Review: This jail gets an unfavourable verdict

Film: Jail (U/A)
Director: Madhur Bhandarkar
Cast: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Mugdha Godse
Rating: **

As is often the problem with Madhur Bhandarkar's 'spotlight on society' films which merely take headlines and weave them together, Jail is yet another simplistic and superficial look at the world of an inmate. In this case, Parag (Mukesh) is wrongly accused in a drug possession case and incarcerated with hardened criminals convicted for murder, manslaughter, fraud, etc. On the outside, Parag's girlfriend Mansi (Godse) enlists the services of a constantly grinning lawyer, who is more interested in his club evenings than gathering any substantial evidence.

This is no John Grisham story with a racy court case nor is there the drama of a great escape or the camaraderie and suspense of Midnight Express or Shawshank Redemption. Bhandarkar's film sticks the characters inside a jail and paints a fairly sanitised picture. The characters are often stereotypes, and the plot does not get dark enough. Some of the inmates, like the shayari-spouting convict and the fake-tattoo-sporting, English-speaking Vin Diesel lookalike are downright irritating (and bad actors too).

Parag has a fairly easy time in jail. Neil Nitin Mukesh, however, doesn't seem to find it so easy to infuse the required depth of the anguish of a wrongly accused. His performance is catatonic – he is fine when pensive and pained, but the maniacal moments are just odd. He is also burdened with a weak character dwelling in self-pity, whose daily travails are never fully explored. After all, here is an educated, middle-level executive with a girlfriend, car, and flat who is thrust into a filthy world peopled by thugs.

Mugdha Godse finds one single expression as a reaction to every statement thrown at her, making her performance clumsy. Manoj Bajpai lifts the acting grade up as the sympathetic prison-mate, Nawab.

Jail is a point of view and, knowing the director's style, seems to be based on reality. The scenario will involve you. Some scenes are genuinely gripping but only a few. The repetitive screenplay, shallow script (Anuradha Tiwari and Manoj Tyagi) and inexperience and inability of the lead pair to earn the sympathy of the audience add to its troubles.

Thankfully, there is only a passing homosexual reference. Recommended for fans only. The rest might feel they have just served a sentence.