Until today, the words ‘Jil Jung Juk’ always reminded me of the famous comedy scene from Kadhalan featuring Vadivelu. In that scene, Vadivelu categorises (women’s) ‘figures’ based on how good they look to him. Jil is the highest, Jung is average and Juk is, well, his expression says it all. Today, the joke sounds sexist. As kids though, we had fun imitating him. Deeraj Vaidy’s Jil Jung Juk, on the other hand, is not about women at all.
2020. Due to a financial crisis, the world is on the verge of a breakdown. Everywhere, there’s poverty. Commodities are scarce. Governments have failed. Gang wars rule the world. As we watch the story unfold, the premise is convincing enough. It’s something that could potentially happen in another four years.
NanJIL Sivaji (Siddharth), JUNGuligam (Avinash) and Jaguar ‘JUK’ Jagan (Sananth) are on a mission to smuggle cocaine for Deiva, a don, whose fortunes have fumbled because of the economic situation. He needs his last pack of goods to survive. It all depends on this crazy trio. It all goes south after one drunken night. That’s the wacky setup. What happens next is the plot of Jil Jung Juk.
*****
Jil Jung Juk is weird, outlandish and bizarre. It’s a world that constantly surprises. The clothes, the way the characters are established, their back story – all of it is improbable. The film isn’t exactly a fantasy, yet the audience has to constantly lower their standards of what qualifies as plausible. Director Deeraj and his crew somehow provide ample reason to make the improbable convincing. Credit to the technical crew who perfected every tiny detail, from the costumes and sets, to the visual effects are prefect.
*****
Jil is the cool-headed blue-haired hero who uses his brain to get out of sticky situations. Now and then, though, he ‘gets the bulb’ (i.e., someone gets the better of him). Siddharth deserves special applause for playing a role where he isn’t the central character. Jung, played by Avinash, is the ‘bayandhangoli’ (coward) of the group. His face begins to twitch at the slightest mishap. His deadpan expressions combine with tongue-in-cheek dialogues, and leave the audience roaring with laughter. And Sananth tends to steal the comedy scenes with his innocence and completely tangential replies. The exchanges between the three keep the audience engaged.
*****
The supporting cast is no less interesting. There’s Pai (Vipin Vishwanath), who speaks in the same modulation as the infamous ‘Whatsapp Swamiji’ audios. He doesn’t even need to be funny. The audience loves practically any dialogue he utters. There’s Radha Ravi, who appears in a weird beard and hairdo, as ‘Rolex’ Rawther, the don who threatens his enemies with a jar of ants labelled ‘Cheer Girls’. He also carries a skeleton around with him. With sexual innuendos aplenty, (thankfully, genuinely funny and not misogynist), the film caters to the kind of comedy youngsters can relate to.
*****
We knew the songs sounded unusual, but the background score is even more unusual. In one scene, Vishal’s BGM (Kalyana ‘Getti Melam’) initially confuses the audience. It doesn’t seem to relate to the scene at all. But by the end of the scene, the visuals and the BGM connect up and make the audience laugh. Similarly, the pre-climax scene has a carnatic-dubstep fusion interlaced with some maddening gunplay. It’s rare to see scenes like these, where the visuals feel ‘wedded’ to the BGM.
*****
Recommended
However, for every scene that leaves us in splits, there’s a mundane scene laden with restlessness-inducing dialogues. Sometimes they try too hard to be funny. Sometimes they don’t make any sense. Siddharth delivers a couple of punchy dialogues. For the rest, we feel a little the kid (Idhu laam oru punch ah?) in this brilliant promotional video of the film. The runtime is a little over two hours, but could easily have been shorter with a crisp screenplay. Like falling dominos, the trio land in one problem after another. It quickly begins to feel redundant.
And then, there’s an extended appearance by Ajith’s image in the Red Roadu song. Why? Because #ThalaRocksDa.
Move aside Vadivelu ratings. How good is Jil Jung Juk? It’s Jil in parts, and Jung in parts. But Sanath’s Juk steals the show.
*****
The Jil Jung Juk review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the movie. Silverscreen.in and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.