This week we have the most anticipated comeback movie of Aishwarya Rai – Jazbaa releasing. Like every top heroine who made a comeback after a long hiatus, Aishwarya too chose a woman centric role and I must say the decision was wise. However the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

Jazbaa tells the story of prominent criminal lawyer Anuradha Verma (Aishwarya) whose daughter – Sanaya (Sara Arjun) gets abducted in broad daylight.  Anuradha who is a single mother, is informed by the abductor to defend and save a convicted felon – Nayaaz (Chandan Roy Sanyal), charged with rape and murder of a woman – Sia (Priya Banerjee), daughter of college professor Garima Chaudhary (Shabana Azmi), in return of her daughter. Left with no choice, she starts collecting evidence to free Nayaaz.

On the other hand, Yohan (Irrfan Khan) seeks his friend Anuradha’s help to fight his case as he is suspended from his services by Anti Corruption Bureau on corruption charges. However, as Anuradha does not respond back to him, he suspects that not everything is fine with her. Despite Anuradha’s warnings and requests, Yohan gets involved in her daughter’s kidnapping case.  Does Anuradha manage to save Nayaaz and get her daughter back? How is Nayaaz and the kidnappers connected etc. is answered during the course of the movie.

Aishwarya is in top form and delivers quite effectively (if you pardon few sequences where she goes over the top). Irrfan is quite effective as a street-smart cop and his one-liners are quite entertaining (however, after sometime it gets repetitive). Chandan Roy Sanyal stands tall with his performance as Nayaaz and so are the other supporting actors including Shabana Azmi, Siddhant Kapoor, Atul Kulkarni and Jackie Shroff. 

The movie is a rip-off of Korean film 7 Days however, if you compare the Indian version with the original then you can see some gaping holes in the screenplay. To make it appealing to Indian audiences, Sanjay Gupta along with Robin Bhatt has burdened the screenplay with too many dramatic situations and dialogues. If you eliminate the same this edgy thriller is quite a fun to watch.

Music by Amjad-Nadeem, Arko Pravo Mukherjee and Sachin-Jigar is wonderful. Background music by Amar Mohile is quite pacy and gripping. Cinematography by Sameer Arya is decent however,  editing by Bunty Negi could have been better to make the movie sleeker and crispier.

On the whole, I would say it is a decent one time watch movie.

My Verdict: ***