No One Killed Jessica is a 2011 Hindi film starring Vidya Balan and Rani Mukerji, produced by UTV Spotboy and directed by Raj Kumar Gupta, who had earlier directed the acclaimed film Aamir (2008).
The film has music by Amit Trivedi, who also composed the soundtrack for Dev D (2009).[5][6] Vidya Balan plays the character of Jessica’s elder sister, Sabrina Lal, Rani is set to play a reporter.[7] Upon release, the film met with positive critical and box office reception.[8]
- Rani Mukerji as Meera Gaity
- Vidya Balan as Sabrina Lall
- Myra Karn as Jessica Lall
- Neil Bhoopalam as Vikram Jai Singh
- Shireesh Sharma as Pramod Bharadwaj
- Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Manish Bharadwaj
- Bubbles Sabharwal as Mallika Sehgal
- Yogendra Tikku as Sanjit Lall
- Geeta Sudan as June Lall
- Samara Chopra as Naina Sehgal
- Satyadeep Mishra as Meera's Boss
- Rajesh Sharma as N. K.
[edit] Production
The political thriller, set in New Delhi, is based on the media coverage of the controversial Jessica Lal murder case. The director clarified that the title and the script are actually inspired by a headline carried out by The Times of India (epaper link) in 2006, when the accused in the infamous murder case were acquitted by the lower courts, leading to nationwide protests, reopening of the case and subsequent sentencing of the accused, and not the case per se.[9][10]
[edit] Themes
The film, No One Killed Jessica is based on the true story of Jessica Lall, a Delhi-based model, who was shot in 1999 at a New Delhi restaurant by Manish Bhardwaj, alias Manu, the son of an influential Haryana politician.
Jessica, along with actor and model Vikram Jai Singh, was closing the restaurant's bar for the evening when approached by Manu and two friends. Infuriated by Jessica's refusal to serve them drinks after the bar closed, Manu fatally shoots Jessica. The powerful family connections of the accused intimidated witnesses. It then became an uneven battle between Jessica’s family, especially her sister Sabrina and the politically-backed and influential family of the accused.
In February 2006, the court acquitted Manu and other accused due to lack of sufficient evidence setting off a public outcry and widespread protests. The backlash from the initial acquittal forced the re-opening of the investigation. In December 2006, Manu was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.[11]
[edit] Release
The film was released on 7 January 2011. It received positive reviews from critics.[12] No One Killed Jessica opened quite well and got positive feedback from audience.[13] The film recovered its cost before release through satellite and music rights.[3]
[edit] Reception
[edit] Critical response
No One Killed Jessica received a number of positive reviews. Nikhat Kazmi of the Times of India gave the movie four stars out of five stating, "No One Killed Jessica is a film that unleashes a myriad emotions in you. The hard facts of modern India's most written about case are well known by almost everybody but the director Rajkumar Gupta's (he'd already displayed his talent in Aamir) dramatic handling of the crime, the criminals, the crusaders and the victim creates a storm, once again."[14] Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama also rated the film 4/5 and described it as "a remarkable blend of facts and fiction inspired by a series of real-life episodes, which has thankfully not been presented as a tedious biography or in a mind-numbing docu-drama format."[15] Anupama Chopra of NDTV while rating the film three stars out of five wrote, "No One Killed Jessica is several notches ahead of the tripe we’ve been subjected to in theatres lately."[16] Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the film two and a half stars out of five and wrote, "With the exception of a few powerful scenes that leave you with a genuine lump in your throat, Gupta goes for full-on melodrama that doesn't always ring true."[17] Mayank Shekhar of the Hindustan Times gave it three stars and argues, "Can a feature film, in a couple of hours flat, ever detail an entire truth about anything? Possibly not. But it can entertainingly dramatise it. That’s what the fine director-writer and a consummate raconteur here (Rajkumar Gupta) manages to do."[18] Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan wrote that this film is a "pertinent, media friendly and brave effort by the makers. The performances living up to the title and story of the film." [19]
[edit] Soundtrack
The music of the film is composed by National award-winning composer Amit Trivedi who had debuted with the same director in Aamir. Lyrics are penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya. The album received generally positive reviews from critics.[20]
[edit] Track listing
| Lyrics |
Singer(s) |
| 1. |
"Aitbaar" |
Amitabh Bhattacharya |
Vishal Dadlani, Mame Khan, Robert Omulo Bob |
|
| 2. |
"Yeh Pal" |
Amitabh Bhattacharya |
Shilpa Rao |
|
| 3. |
"Aali Re" |
Amitabh Bhattacharya |
Tochi Raina, Biswajit Chakraborty, Shriram Iyer, Raja Hassan, Anushka Manchanda, Sonu Kakkar, Aditi Singh Sharma, Sonika Sharma |
|
| 4. |
"Dilli" |
Amitabh Bhattacharya |
Tochi Raina, Shriram Iyer, Aditi Singh Sharma |
|
| 5. |
"Dua" |
Amitabh Bhattacharya |
Meenal Jain, Joi Barua, Raman Mahadevan, Amitabh Bhattacharya |
|
| 6. |
"Dilli - Hardcore" |
Amitabh Bhattacharya |
Tochi Raina, Shriram Iyer, Aditi Singh Sharma |
|
[edit] Controversy
During the shooting of movie in Delhi, one shot was taken at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, where University School of Information Technology (one of the 12 on-campus schools of university) was disguised to Patiala House District-Court. In mid of the process the Vice Chancellor of university Dilip Bandopadhyay was prevented from entering his own campus. So while Bandopadhyay haggled with bouncers — on guard outside the main gate — to let him in, the cameras rolled allegedly without the VC’s permission.[21] On this matter University has terminated the contract of a faculty member accused of organizing the April 19 film shoot on campus.[22]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
