The praises showered upon the Indian regional language cinema in the last few months have mostly quoted the films made in the South, questionably missing the brilliant Marathi Cinema. In fact, it’s the Marathi filmmakers who have consistently delivered projects worth appreciating without relying upon the action or crime-thriller genre.
Jhimma, their latest offering, thankfully brings smiles back to our lives during these tough times of the pandemic. It is said that travelling enriches life, adding a fresh perspective in our thought process, and travellers know the world better than anyone else. Jhimma strongly endorses the saying introducing a group of women, from different age groups, on a 10-day vacation tour to Great Britain. Coming on to the tour all alone, without being accompanied by any male members of their families, the women wish to explore more in their lives. Together, they make the best of the opportunity, breaking their mental barriers.
It is a slice-of-life film with the cast and performances remaining its biggest merit. Directed by Hemant Dhome, Jhimma largely relies upon the lovable chemistry between the characters performed by a talented ensemble featuring Suhas Joshi, Sayali Sanjeev, Suchitra Bandekar, Sonalee Kulkarni, Mrinmayee Godbole, and Siddharth Chandekar (as the tour operator). The film grows on you as it progresses, and the sequences mostly keep you engrossed with some thought-provoking dialogues.
It also works as it remains a simple film with decent music with no unnecessary baggage of raising a loud voice against the patriarchy. Despite being a travel movie, it doesn’t even have any forced focus on the famous foreign locations as a relief, staying away from the popular Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara format. At the same time, it has a few underdeveloped characters and some cliché insertions that remain completely predictable, adding to the length of the film. Besides, the at-your-face promotion, in which the actors are also given lines praising the on-screen product, remains a big downer.
That said, Jhimma still manages to win hearts, subtly pointing towards many social issues of our society targeting women without getting into the preachy zone. It might not be entirely fresh or novel in its concept, but it does make you feel for its characters relating to their traumas and struggles in life. Completely focusing on the women, they will surely cherish it a lot more, but the film is equally entertaining for the males. So, watch it as a must and have a great evening with this entertaining family film in the present testing times.
Title: Jhimma (Marathi)
Cast : Suchitra Bandekar, Suhas Joshi, Sonalee Kulkarni and others
Director: Hemant Dhome
Platform: Amazon Prime Video
Rating: Three and a Half Stars
