Film: Jimmy
Producer: Nawman Malik , Salman Malik
Director: Raj N. Sippy
Star Cast: Mimoh Chakraborty, Zulfi Syed, Ashish Vidyarthi, Ehsan Khan, Rati Agnihotri
Rating: 1/5
Mumbai: There wasn’t much anticipation about the debut of Mimoh Chakraborty, son of the still-much-loved Mithun Chakraborty. And whatever existed has been systematically killed by the release of the film.
Jimmy, if for nothing else, is a vivid throwback to the 80’s style of filmmaking with its tragedies, fights, gore and break dances. Wish one could call it a tribute but it is not a product well made enough to suit that title.
Jimmy is a big part Majboor, the Amitabh Bachchan starrer rehashed so badly one could cry. Jimmy is a nice middle-class boy working as an automobile engineer in the day and a DJ by the night who has to pay the debts of his deceased father. Crashing comes a rich damsel (Pooja Singh aka Vivaana) with whom he dutifully falls in love and who abidingly reciprocates.
While Papa Moneybags approves of the marriage, fate deals a blow to Jimmy in the form of no-prizes-for-guessing brain tumour (TB was 70’s and AIDS is now and well cancer is eternal hence no choice.) While battling with his fate Jimmy meets a man who offers to pay him a lump sum in order to take his blame for a murder.
A distraught Jimmy agrees, pays up his father’s loans and promptly goes to jail. However, fate intervenes again and Jimmy finds out a secret that changes the course of his life. Leaving the suspense undisguised for all those poor souls who may unwarily wander into the theatres.
Light-hearted fun, heart-breaking romance, tearful tragedy, nail-biting suspense and bloody thrills all come together in a formulaic masala, which we all were thankfully assuming we had left behind. But no. Jimmy brings back all the bad memories of Hindi cinema ever. From the jaded, dull frames to the technicolour lighting to dismal sets to even more dismal costumes, everything points to an era gone by…
The movie is not only the director’s and producer’s disaster but so it is the actors’. Mimoh is clearly not star material. With his chubby cheeks and dimpled chin, he looks like he is sulking for a chocolate when his ladylove’s father is trying to buy him off the relationship. Maybe that was why the constant crying of a baby in the background whenever things go wrong with Jimmy in the first half?
The leading lady suits her surroundings and acts well too but definitely could have done with a little less lipstick. Zulfi Sayed, after a hiatus still looks the same and acts as bad as he did when you last saw him. Gargi Patel as the mother tries hard to outdo Nirupa Roy for the Most Melodramatic Ma Award. Nevertheless, surprisingly Rahul Dev seems the most collected of the lot and catches whatever eyeballs he can in the short time he is around.
A non-starter, Jimmy is bound to spell doom at the BO and potentially Mimoh’s career too. Sadly, it does not look like audiences are going to moan too much.
