Jubilee series review: Aparshakti Khurana, Sidhant Gupta and Wamiqa Gabbi stand out in this opulent drama
Jubilee
Vikramaditya Motwane's latest web series Jubilee opens up like a stunning painting and transports you back to the bygone era of Indian cinema- often considered as the golden age of cinema. Motwane's series explores the initial years of Hindi cinema when visionary filmmakers explored with new forms of storytelling and introduced playback music. Written by Motwane, Atul Sabharwal and Soumik Sen- Jubilee also explores India of the 1940s when the nation was on the brink of partition and how it affected the lives of millions across.
Loosely based on Indian cinema's first power couple Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani's life, the series has Bengali superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee playing filmmaker and studio Roy Talkies head Srikant Roy. Ruthless, calculative and a businessman- Srikant is on a hunt to launch a new face called 'Madan Kumar' in his next film. His wife and co-owner of Roy Talkies, Sumitra Devi (Aditi Rao Hydari) would be the film's female lead. After numerous auditions, Srikant has narrowed Jehangir Khan (Nandish Singh Sandhu)as Madan Kumar. The only problem is that Jehangir is having a torrid affair with Sumitra Devi in Lucknow. The two plan to elope to Karachi where Jehangir wants to pursue theatre.
Srikant summons his trusted aid, Binod Das (Aparshakti Khurana in a breakout role) to convince the lovers to come back to Bombay in order to start shooting. Sumitra makes her way back to Bombay in the hope that she would elope with Jehangir while he is on his way to Karachi but communal riots mid-way change Jehangir's course of the journey leaving the Roys high-dry on who would ultimately be launched as Madan Kumar.
The narrative also has a parallel track of Jay Khanna (Sidhant Gupta) a playwright who is now living in a refugee camp in Bombay desperately looking for work and courtesan Niloufer Qureshi (Wamiqa Gabbi) who has found her way to the same city and hoping to get a film role. Both street-smart and not wanting their trauma to get the better of them, they strike an odd friendship - both desperately wanting to find a footing in the city and walk the power corridors of Roy Talkies.
The detailing- in terms of sets decoration, costumes and makeup and the characters' sketches are so beautifully fleshed out. From ruthless, shrewd filmmakers, to silent spectators, to the lovelorn, each character is distinct and seems to have a back story. The sets beautifully bring out the golden era of cinema- when Indian films were bold enough to experiment with techniques, storylines make the viewers wonder how progressive things were back then.
Motwane weaves an intricate tale. The first five episodes of Jubileeset the tone right and transport you back to the yesteryears effectively. The narrative is leisurely though and the eye for detail makes it slightly slow. It meanders a bit in the first two episodes and demands your attention. Each episode is nearly an hour long and there is a lot of restraint in the way the story is told, slowly unlayering each character in great detail.
The cast is splendid. Prosenjit Chatterjee brings in the gravitas needed to play the calculative, shrewd Srikant Roy. Aditi Rao Hydari emotes through her eyes as the lovelorn Sumitra Devi- who knows how to run a business with her husband but is still lonely in the marriage. Khurrana delivers his career's best as the subtle, silent Binod Das. Shunned by most, his success is hard for everyone to digest. Despite his stardom, he never oversteps his master and remains loyal, Khurrana who has so far been limited to playing the quintessential buffoon in most Hindi films, delivers a restrained performance as the man who silently watches from a distance.
The other shining stars of Jubilee are Sidhant Gupta and Wamiqa Gabbi who bring much-needed exuberance to the characters. The two actors deliver such fine performances that you almost miss them when they are not on screen. You find yourself most invested in their track - the listlessness of the narrative is instantly gone when these two are on screen. Confident in their craft, both Sidhant and Wamiqa are simply splendid in their roles.
Jubilee's beauty lies in the subtle scenes. A scene where Srikant and Binod enact how playback music happens makes you smile, then a scene where Jay Khanna negotiates with his employer to pay him less but give him extra food so that he can take some home for his starving family tugs at your heartstrings. There's an ode to Raj Kapoor and Nargis' famous romance in the rains, a subtle nod at how even then powerful opinionated women were not heard by men. Such moments make Jubilee stand out.
The series also has a terrific soundtrack courtesy Amit Trivedi who beautifully defines music of that era perfectly. Alokananda Dasgupta's background score also adds heft to the narrative.
The show, though, does not leave a defining impact. It's a story that scratches only the surface and its grandeur overshadows the story and performances. It also does not help that each episode is far too long with too little happening on the screen.
With only 5 episodes out at the moment, Jubilee looks promising only for its cast and the grandeur that comes with it. It needs your patience as the story has several layers to it and the unravelling, it seems, has just begun.
Jubilee is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
