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Bobby Jasoos
Bobby Jasoos is a silly but funny and enjoyable movie about a bumbling yet ambitious, not-so-young girl Bobby, who aspires to make a name for herself as a detective ! She has a strained relationship with her father who cannot accept the fact that women can chase unconventional dreams and households can actually be run on Women's incomes! The backdrop is the Char Minar area of Hyderabad with its densely populated alleys, meandering through some interesting social and professional narratives.
The Ahmad household is chaotic yet has a method to it, with the co-wives (for want of a better term to describe Sautans! ) existing peacefully, empathetic and benevolent towards each other, yet subtly so, adding to the credibility of the setting! I loved the easy camaraderie between the two and their daughters, loving, teasing and being nasty to each other almost all at once in a well crafted depiction of sibling dynamics!
Trying to break stereotypes, Bobby the eldest daughter, yearns for a profession of her choice in a domain dominated by men! Aided by a series of big cases coming her way from a strange and mysterious client,with promising, rich dividends Vidya Balan in and as Bobby Jasoos is on the way to realising her ambitions. In the process, she once again carries the film on her shoulders, notwithstanding the drab, low on Glamour Quotient, Salwar Kameez's that she dons with such confidence!
For an observer of changing social milieu, the movie throws up various facets of women's issues viz, bigamy, right to choose one's partner, right to remain single, right to follow the profession of one's liking, being financially independent, being a tomboy, even, yet seeking the father's approval of her difference in a conforming society, it has them all! No answers are offered, but that's how life is! More questions than answers!
Bobby Jasoos was never meant to be a serious detective crime thriller on the lines of those immortalized by Alfred Hitchcock, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Agatha Christie. It was more in the genre of Enid Blyton's Five Find Outers and the mysteries that they solved. Bobby is strangely reminiscent of Fatty, who loved playing a detective to solve petty village crimes, donning accents and disguises, buck teeth and limping hunch backs included! Or even playing a tramp or a cripple (yes, such politically incorrect words were used back then! ) to see him through the process of solving mysteries!
The film has some exceptionally talented actors, although I must say not all of them were utilized properly. Tanvi Azmi and Supriya Pathak contributed in large parts in creating the Hyderabadi flavour. The boys who make Bobby's gang of Find Outers actually have a Fatty in their midst! The icing on this cake is Tasavvur Sheikh played by Ali Fazal, who evolves easily into Bobby Jasoos's romantic sub-plot. I say, this guy is here for the long haul! He has the looks, the physique, the innocent, large eyes, and the acting talent! He seems to be choosy too! If you can pay attention to another character in a Vidya Balan film, then that guy sure has a journey ahead of him! Watch out for him in the future!
The film has some flaws which prevents it from joining the league of cult films! For one, it ends a bit too simply! The denouement is unconvincing and could have been sharper. It seems almost as if the director hadn't thought of how he would wind it up and had to suddenly find a socially acceptable conclusion to what could easily have degenerated the narrative into sleazy flesh trade/ terrorism/ drug trafficking themes. At the end, it was a feel good film so had to have a feel good ending!
Watchable for the sake of Vidya Balan and Ali Fazal! Meru ko Achha lagin! Thank you Diya Mirza!
Bobby Jasoos is a silly but funny and enjoyable movie about a bumbling yet ambitious, not-so-young girl Bobby, who aspires to make a name for herself as a detective ! She has a strained relationship with her father who cannot accept the fact that women can chase unconventional dreams and households can actually be run on Women's incomes! The backdrop is the Char Minar area of Hyderabad with its densely populated alleys, meandering through some interesting social and professional narratives.
The Ahmad household is chaotic yet has a method to it, with the co-wives (for want of a better term to describe Sautans! ) existing peacefully, empathetic and benevolent towards each other, yet subtly so, adding to the credibility of the setting! I loved the easy camaraderie between the two and their daughters, loving, teasing and being nasty to each other almost all at once in a well crafted depiction of sibling dynamics!
Trying to break stereotypes, Bobby the eldest daughter, yearns for a profession of her choice in a domain dominated by men! Aided by a series of big cases coming her way from a strange and mysterious client,with promising, rich dividends Vidya Balan in and as Bobby Jasoos is on the way to realising her ambitions. In the process, she once again carries the film on her shoulders, notwithstanding the drab, low on Glamour Quotient, Salwar Kameez's that she dons with such confidence!
For an observer of changing social milieu, the movie throws up various facets of women's issues viz, bigamy, right to choose one's partner, right to remain single, right to follow the profession of one's liking, being financially independent, being a tomboy, even, yet seeking the father's approval of her difference in a conforming society, it has them all! No answers are offered, but that's how life is! More questions than answers!
Bobby Jasoos was never meant to be a serious detective crime thriller on the lines of those immortalized by Alfred Hitchcock, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Agatha Christie. It was more in the genre of Enid Blyton's Five Find Outers and the mysteries that they solved. Bobby is strangely reminiscent of Fatty, who loved playing a detective to solve petty village crimes, donning accents and disguises, buck teeth and limping hunch backs included! Or even playing a tramp or a cripple (yes, such politically incorrect words were used back then! ) to see him through the process of solving mysteries!
The film has some exceptionally talented actors, although I must say not all of them were utilized properly. Tanvi Azmi and Supriya Pathak contributed in large parts in creating the Hyderabadi flavour. The boys who make Bobby's gang of Find Outers actually have a Fatty in their midst! The icing on this cake is Tasavvur Sheikh played by Ali Fazal, who evolves easily into Bobby Jasoos's romantic sub-plot. I say, this guy is here for the long haul! He has the looks, the physique, the innocent, large eyes, and the acting talent! He seems to be choosy too! If you can pay attention to another character in a Vidya Balan film, then that guy sure has a journey ahead of him! Watch out for him in the future!
The film has some flaws which prevents it from joining the league of cult films! For one, it ends a bit too simply! The denouement is unconvincing and could have been sharper. It seems almost as if the director hadn't thought of how he would wind it up and had to suddenly find a socially acceptable conclusion to what could easily have degenerated the narrative into sleazy flesh trade/ terrorism/ drug trafficking themes. At the end, it was a feel good film so had to have a feel good ending!
Watchable for the sake of Vidya Balan and Ali Fazal! Meru ko Achha lagin! Thank you Diya Mirza!
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