Media can do a number of things… they can kill a story, they can create a story and they can even give a new lease of life to a dead story. At one layer, No One Killed Jessica is about media doing the third thing. However, lately we have seen many movies showing that with some really great manner. So, I would not talk much about that… neither would I say a word about blasphemous ‘trial by media’ thing. But to start with… No One Killed Jessica is largely Sabrina Lall version of Jessica Lall Murder Case.
There is actually nothing to tell about the story… we have read much about it. It is a brilliant montage of the events that took place. Rich brat kills a model. Case is filed. Direct and indirect pressure tactics. Tampering with evidences. Witnesses turn hostile. Police is badly p*ssed off. So is the public. Media highlights the case. Public fury grows. Justice prevails. The scope of story was immense and the director Rajkumar Gupta exploited every possible emotion while developing the characters. Lead Sabrina and her slain sister Jessica’s characters are beautifully developed. While a shy Sabrina character is developed in the flow of events and few kicking dialogs, Jessica’s character is developed by few scenes in flashback. Talking about the third character… Meera. Meera is a media person who takes up the case. Her character is too loud and definitely bears no resemblance with the real world person on whom the role is loosely based. She yells B and F words like anything. The character could have been more subtle but I guess the loudness adds fun quotient to the movie.
As a performer Vidya Balan stands out. She is exceptional. Rani… she is good but not great. Myra Karn (Jessica) and the person playing the role of cop were really impressive. Script is very nicely written. Music is good and we can say that it lives upto the expectations attached with brand Amit Trivedi. Talking about direction… When a critically acclaimed movie like Aamir is your first movie, public have great hopes with you. However with that burden only few tend to come out of the comfort zone and try something like this. Though both Aamir and NOKJ both are realistic, there is absence of masala in Aamir which is being well handled in NOKJ. Bravo.
Rating: 4/5 Stars.
Written By: Sujoy Ghosh
