Junglee

An empty vessel of a film that satisfies neither Bollywood cinema goers nor martial arts fight fans.

Directed by Chuck Russell

Vidyut Jammwal, Thalaivasal Vijay, Pooja Sawant, Akshay Oberoi

Hindi, 115 mins

Junglee is a beautiful film to look at, the cast are attractive, costumes stunning and the locations are exotic as well as featuring the lovable animals that are elephants but that is sadly where the positives end. Director Chuck Russell takes on Bollywood with his directional effort but his workman like style is generic to a tee and he never tries to instill any originality to the proceedings.

Raj (Vidyut Jammwal) is a veterinary in the big city while his father Dipankar Nair (Thalaivasal Vijay) still resides in the rural outskirts running an elephant sanctuary with the aid of Raj’s childhood friend Shankara (Pooja Sawant). It is soon to mark the 10th year of the passing of Raj’s mother and there will be a big ceremony held at the sanctuary and Raj eventually decides to visit home after a long absence. Tagging along is female journalist Meera Rai (Asha Bhat) who wishes to cover the story of the great things that Nair has been doing with the sanctuary. Not long after the ceremony poachers arrive at night and kills Raj’s close friend, elephant Bhola who possess the greatest pair of tusks that will fetch a fortune. Raj’s father is also murdered in the process after attempting to stop the poachers. Soon it is uncovered that the police were conspiring with the poachers and they also capture Raj but Raj manages to escape and he locates the location of the tusk exchange and stops the villains once and for all.

If the synopsis above sounds basic it’s because it is. Everything plays out as you would expect and there are no twist that you will be surprised with even the eventual outcome of a close friend is easily predictable, even if you did not see it coming its handling is very undercooked. Chuck Russell best known for The Mask and The Scorpion King is an odd choice to tackling a Hindi production, his name does not scream high end film making and his lack of finesse is evident in the proceedings. On a positive note the film is very light hearted excluding the brief moments of death which it never really lingers on and lacks any real emotional punch. Humor doesn’t always hit the mark but it is welcoming considering the drama playing out is not particularly engaging. Funnily enough there is none of the famous Bollywood musical numbers and dance (bar the end credits), the closest we get is a surreal moment where everyone at the sanctuary are smiling profusely and engaging with each other with the utmost joy while a musical score plays in the background.

The devilishly handsome and fully chiseled Vidyut never looks the part as a veterinarian and his performance feels forced never convincing in moments of torture nor moments of joy, his smile feels manufactured throughout. Asha Bhat is bubbly and fun but lacks any real characterization and she could have been cut without affecting the overall film. Playing the father is Dipankar Nair who provides a strong presence but his conflict with Vidyut is too poorly realized to make their emotional baggage feel warranted, matters made worse is how easily the matter is resolved by just literally talking to each other and all is forgiven in a matter of seconds. The greatest performance comes from the elephants themselves, they are such magnificent creatures and kudos must be given to the trainers who have made the elephants participate with the on screen shenanigans.

Vidyut is a phenomenal martial artist and he is capable of all the acrobatic movements and kicking abilities of someone like Tony Jaa but sadly he’s never really utitlised in any engaging way. Junglee’s action is handled by Hong Kong veteran action coordinator Nicky Li Chung-Chi of New Police Story, Wolf Warrior and SPL2 A Time of Consequence fame so you would expect some quality fight scenes, sadly that is not the case. Fights are slow and very basic with nothing standing out. The first fight occurs on a footbridge with a bunch of thugs that utilitses some very basic punching and kicking techniques but movement is so slow and telegraphed it almost feels like the actors are just going through the motions. Nearing the finale is a match up between Vidyut and Akshay Oberoi and it should have been an impressive showcase of the Indian martial arts Kalaripayattu and a battle of Indian weapons but again nothing particular stands out. The film could have been a great showcase for Kalaripayattu but the moves on display never really distinguishes its style, in fact the Chinese film The Myth has a better showcase of the art than this. Then the finale lacks any real martial arts and is more a showcase of gun fights and intermittent take outs.

The film is not terrible but is very underwhelming, everything is presented like a checklist of the basic necessities of crafting a feature film. The films underlining message is sound but is rather heavy handed in its execution.