First impression: Anurag Basu possibly dreams of directing a Broadway play someday. Until then, he's working on Bollywood productions.
Jagga Jasoos is a proof that when you wish to mount a theatre production, you should do exactly that, instead of making a movie. Basu's attempt of making a Hollywood-style musical falls flat with inclusion of Bollywood-style songs. Musicals, by definition, do not need a reason for the characters to sing. Songs are equivalent to dialogues. But when you give the protagonist a reason to sing, in this case Jagga's stammer, you make it difficult for the audience to believe that other characters should also sing. After all, the reason for them is missing.
Basu tries to establish Jagga (Ranbir Kapoor) as a teenage detective on the lines of Famous Five, but the cases are not strong enough or convincing enough for us to believe his detection skills. And the local police is only too happy to hear him every time he turns up with a theory, without a trace of annoyance. Then comes the big case, Jagga's search for his father figure, Tuti Futi. The only clue - VHS tapes that Tuti Futi sends every year on his birthday from different parts of the globe. And this is where the story goes completely off-track. What could have been an adventurous ride across the globe, turns into a forced attempt to uncover an international arms racket.
References to Feluda & Sherlock Holmes don't do much to add interest. Neither does the fact that Jagga suddenly has a Tintin-inspired hairstyle. Basu scatters terms & names like Agapastala & Shundi as a wink to Bengali movie-goers. But does not dwell long enough to make them interesting for the non-Bengali audience. For the uninitiated, Agapastala loosely translates to 'from head to foot' and Shundi is the place of prime action in Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury's story and Ray's popular children's film, Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne. And somewhere in the middle of trying to give as many references as possible, and making a statement about arms dealings, Basu completely forgets that this was a musical. Jagga stammers through the second half of the film, while trying to help a good looking journalist, Shruti Sengupta (Katrina Kaif), find Tuti Futi, and save the world.
The movie, undoubtedly looks good due to the beautiful frames created by cinematographer, Ravi Varman, and the only part that Basu gets right in this hotchpotch is the father-son equation of Tuti Futi & Jagga. But in the times of flawless VFX, I am not willing to accept effects that are evident. For the rest, next time if I want to watch a play, I'll go to Prithvi.
