Movie Review Of "Jail"

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Movie Review Of "Jail"

A great job, a lovely house, a lovelier girlfriend Maansi, a night out with friends at some suburban watering hole after a hard day’s job, life just couldn’t get better for him.

Speed... that’s what Parag’s life was all about and a certain impatience that came with it, to get on with the next step of life when a sudden twist thrown up by Fate destroys Parag’s utopia...

A rude shock from which he recovers only to find himself in a lockup; handcuffs slapped on his wrists, answering cops, infrequently getting slapped or rammed in the stomach, all he can remember is his mother’s worried face and his girlfriend’s trying to be brave but failing, everything else was a blur, confused visuals, sounds emotions, events...

Parag Dixit was now in Jail.

A place far removed from reality, a system that functions on its own rules, not so easy to comply, for some it is a life worse than hell, everything here is taken for granted, including one’s crime ... Parag was now surrounded by the dregs of society.

Parag is now a numbed soul, zombied, blank, unmoved — the new entrant to Barrack number 2 and its mini world within — a clear misfit and sitting target for anyone who had anything against clean cut, good looking, upper middle-class boys, it’s a nightmare that’s only just begun, compounded by dirty, crowded spaces, inedible food, hostile cellmates, angry policemen and weird rules of the place.

No one believed Parag would survive this, for even a day, except for Nawaab... the Resident Supervising Convict (Warder) who believed in two things — one that Parag was innocent and another that his inner integrity would see him through.

From the comfort of his numbness, Parag slowly steps out to actually see and understand the world around him — the world of arrests, court cases, pending cases, years of waiting, broken hearts, shattered souls — some sad people in search of hope and those who had found their happiness within the four walls too... slowly Parag lets himself feel the helplessness and the anger, rebelling, questioning, hurting himself to gradually learn to accept his Fate and begin to find a steely resolve within.

Why should he accept the helplessness that the system forces upon you when there were those for whom Jail was just an inconvenience... their powers not diminished by a degree and whose hawk eyes were constantly scanning for souls that could be broken in? Souls like Parag, who were willing to accept any answer that seemed to quieten his questioning mind...

What begins now is a race to the finish between the powerful forces of the place that can offer Parag his freedom and Nawaab’s friendship that can only offer Faith and Hope.

In the end what would you choose? Freedom or Hope?

Exploring life’s tough choices through Parag Dixit’s journey, Jail is a complex fabric of human emotions that is eventually a metaphor for life itself...