2011 starts with a bang!!Thanks to No One Killed Jessica

Directed by Raj Kumar Gupta

Produced by Ronnie Screwvala


No one killed jessica,the first release of this decade is a cinematic sensationalization of the jessica lal-murder case which heightened our patriotism and
instilled faith in our judiciary system and most importantly in us that if united,we can indeed bring about a change.Director rajkumar gupta who surprised everyone with the edgier 'aamir' slather's on this inspiring 'triumph of good over evil' story with finesse and noteworthy adroitness.The film cloys us with a rainbow of feelings.we are livid,when we see the criminal grinning unabashedly almost oblivious to his crime,at the same time it makes us feel insecure to even live in our own country.But the biggest achievement of the film is that it fills us with positivity and hope.Hope that Good does always prevail over evil,however strong evil might be.The highlight of the film is the coming together of the finest talents of indian cinema Rani and Vidya who play dramatically opposite characters not only in terms of their mannerisms,styling and personalities but also in terms of their mindset.

The film begins with meera gaeity,a feisty,horny cuss-word spewing unapologetic ndtv news reporter sharing her thoughts about delhi,the city which she has grown up in,the city which is heartless and stark yet quite ironically named DILli(dilwalon ka shehar).The story then directly shifts to the ominous night when jessica was shot,right in the beginning of the film the entire sequence of what and how things took place on that diabolical night was shown ,thereafter the tireless struggle for justice kicks off,the first half mainly deals with sabrina's indefatiguable attempts to get the influential cold blooded murderer of her sister behind the bars.Sabrina ,a self confessed naive'behenji' in complete contrast to the vivacious jessica dolls up in oversized tea-shirts,shudders at being gheraoed by pesky journalists,suspects that a conspiracy is being hatched to camouflage the case.She is told by the investigating officer played deftly by rajesh sharma, that inspite of the presence of 300 witnesses only 7 could be pinned down as key witnesses,others claimed that they all left before 12 citing cockamamie reasons!!!Sabrina still hopeful battles it out herself by trying to nail down the prime witnessess one by one by going door to door.The film shows us a clear picture how the court proceedings took place.fortunately the trials and tribulations are refreshingly real
and there are no "main geeta ke haath mein rakh mein kasm khata hun" reels.

Without revealing anything about the MAIN PRIME WITNESS who forces the judiciary
to shut the case and dashes sabrina's confidence ,the film then deals with the media's invasion into the case and therefore meera gaiety who is all this while only seen for either having inconsequential sex with a random person or foul mouthing her colleagues comes into the front and takes charge.MEERA who had earlier snubbed the case when asked to take it up as she felt it was low profile and too petty for her to dominate.The go-getter she is ,meera rebukes her boss and almost bullies the channel head into her confidence on being denied pursuit of the issue.Thereafter the story gets momentum and the audience is given a roller coaster ride as meera breezes through the facts in the case,realizes them,unmasks the spineless witnesseses by conducting a string of hilarious mind boggling sting operations and practically reaches out to every indian home who were unaware that 'JUSTICE HAS BEEN DENIED'.What follows is the awakening of the sentiments of the mangopeople and their quest for justice for jessica which is potrayed in a pragmatic manner,rdb effect is given its due and the so is the beautiful candle march which is coupled with the soulful melodies of amit trivedi(dua).The penultimate scenes throw light on how the president,the prime minister and the entire judiciary takes notice of the public outrage and revises the court's decision.The last scene leaves a lump in the throat.

Coming to the performances,Except for rani and vidya,all the actors are new but have done a splendid job.Vidya's Sabrina as a bereaving sister seeking justice is a wallflower.She is restrained and simplistic in her approach to the role.Dont compare her with the real life sabrina who is more dynamic.Vidya's sabrina is poignant and introvert yet mentally rigid.She chooses to act though silence.Watch out for her in the scenes where she walks mindlessly in the steets lost bumping into an elephant and gets startled or the scene where she remembers jessica and an important incident which gives her the courage back to be rebellious again or the one where she vents out her frustration.OUTSTANDING.Vidya shows her histrionics to the tee and gives a flawless and inspiring performance which is one of the highlights of the film.Just see her emote and you will feel that she is far ahead of the rat race. As the bitchy,uninhibited and foul mouthed journalist Rani who commands the second half of the film is a delight to watch.She lights up the screen everytime she comes.We as the audience simply wait for meera to appear. As meera, rani makes a complete departure from the stereotypical saccharine sweet girl which she has patented. It's indeed her comeback film.The character is demanding and she nails it.She relentlessly yet seamlessly uses the F word,hilariously dumps her partner amidst sex and bitchily sabotages her subordinate's assignments.The scenes between meera and her boss gaurav(satyadeep mishra) are humorous.She provides superlative entertainment value to the film.And Oh boy,she does remind us of barkha dutt uncannily.What is interesting is the fact that the two characters are distincly opposite to each other,Meera is the fire to sabrina's ice.But unfortunately share very few scenes together.Myra blows life into jessica,she is a revelation for me.Her potrayal of jessica is synomymous to a resilient fawn being hunted down by a tiger.Of the supporting cast all except the artiste playing jessica's mom(she hams funnily) pitches in a measured performance.But the real hero of the film is AMIT TRIVEDI.His rendition of a semi-metal track dilli pips all the other songs in the charts,aali re is not entirely used in the film.aitbaar and yeh pal are melodious and dua comes at the right time generating goose-bumps.Credit has to be given to amitabh bhattacharya too for writing ground breaking lyrics.Surely it will be one of the best albums of this year.Equally emblematic is the background music given by amit trivedi.The dialougues(Rajkumar Gupta) are effective and applause-worthy ,so is the screenplay(Rajkumar Gupta).The camera-work(Anay Goswami) is efficacious,the mundane locations look real.The editing done by aarti bajaj could have been a tad better though.

Having said that,Nokj is not without it's flaws.The film is languidly paced and loses it's command over the audience sometimes,also some scenes are overtly melodramatic,amateurish and pretentious,intended to derive an applause from the audience.The marriage between reality and bollywood also seems disjointed sometimes.

But Nokj is an extremely important  film for the audience.It is able to re-iterate the fact that power should lie with the people and not the more fortunate ones,it imbues us with hope and love for our country,it ingeminates that a good script rises above all flaws.Watch it twice and you will love it more.This is a film which will entertain you in two different ways,watch it with few people in the theatre,it will choke you,watch in a packed theatre,it will tug at your heart less but will definitely leave a smile of hope on your face.A rare masala gripping thriller,definitely a pleasant change from the crap that bollywood is sadly saddled with,Dont miss it for humanity sake!!!

Four candles for this one!!