automobile engineer in the day and a DJ by the night who has to pay the debts of his deceased father. Crashing comes (literally) a rich damsel (check name….) wih whom he dutifully falls in love and who abidingly reciprocates. While Papa Moneybags approves of the marriage fate deals a blow to Jimmy in the form of no-prizes-for-guessing brain tumour (TB was 70’s and AIDS is now and well cancer is eternal hence no choice.) While battling with his fate Jimmy meets a man who offers to pay him a lump sum inorder to take his blame for a murder. A distraught Jimmy agrees, pays up his father’s loans and promptly goes to jail. But fate intervenes again and Jimmy finds out a secret that changes the course of his life. Leaving the suspense undiscussed for all those poor souls who may unwarily wander into the theatres.
Light-hearted fun, heart-breaking romance, tearful tragedy, nail-biting suspense and bloody thrills all come together in a formulaic masala which we all were assuming we had thankfully left behind. But no. Jimmy brings back all the bad memories of Hindi cinema ever. From the jaded, dull frames to the technicolor lighting to dismal sets to even more dismal costumes everything points to an era gone by…
A sketchy screenplay skims through major plot points with the same emphasis as minor ones and leaves the viewer visibly unshaken by the proceedings none the same. The suspense is maintained with the oldest tricks in the book which don’t necessarily make it predictable but on the contrary quite amusing, so often have we seen it.
The movie is not only the director’s and producer’s disaster but so it is the actors’. Mimoh is clearly not star material. With his chubby cheeks and dimpled chin he looks like he is sulking for a chocolate when his lady-love’s father is tryng to buy him off the relationship. Maybe that was why the constant crying of a baby in the background whenever things go wrong with Jimmy in the first half? Bollywood has never been known for its subtlety anyway.
The leading lady suits her surroundings and acts well too but definitely could have done with a little less lipstick. Zulfi Sayed, after a hiatus still looks the same and acts as bad as he did when you last saw him. Gargi Patel as the mother tries hard to outdo Nirupa Roy for the Most Melodramatic Ma Award with her pearls and silks replacing the latter veteran’s rags. But surprisingly it is Rahul Dev who seems the most collected of the lot and catches whatever eye-balls he can in the short time he is around.
It is clear that Mimoh Chakraborty has got nothing in heredity from his father. Not looks, not acting, not the voice or dialogue delivery nor even the dance coz the son dances better than the father, which actually makes no difference to anything. Baby-faced and matte-locked, Mimoh does not have the acting prowess or the screen presence to hold a audience for a few minutes leave alone carry a film entirely on his shoulders. And why didn’t anyone think of dubbing someone else’s voice on him? Did he have to be shown in all his cherubic innocence?
A non-starter, Jimmy is bound to spell doom at the BO and potentially Mimoh’s career too. Sadly, it doesn’t look like audiences are going to moan.
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