Jagga Jasoos, five years later: Ranbir Kapoor film is a feel-good experience despite the naysayers

Ranbir Kapoor in a still from Jagga Jasoos.

In the first half of the movie, Katrina Kaif is narrating the ‘Adventures of Jagga Jasoos’ from a comic book to a few children, and by extension to us, the audience. By doing so, the makers have divided the film into different chapters from Jagga’s (played by Ranbir Kapoor) life, making it feel like a pleasant episodic series. The only thing you need not do while watching it is, to take the film too seriously. The episodes from Jagga’s life are to be enjoyed like a cartoon strip and take home a lesson or two, the most important one being: live life to the fullest and be assured you’ll find a solution to your problems, if not today, then tomorrow, like Jagga does.

Amid all the fun and frolic, the film does enter a territory where it gives some lessons, but in a very Panchtatara sort of way. Katrina sings, “Humko usse kya (why do we care?)” which highlights the indifference of some people towards catastrophes — be it train blasts, farmer suicides, or the lack of hospitals in villages — as long as they’re safe.

The audience had an issue with characters talking in verses and too many songs, leading to it being deemed as dull. To me, it is anything but.

The opening credits begin with a kid singing, “Picture mein aajoo bajoo vaalon ka dhyaan rakhna, picture mein Facebook, Whatsapp dono off rakhna..Na jaane humne kya khichdi pakaayi hai, adventure love story ya musical banayi hai…” It is so adorable on ears that you start watching the film with interest.

The story is told in songs and dances with special emphasis on the lyrics. Even when a song like “Sab khana khaake daru pee ke chale gaye” doesn’t add to the narrative, it does add to the fun. And, if you watch it closely, it also talks about life’s philosophy.

Also, there isn’t a moment when you feel detached from Jagga, such is the finesse of Ranbir’s performance. He brings most of the magic to the film with his expressions. He doesn’t get to speak a complete dialogue ever, yet his face and his eyes make us understand his emotions, just like we did in Barfi. Even the child artist who plays the younger Jagga deserves a special mention. Saswata Chatterjee as Tutifuti is so good that you wish you had a father, friend, or philosopher like him in life. Katrina fits well in her goofy journalist avatar and Saurabh Shukla continues to amaze.

Jagga Jasoos feels like a breather when most films today feel similar to one another in style and what they offer the audience. Early in the film, Tutifuti tells Jagga that the left brain is logical and the right brain is crazy and creative, so he should use his right brain to fight his stammer. I think, through the scene, Anurag Basu was also telling his audience to watch it with their right brain, and to give the left brain some rest.

If you also watched the film when it was released in the theaters five years and didn’t like it, I would suggest rewatching it. This time with your right brain probably. Sometimes our minds change, and preferences evolve with time. So, you never know!