Jugnuma – The Fable Review: Manoj Steals the Thunder in Raam Rajya

Starring: Manoj Bajpayee, Deepak Dobriyal, Priyanka Bose, Hiral Sidhu, Tillotama Shome, Awan Pookot, Ram Kishore Agarwal

Direction: Raam Reddy

Violence can erupt most unexpectedly. An idyllic world can go awry. Like a forest fire - literary - one's life can go up in flames. A film-maker can say this by screaming about it. Film-makers normally do that. Alternatively, as Raam Reddy decides, it can be poignantly disclosed. Enriched, engrossing, engaging, empathetic and supremely artistic, this is one of the best in recent times.

One must start on a couple of personal notes. I got to watch ' Jugnuma - The Fable' by sheer accident. Serendipity comes closer. Also, the presence of Manoj Bajpayee was no carrot. One is not a member of the discerning MB fan club. Yet, through the run of the film, I was engrossed, attentive, with a vague emotive connect with a completely alien scenario or set of people.

That is a salute to Raam Reddy, whose canvas is mindboggling even if abstract.

The semantics of cinema is often cliched or formalistic. It suffers no less at the hands of the avant garde as it does with the opulent. It is therefore nearly rarely and preciously adorable when the status quo-defying film-maker offers you a poetic palate. Why did the film silently smuggle itself into the multiplexes? Ask a question properly, and it answers itself in the commercial mathematics of cinema.

Over to Theen Pahad, a picturesque 5,000-acre orchid run by Dev (Manoj Bajpayee) and assisted by his estate manager Mohan (Deepak Dobriyal). Dev has a nice little, happy family: Wife Nandini (Priyanka Bose), adolescent daughter Vanya (Hiralal Siddu), and son Juju (Awan Pookot). This hunky-dory world of apples, cherries, peaches is a dream come true. It is but the transience of peace that moves the scenic to the tragic, the assured to the challenged. It starts with one discovered burnt tree. The scale increases threateningly. Before long, the staff is worried, the Dev family traumatised and the fires spread far and near.

The quick sands of destruction blow things apart. Relationships come up for scrutiny. Yet again, the futility of the police, their apathy is visible. The film is treated with amazing artistry. Even as the film hikes the fire hills, there is trauma - silent, eerie and suspicious and not judgmental.

There are a few stereotypes for narrative convenience. Toot Singh (Ram Kishore Agarwal) is a possible suspect. The film is narrated by the estate manager. Col. Bopanna (Viking) also comes to investigate.

Our film-makers give more answers than they revise human issues.

Refreshingly different. The camera (shot in 16 mm) takes you on an excruciating journey - an understated human saga. Simple, yet poignant.

There is a camera shot when Sunil Borkar captures the departure of the estate manager; it is a script in itself. Sometimes needlessly dark, perhaps to build a mood, it is a strong statement-making work.

The film centres around just two characters. Dobriyal carries responsibility, accountability, anxiety and more with consistency. Some actors work within a script. Some overcome it. Some overreach it. Manoj Bajpayee just lives it. Not since or before 'Aligarh' did the actor justify his reputation more. This part-fable, part-real, from the hills is a must-see - only for the audience that is willing to think its cinema.