'Jayeshbhai Jordaar' review: Ranveer Singh proves his versatility in a film that keeps things light

Bollywood has over the years tried to use humour to tackle societal issues. Message-driven films have been the norm for a while now and most have taken the similar route of infusing humour in the narrative. YRF's latest 'Jayeshbhai Jordaar' falls in the same category where Ranveer Singh plays an uncanny superhero, fighting for the rights of women, in a patriarchal world.

Jayesh and his wife Mudra (newcomer Shalini Pandey) are expecting their second child. They live in Pravingarh, a fictitious village in Gujarat, with Jayesh's bossy parents (Boman Irani and Ratna Pathak Shah) and their 9-year-old daughter Siddhi. A soft-spoken, meek man, Jayesh has the burden of being the son of the village chief who wants his son and daughter-in-law to give an heir to continue the family lineage. After six miscarriages (read abortions), the family is now desperate for a son and is ready to appease any god or goat in order to get their wish fulfilled.

When the doctor slyly lets Jayesh know that another girl is on her way, he takes it upon himself to save his wife whom he loves dearly and knows will not be spared by his dominating, conservative parents. With six abortions, Mudra is already weak and Jayesh is aware that another abortion will just lead to her death. And so, he devices a rather convoluted plan to escape with his wife and daughter to a village in Haryana - where due to female infanticide, most men remain unmarried and who want to welcome women with open arms.

As Jayesh escapes with Mudra and Siddhi, he has his entire village and the cops chasing them to teach them a lesson or two. Will he be able to protect his child ultimately forms the rest of the story.

New director and writer Divyang Thakker takes the story to rural Gujarat which may have infrastructurally grown leaps and bounds but is shown to have archaic thinking. It is rather surprising to find Jayesh as a closet feminist, in a society that has alpha males and dominating matriarchs. Everyone around him, his parents and even his wife are more concerned about an heir than he himself. They are all by-products of the same society, and yet Jayesh sticks out like a sore thumb.