Priyanka Chopra Shines in “Jai Gangaajal” Despite Unimpressive Plot

"Jai Gangaajal" is a flawed film when it comes to both story and execution—not only is it much too similar to its predecessor, it also gives inconsistent views of the world.

[Photo Source: Facebook/Jai Gangaajal]

Police and government corruption is no new topic for director Prakash Jha—and to be fair, neither is most of the story for his new film, “Jai Gangaajal.”

The movie is not only a sequel to his well-received 2003 film, “Gangaajal”—it is also, in many ways, essentially a re-telling of the same story: corrupt police work with corrupt government officials, until one good cop shows them the light of day and starts to create real change in the department and town. But is it enough to make a true difference?

“Jai Gangaajal” stars Priyanka Chopra, but the bulk of the screen time belongs to Jha himself, in a role that it seems he has been dying to play for years. The story of the film is actually pretty simple: the  small town of Bankipur has always been run by corrupt elected officials who bribe and threaten their way to power, and have most of the police force in their pocket—including Jha’s BN Singh.

From the very start of the film, we see how much corruption as well as his loyalty to corrupted officials has brought Singh in monetary gains. For example, he has a home that is much too big for a police officer of his stature, and there are stacks of cash in his cupboards his wife casually grabs for various errands. As evidenced by his willingness to evict several townspeople from a legally made town market on a piece of land the town actually owns, Singh could not be further in the pocket of the leader of Bankipur, Babloo Pandey, and his henchmen, including Babloo’s brother Dabloo Pandey.

After the Superintendent of Police (SP) admonishes Singh for his actions at the town market, and vows to finally make some changes within his department, the SP is forcibly transferred—with help from Babloo and his connections. In his place comes the determined, ethically sound new SP Abha Mathur (Chopra). That’s right, after several minutes of exposition, our “lead” of the film finally enters the picture in a major way. She arrives just as Babloo’s cronies are illegally blocking traffic to hang up signs for Babloo’s upcoming rally and threatens to arrest everyone before Babloo himself must keep the peace and “welcome” the new SP with open arms. From here, we see how much government officials and the police go hand-in-hand.

It’s no secret what happens next. Mathur attempts to clean up the police department, crime, and corruption, but is stopped at each turn by Singh and other cops—with the help of Babloo and his cronies. When she learns that trying to arrest Babloo’s hooligans only results in giving the political party more attention, she instead decides to give them a nice thrashing in public, which earns her the respect of the people she has sworn to protect. However, even that positive first step doesn’t last long.

“Jai Gangaajal” is a flawed film when it comes to both story and execution. Not only is it much too similar to its predecessor, it also gives inconsistent views of the world. We spend more than two-and-a-half hours seeing Mathur fight tooth and nail to fix Bankipur’s problems, and tell the citizens of Bankipur to let the good police officers do their jobs rather than give into mob mentality—but even her bosses, who have no real loyalty to the corrupt officials, tell her there’s no use in trying to take these leaders down as the charges definitely won’t stick. And yet, the film ends on a much too positive note with Mathur triumphant at the end. What does that actually say about the film’s view on the state of affairs in India? It all feels too muddled, too confused.

However, one thing is certain: Chopra is a revelation. The versatile has proven time and again that she can play these strong female characters with a clear moral compass, and this role is no exception. Manav Kaul, with his villainous turn here and his work in January’s “Wazir” (roles that seem to be turning him into a new-age Manoj Bajpai), is electrifying in his quiet and violent moments as Mathur’s evil foil, Babloo Pandey. But replacing Ajay Devgan (as the lead in “Gangaajal” ) with Priyanka Chopra here doesn’t add a strong female message to this story—especially when the rest of the story pays little attention to gender inequality except for one powerful line of dialogue from Chopra and one scene of injustice done to another female character

As a director, Jha truly is a master in films about corruption and injustice in the system—as we’ve seen in films such as”Mrityadand,” “Raajneeti,” “Satyagraha,” and others. So, it’s baffling that the same man has essentially phoned in a new film that rehashes the same sentiments as its namesake predecessor, with very little to add.