Jogi, streaming on Netflix from 16th September is a generic rescue thriller constructed with pieces that are anything but original. The film makes light of the pain and suffering of the victims of the 1984 riots and uses them as raw material for a shallow, bland action melodrama intertwined with an ill-fated love story that is sprung on the audience late in the film for the purpose of delivering a surprise twist.
On the morning of October 31, 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is fatally shot by two of her bodyguards. As the news spreads, her supporters go on a calamitous rampage across Delhi. That is where fact ends and the film enters the domain of pure fiction. Three buddies who grew up together close ranks when Sikhs are singled out for vicious attacks.
Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub, Hiten Tejwani & Paresh Pahuja extend the required support to the lead character with Zeeshan being the best of the lot. Zeeshan’s Rawinder is written to be Jogi’s aide throughout and the character build-up is nice to create an emotional connection between them. That’s the major thing lacking between Jogi and Hiten’s Lali, and Paresh’s Kaleem, none of those characters is sketched to let the angle of ‘friends of different faiths unite to save people from this tragic incident’ flourish throughout the film. Neelu Kohli as Jogi’s mother leads a couple of impactful scenes managing to transfer the pain through her impeccable act.
To wrap up, although many films have been made on the 1984 riots before but Jogi narrates a heart-paining incident highlighting the personal journey of an individual getting impacted by the manufactured chaos, that disrupted the multicultural fabric of the society with brilliant screenplays and stupendous acting.
