Story:
Anant a budding lawyer one day meets one of her childhood school’s peons and recalls her good old days. This makes her recall her favorite teacher Rabia ma’am. She tries to look for her, only to know she is trying to knock on the wrong door. In her search for her teacher, she unveils everything wrong that happened with Rabia; and then she makes it her mission to bring Rabia justice.
Review:
In a time when Bollywood is still trying to make money out of the same set patterns and cutouts, Punjabi filmmakers are trying to experiment with different genres and new scripts. Vijay Kumar Arora’s directed ‘Kali Jotta’ is undoubtedly an example of the same.
When the trailer of the movie came out, one of its dialogues became very famous - “Ek ok ek jindgi, mauj naal jivange, hasseya nu khavenge, khushiyan nu pivange.” The lead of the movie Rabia lives by this very ideology; she lives life like there is no tomorrow, and she laughs her heart out without thinking about what society will make out of it. And for this same reason, she is punished. She is tortured to the extent that she loses her identity, her soul, and her zeal to live.
Neeru Bajwa as Rabia has done an exemplary job. The actress is often called the ‘Pollywood Queen’ and with this character, she has added another gem to her throne. In the first half, we see her as a very chirpy outgoing woman for whom the sky is the limit. We love when she falls in love, and we laugh with her laughter but that is not where the master stroke lies. The master stroke lies in the second half of the film, where Neeru Bajwa is seen as a broken soul. She spends more than a decade of her life in an asylum and becomes the exact opposite of who she was.
Right from the look of her character to the way she acts, especially in the climax her screams will make you cry a river for her. You will be able to feel the burn of her agony and the pain of her despair.
But Neeru is not the only one whose acting is worth mentioning. The other two lead stars of the film Satinder Sartaaj (Deedar) and Wamiqa Gabbi (Anant) need a proper mention for their work as well. Satinder Sartaaj’s simplicity and honesty have come out very beautifully in his role. He makes you fall in love with him, and he makes you even hate him a little, but in the end, you just can’t have enough of him. This also makes us wonder why Sartaaj has so far not done many movies. Because this film has proved that he has very much potential and the spark that Pollywood needs.
Now coming to Wamiqa Gabbi, her screen time as compared to the rest of the two stars is less but that has nowhere affected her performance. She is fierce and strong-headed. She would do anything to find her ‘Rabia ma’am’, and would not back down till justice is served. There were many minute things about Wamiqa’s character that helps you connect with her more. For instance, when she gets anxious, she starts stretching herself a little and moves her fingers in a fast motion. These little details make a big difference.
Though the writer of the film Harinder Kour, who has made her debut in Punjabi cinema with this film, picked a very sensitive topic of harassment, she has not tried to play majorly only the sentimental value. Rather, she along with the director of the movie Vijay Kumar Arora has shown realistic things that lead to an emotional turmoil that is hard to contain.
Since it was a sensitive topic, a number of things could have gone wrong in the writing. But Harinder maintained a proper balance with the arch she gave to each of her characters. Every character in the movie was well-defined, and her story was penned in a way that didn’t look stretchy anywhere.
The credit for this also goes to Vijay Kumar Arora, the captain of the ship. There are scenes that are so well executed that the impact gets amplified. For instance, when Neeru gets a panic attack, or when Wamiqa and Satinder try to help her with color therapy, or the beautiful end. There are so many to mention. There hasn’t been much ‘ched-chaad’ with the camera angles, yet the story hits where it hurts.
Last but not least, the music of the movie is another hero of the film. The magic of Sartaaj’s music embellishes the film and we don’t think there’s anything else we need to say about it.
In a nutshell, ‘Kali Jotta’ is a brave attempt by Pollywood in the field of content-rich cinema
