Cast: Suriya, Lijomol Jose, Manikandan, Prakash Raj, Rajisha Vijayan
Music: Sean Roldan
Direction: T J Gnanavel
‘Jai Bhim’ is a slogan used by followers of Dr. B R Ambedkar, who has written the Indian constitution and have fought fiercely for the rights of oppressed people. But the representation of those oppressed people or Ambedkar in Tamil cinema was non-existent until ten years ago. The popular opinion was that a photo of Ambedkar on the frame could tank the film in box-office. All these have changed after the success shown by Pa. Ranjith with his films portraying the stories of the oppressed. Now we have a film with a title ‘Jai Bhim’ which has a star like Suriya backing it as a producer and featuring as a character.
Suriya plays as advocate Chandru, who files a habeas corpus on behalf a tribal woman, Sengeni (Lijomol Jose) whose husband was unlawfully arrested and reported missing. The film is based on the true incident that happened in 1993. The film opens with a scene where a bunch of people getting released from a prison and a few of them are again arrested on false charges. Those people are from lower caste community, to be precise tribes. The scene works as a prelude to the film. The film captures the struggles of the tribe community- The discrimination they face, their struggles to procure a government certificate and to get education.
Rajakannu (Manikandan) is from Irular community, who were tribes and skilled hunters. Now they are called for capturing rats, and snakes. Soon Rajakannu is arrested by police for a theft he hasn’t committed. The police use brutal force to make him and two other accused to admit the crime. The lockup scenes are raw, brutal and gut-wrenching. Manikandan and Lijomol Jose give an earnest performance, capturing a share of our hearts. Suriya too gives a great performance.
The film is well-written with flash cuts at right instances and dialogues add strength to the courtroom drama. I quite enjoyed how Prakash Raj’s character was written, as a cop who hates lawyer. Chandru is a lawyer who hates cops. Their arcs were refreshing. Sean Roldan’s songs serve as a breather amidst the intense story-telling and his background score accentuates the drama. The film is slightly predictable, except that this is one of the important films in recent times.
Verdict: Jai Bhim is bold, intense & gut-wrenching film
Cinephile's Amigo 