Season 1 – Jubilee

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Hemant S @RT50421404 05/22/2023 Films and TV shows have been made in the past, revolving around the lifestyle and work culture in the Hindi film industry, now referred to as "Bollywood". But "Jubilee" goes right back to the roots of it – way back to just before India gained Independence, with finesse, attention to detail, a great story and matching acts. It's admirable in the way that the story and characters are fictionalized, but derived from true history. It all starts a month back from the day India acquired independence, and when partition was hitting hard on both the future countries, with displaced families and murderous riots. An ambitious film maker and studio owner Srikant Roy (Prasenjit Chatterjee) trying to grab control of his adulterous wife Sumitra Devi (Aditi Rao Hydari) and the man she is cheating with – Jamshed Khan (Nandish Singh Sandhu). Jamshed also happens to be a promising actor who could bring Srikant his studio fortunes with his upcoming venture, so the film maker dispatches his faithful and subservient lab-aide Binod Das (Aparshakti Khurana) to convince and fetch them both peacefully from Lucknow. In the same time frame of day and night, a lively theatre prodigy Jay Khanna (Sidhant Gupta) and an old friend of Jamshed, invites him to Karachi for partaking in his play. Jamshed willingly agrees. It all passes well, until a fateful moment in riot-hit Lucknow sends all of these six characters on tangential paths, including a beautiful courtesan, Niloufer (Wamiqa Gabbi). The setting of the story progresses over a pivotal time in India's history, and consequently the growth of the Hindi film industry, and the show-makers have given the set and production design big heart. Especially with the sight of steam locomotives and trams to strengthen the ambience, in addition to the old look shops and buildings. It's almost like Bollywood's own "what-if?" akin to Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" (2019). You can sense the stories of various real-life stalwarts from the early ‘40s and ‘50s in the story but they have been industriously mish-mashed to make a potpourri of character arcs. Initially one might find the expletives a bit redundant but eventually I loved the fact that it was an essence of dark comedy from the Motwane-Kashyap shed of creations – an intentional and frequent exclamation or reference to (seemingly) the most thankless character in the story by his name "Madan Kumar", followed (or preceded) by a common "swear" word. The music by Amit Trivedi is exquisitely and diligently arranged, bringing in the voices, textures and lyrics as close to the era in focus as possible. Some of the nods to prominent titles of the time – both in the music and the films are evident. There are frequent references to the erstwhile (and perhaps current?) film-makers' understanding (or mis-?) of the audience – their literacy rates, the relevance of a film's story at the time. The touchy topic of how the reach to a wider audience, albeit through piracy is more meriting as against the ka-ching of a box-office counter is a bold and rebellious, but thoughtful reference. Aparshakti Khurana, who as an actor has an existing challenge of being in the shadow of a more successful and physically appealing older brother, has been cast aptly. Almost like a side-stepped child, with repressed dreams who yearns for the love and care of his foster parent. His arc like I mentioned earlier, appears quite thankless but is quite meaty with the fluctuating shades. A great rung in the ladder upwards. Aditi Rao Hydari and Prasenjit Chatterjee do well in characters that are often engaged in a coldly disguised tug-of-war. Aditi turns up well as the season tends to its finale. Nandish Singh Sandhu pitches in well as a sought after and talented Adonis, passionate towards the acting craft and love more than fortune. Wamiqa Gabbi shines in her potential en-route to being a future talent to look out for, especially after her earlier promising roles in "Grahan" and "Mai". Her character starts as an outsider, but floats through the lives of all the characters eventually through her own ventures. Sidhant Gupta proves to be a revelation, in a character that resembles Shashi Kapoor greatly but possibly is a projection of the oldest Kapoor brother – a mix well blended. He delights as much in his zest as he shines in intense scenes. I previously sighted him in the third season of the mostly watered down series "Inside Edge" and he radiated talent in his few scenes as a spin-prodigy from Kashmir. The supporting cast led by Ram Kapoor, Shweta Basu Prasad and a much-missed Arun Govil ties in well. I personally felt the story tilting and turning with a sense of maturity towards the eight episode. The frequent recaps of that pivotal moment in the first episode are spread throughout the season mostly at the beginning of each episode, almost like a reminder to the viewer about the seed of the story. I love the fact that all of the characters carry a cross of their own, a personal demon – and it's not just weighing down on the ever-present and frequently sworn-at "Madan Kumar". The drama in that is under-stated, and not at all like a soap opera full of protagonists and antagonists. A special mention to Atul Sabharwal, who collaborated with Vikramaditya Motwane on the story. He previously helmed "Powder", an underrated crime-drama with Pankaj Tripathi and Manish Chaudhari, that aired in the pre-OTT times (2010) across a satellite channel, a rare production of that genre by Aditya Chopra. The finale ties many open threads, but I am still curious on what happened after. A second season to entail those continuing stories would be a great top-up to an already well made show. See more Read all reviews

Jubilee — Season 1

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