Jubilee Review (Mid-Season): Vikramaditya Motwane’s Ode To The Golden Age Of Cinema Is A Nuanced Walk Through Love, Power, Deceit & Partition

On Apr 7, 2023

BUY-SELL | HELP WANTED | MATRIMONIAL

Jubilee Review(Photo Credit –Poster From Jubilee)

Jubilee Review (Mid-Season): Star Rating:

Cast: Aparshakti Khurana, Prasenjit Chatterjee, Aditi Rao Hydari, Wamiqa Gabbi, Sidhant, Ram Kapoor, Nandish Singh Sandhu, Shweta Basu Prasad, and ensemble.

Creator: Vikramaditya Motwane & Soumik Sen.

Director: Vikramaditya Motwane.

Streaming On: Amazon Prime Video.

Language: Hindi (with subtitles).

Runtime: 5 Episodes, Around 60 Minutes Each

Jubilee Review(Photo Credit –Still From Jubilee)

Jubilee Review (Mid-Season): What’s It About:

The year is 1947, the golden age of Indian cinema, as they call it, is unfolding and settling down at the onset of partition. Roy Talkies is busy finding its new superstar, Madan Kumar. A silent but cunning manager of the talkies, Binod Das, kills all odds to reach the top, but does the ghost of his doing ever let him have a peaceful sleep?

Jubilee Review (Mid-Season): What Works:

Films and shows about movies and the world of cinema are one of the most immersive genres. And when the filmmaker sets his camera behind a fictionalised camera is Vikramaditya Motwane (Lootera, Udaan), you definitely expect retrospection without a diluted narrative. Jubilee, which comes from the minds of Motwane and Soumik Sen, is exactly what one can expect, a slow-burning critique of a time that was and a story of love and deceit that has found its relevance in time and cinema forever.

Written by Vikram, Soumik, and Atul Sabharwal, Jubilee, while being a Magnum Opus about the Hindi film industry, is the exploration of a myth called, the superstar. His birth, the politics, and the dirty game that unfolds, everytime one rises. Motwane with his team find their voice in a time that was politically the most sensitive, geographically the most risky, and personally a gold mine for stories to seep in organically. The year is 1947, right on the verge of partition being announced. While the country suffers the unrest of being divided, the owner of Roy Talkies is grinding to stop his wife from eloping with an actor, who is going to debut in his production as the new face of Hindi cinema, Madan Kumar.

The writing takes this cue and begins developing the myth and poison of Madan Kumar. Every life this myth touches, it causes a storm and stirs up their existence. But this story, in the first place, was never about the owners; instead, it was of that assistant who was always treated as a slave, but he dreamt of becoming the very myth he was supposed to be slave of. It is a story of have-nots suffering both partition and the wrath of the cinema business. Exploring this bit, the creators take their own time in setting up each and every character. There’s a courtesan dreaming big, and that requires money, so she takes all the possible questionable routes, but is also confident and unapologetic about it. A young man who aspires to be a filmmaker but is now a refugee in his own country.

Through these characters, the creators weave a story that is equally dramatic and political. A person walking with rage of deceit, a woman silently searching for her missing lover, a man who is the superstar standing on the dead body whose place it actually was. Then there is the politics of the system that they all are a part of. Add to it the fact that both the newly formed countries are now trying to penetrate the film business to make propaganda movies. Motwane explores the politics of the time and maybe now too, so subtlety that at no point he let that part become the main plot. He understands that the story at the heart is what is supposed to be in the centre and the rest is just layering.

One has to also acknowledge the attention to detail this world consists of. In a setup that is this grand and so beautiful, the audience instantly begins to find the bloopers. But Jubilee is close to perfect. Motwane being Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s student, one can see the effects of his institution in the show. Not just with the sets and frames but even the dialogues and sequences that are more about the moment than the wide frame. Or the songs that are supremely era-appropriate. Amit Trivedi in is a blessing to the industry, and he curates an album so precious here that it will take you back in time. Kausar Munir, with her words, only knows to charm, and crooned by Sunidhi Chauhan, they only get better. A mujra titled Woh Tere Mere Ishq Ka, performed by Wamiqa and sung by Chauhan, has to be the highlight.

Jubilee Review(Photo Credit –Still From Jubilee)

Jubilee Review (Mid-Season): Star Performance:

This has to be one of the most versatile casting coups in the recent times. Aparshakti Khurana finally finds his ‘The’ part as Binod Das, and he knows how to make it work. Having shined in the background, the man knows how to bring those characters to the centre, and this graph is precisely that. A scene in the first episode has him enacting an audition scene while he is burning the rest of the tapes. He is killing his competition, while proving to himself that he is the best, a scene so delicate and fierce that you can scale the range he carries.

Aditi Rao Hydari can cakewalk these parts now with that gaze that can hypnotise the most stubborn. The actor is a silent rebel in the first five episodes, but I hope her character blooms even more in the next five. Wamiqa Gabbi as Nilaufer is the wilderness of this show. Her graph makes her travel from a Kotha, to a brothel, to a dance club, to finally, Roy Talkies. The actor is so effortless in showing the transition. Excited to see where she goes from here.

Prosenjit Chatterjee, the youngest of them all, walks this cast with an experience of 350 movies. The star knows what is expected from him and delivers exactly that and more. Sidhant has to be the best breakout from this show. For an actor who showed hints of a very good performer in his big screen debut, gets to bloom here, and he proves he’s got the mettle in him. Ram Kapoor as a financer and cuss word creators brings flamboyance to this world. He always says Madan Kumar with a cuss word in the suffix, reminding how massively the myth has affected the lives. Fun character building.

Jubilee Review (Mid-Season): What Doesn’t Work:

While the show is weaved by the absence of Jamshed Khan played by Nandish Singh Sandhu, the first five episodes hardly explore him as a person. We don’t know or have spent much time with him to empathize or sympathize with him. Maybe the second half of the show has more to offer. Sandhu does a pretty confident job, though.

The pace of the show definitely makes it a slow burning narrative. But if the same pace is followed, there is so much to cover in five hours to come. Will it be able to, is a question.

Jubilee Review (Mid-Season): Last Words:

Jubilee is a visually stunning and promising piece of art that is not just original but immersive. It has something for everyone. Dive in right now.

For more recommendations, read our Rocket Boys Season 2 Review here.