Jigarthanda Double X: Movie Review
Rating: 2.5/5
Starring: Raghava Lawrence, SJ Surya, Nimisha Sajayan, Naveen Chandra, Shine Tom Chacko etc.
Cinematography: Thiru
Music: Santhosh Narayanan
Producers: Karthikeyan Santhanam, S. Kadiresan, Alankar Pandian
Distribution in Telugu: Suresh Productions, an Asian company
Directed by: Karthik Subbaraju
Release Date: November 10, 2023
Jigarthanda DoubleX Movie Review: Karthik Subbaraj is a director who has created a unique mark for himself with movies like 'Pizza', 'Peta' and 'Jigarthanda'. If a movie is coming under his direction, there are good expectations. When the sequel of 'Jigarthanda' was announced with typical actors like Raghava Lawrence and SJ Suryah, there were good expectations about the film. This movie titled 'Jigarthanda DoubleX' was released on Friday. So how is this movie?
Jigarthanda Double X Movie Story:
Kripa (SJ Surya) who wants to become an SS, gets caught in the crime of murder because of his fear. Alias Caesar (Raghava Lawrence) has the entire Kurnool under his control with the help of politicians. Movie hero Jayakrishna (Shine Tom Chacko) is in politics.
Jayakrishna will take sides against another leader in his party for allowing a competing film to get more theaters than his own. He deploys his younger brother (Naveen Chandra), who is working as a DSP, to kill the four bullies who are with him. Hero's younger brother selects four people who have received the posting of SSI and are serving prison sentences for various reasons.
Each one sets a target to kill one bully. In it, Kripa gets alias Caesar. With this, Caesar Panchana joins Krupa with the name of director Ray Dasan. After a hero insults his color, Caesar looks for a good director to become a hero anyway. Both of them are fixated on making Caesar's biopic with him. What happened next? How did the story reach the forest-dwelling tribals? Will the film made by both of them be released in the end? You have to watch the movie to know all this!
Jigarthanda Movie Analysis:
The teaser, trailer, and songs of the movie give the feel of a gangster genre movie. The first half of the movie also goes like that. Especially, Raghava Lawrence's introduction fight was filmed very heavily. He gave a huge build-up to his character. The introduction of all the characters, bringing them all together makes it all very interesting.
In the scene where Raghava Lawrence and SJ Surya meet for the first time, SJ Surya's performance is impressive. The main highlight of this movie is the interval. Along with the picturization of that scene, the twist that comes there is also impressive. The movie is very good till the first half. Engaging and impressive.
The real problem starts in the second half. Even here Caesar goes to the forest and confronts the villain there so far. Wherever the story turns to the people in the forest and their problems, the graph suddenly drops. It is true that if an issue is told through a strong medium of cinema, it will reach more people. But the main aim of the movie is to impress the audience. It doesn't matter how strongly you state the issue while engaging the audience. But if it is shown like a documentary, it is difficult to connect.
A big minus is that Caesar's characterization, which is faced alone no matter how many people come, is upside down. An attempt is made to cover it with a face-off scene in the climax but the audience gets disconnected by then. The violence and bloodshed in the movie is also a bit high. If compared to the first part of 'Jigarthanda', there have been many changes in the spirit of the film. The first part revolves entirely around the concept of filmmaking. But in this, the problems of the Adivasis were shown.
The main plus point of the movie is Santhosh Narayanan's music. He gave a different mood to a native movie with Western music. The English tracks and the background score are superbly worked out. Thiru's cinematography is also super. The set work is like another pillar of this movie. The mood of 1975 was perfectly captured on screen. The production values are amazing.
Jigarthanda Double X Movie Actors Performance:
Raghava Lawrence's performances so far stand out. He acted especially in the emotional scenes. SJ Surya gave a good performance as always. But it is difficult if you expect his brand of comedy. Nimisha Sajayan who plays the role of Lawrence's wife is a surprise package in the movie. Very well acted. Shine Tom Chacko and Naveen Chandra acted well in negative roles.
Overall... the second half feels a bit down compared to the first half. If you like the movie 'Jagame Tantram' then you can watch it in the theatre.