Jogi Movie Review: The Real Pain Of 1984 Riots Undercuts By Melodrama

There are many historical events about which everyone must have heard. A good trend has been started recently in the entertainment industry as many filmmakers are now bringing the unheard pain, suffering, courage of the common man through their movies. Ali Abbas Zafar has come up with one such story, ‘Jogi’, which is based on the 1984 Sikh riots and genocide. Jogi is released on Netflix on September 16 & here we have penned our Jogi movie review to talk about the spoiler free details of the movie.

Jogi stars Punjab’s very own Diljit Dosanjh in the titular role. Diljit is accompanied by Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Kumud Mishra, Amyra Dastur, Neelu Kohli, Hiten Tejwani & Paresh Pahuja in the movie. Jogi is directed by Ali Abbas Zafar who has also produced the project along with Himanshu Kishan Mehra. Jogi became a much awaited film from the day its poster was launched.. Now, let’s have a look at our Jogi movie review to know what Jogi has to offer to the audience.

STORY & SCREENPLAY

Jogi is a story that recalls the massacre of 1984. The movie begins with Jogi (Diljit) having breakfast with his family and goes outside with his father just like a normal day in Trilokpuri, Delhi. But shockingly they get beaten by some miscreants as a reaction to the murder of then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her sikh bodyguards. The scene get worse when a politician Tejpal Arora enters the scene and allows a number of criminals and police officers to murder each Sardar/Sikh living in Delhi. One of those cops Ravinder (Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub), who is also a good friend of Jogi, helps him to get out of the bloody place with his people. What are the challenges the Sikh-Sardar community faced during the 1984 sikh riots and genocide? Will Jogi be able to rescue his people? The movie is all about these questions and their answers.

If we talk about the screenplay then we must say, there are some scenes that hit you to the rock bottom. The first 10 minutes of the movie itself lifts the expectations from the movie’s story and screenplay. However, we feel the makers have also missed a chance in making most of the story. Some scenes are too slow that almost pulls the story out of the track. But overall, the screenplay team has done a good job in crafting a fine piece for the audience.

PERFORMANCE

Diljit Dosanjh is the soul of the movie. He has delivered one of his finest performances ever. We have already seen him doing some brilliant serious roles such as in Udta Punjab & Soorma. He has also done a iconic punjabi movie Punjab 1984, which was also based on 1984 Sikh riots and genocide. Diljit used all his experience from those movies from the past to deliver an outstanding performance. Every time he is on screen it feels like he is literally feeling the pain of the character, he is that good in the film.

If we talk about other actors apart from Diljit in our Jogi Movie Review, the other actors who impressed us the most are Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub and Kumud Mishra. The casting of Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub is one of the best things about the movie. After watching Ayyub’s performance, we were totally flattered, like how someone can pull intense scenes that gracefully.

Kumud Mishra is the man whose character is going to receive a lot of hate in the movie. And there’s a theory, ‘If you hate the character, the actor is at his finest”. Kumud has played the role of the vicious politician like he is the villain in real life too. This is the reason we loved his performance.

Jogi is one of those rare films, in which no actor disappoints you. Even in small screen time Neelu Kohli, Hiten Tejwani, Amyra Dastur & among others also impresses you.

DIRECTION 

Ali Abbas Zafar showed guts to pick up a topic that many would not even think of. Zafar has done a rather splendid job in showing a recap of the suffering, pain and struggle of sikh community during the infamous 1984 sikh riots and genocide. His knowledge and understanding of the cinema can be seen in the movie at various scenes. The way he managed the cast is commendable. However, we also felt that he missed the opportunity to depict the story in a more realistic way instead of making it dramatic. But overall, he deserves appreciation for his good work in the movie.

MUSIC

Jogi boasts a good background music that supports the story well. There are many scenes that actually looked brilliant due to the good intense background score. 

OVERALL

Concluding our Jogi movie review with the final words. So we liked the movie as it is not a regular bollywood movie and has a story that needed to come out. Team Kiddaan rates Diljit Dosanjh’s Jogi 3.5 stars out of 5. The deduction in stars is just because we felt that the movie missed the good opportunity to depict the brilliant storyline in a more intense way. 

Well, Jogi is a must watch movie to witness the truth, pain, suffering and struggle of the common sikh-sardar people during the 1984 Sikh Riots and Genocide. Jogi is streaming on Netflix from September 16th, so do binge watch it.

Haven’t watched the trailer of ‘Jogi’ yet, here it is, watch it now