It is heartbreaking to reject a film that has so much heart in it. Jagga Jasoos wore a huge Barfi hangover. It reminded you of the cinematic styles of several storytelling legends from Satyajit Ray to Tim Burton, but ultimately it failed to meet any of the master storytellers.
Finally, this was a world that only Anurag Basu inhabits and comprehends. I am not too sure if that’s reason to rejoice. We can only partake of the goodies from the outside, like curious tourists peering into an exotic country from a cruising. The storytelling devices in Jagga Jasoos deliberately distance us from the bizarre goings on. The plot is a one-liner stretched vast acres of exposition and posturing.
A lot of the lengthy playing time is taken up by Ranbir’s Jagga on the run with ‘journalist’ Shruti. As played by Katrina Kaif, Shruti is a bit of a sloppy busybody. And naturally, like most of Ranbir’s most memorable heroines she is in love with someone else.
The basic story of an orphan in the North-East looking for his foster-father is lost in reams of dreams woven around the theme of a picaresque adventure in the African jungles populated with endearing species of the animal kingdom, with Saurabh Shukla playing a sinister arms dealer (if you please) in hot pursuit.
Anurag Basu’s first co-production with Ranbir Kapoor seemed to be in serious trouble from the start. After 60 per cent of shooting, the entire format of storytelling was changed. Jagga Jasoos was supposed to be a full-blown musical with back-to-back conversational songs carpeting the narrative. But then it was discovered that Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra was also making a musical called Mirziya where the lead pair would sing their heart out literally.
Then began Operation Clean-Up. Anurag Basu had to re-shoot as much as 50 percent of the film. The same thing had happened with Anurag Basu’s Barfi, where a lot of re-shooting had happened.
The biggest blow to Jagga Jasoos was the hasty exit of Govinda from the project. Govinda had been roped in to play Ranbir’s father. Govinda was unhappy with the way the role was shaping up. He was never very comfortable with the idea of playing Ranbir’s dad. But Anurag Basu coaxed him, saying it was a 17-year-old son’s character. But things didn’t seem to be what Govinda had been promised. So he quit.
Anurag Basu also offered Irrfan Khan Ranbir’s father’s in Jagga Jasoos. By doing so, Anurag Basu insulted the extraordinary actor on several levels. Firstly it was no more than a glorified cameo character of a quirky eccentric man.
In fact, Irrfan turned it down because he was in no mood to do cameos in films where supposedly more saleable stars took the lead.
Irrfan had said as much. “I’ve had this happening to me more than once. Directors whom I worked with in lead roles when they were starting out, coming to me with supporting roles after they became successful.”
Saswata Chatterjee finally played Ranbir’s father. After these delays, Rishi Kapoor lashed out against Anurag Basu, calling him a “irresponsible director” and questioning his right to take so long to complete the film.
The 3-year period that Jagga Jasoos took to be made took a toll on the nerves of everyone concerned. Apparently, Basu refused to show the underproduction film to anyone, and that included the film’s leading man, Ranbir and his family.
Known to take no nonsense, Ranbir’s father Rishi Kapoor, was livid at Anurag’s over-secretiveness. Apparently, Rishi Kapoor, who is known to blast his detractors first and then think of the consequences, had let it be known that he is not happy with Anurag’s secretiveness over Jagga Jasoos.
It’s interesting that Anurag admits to shooting Jagga Jasoos in between the schedules for Bombay Velvet. Barfi had been delayed because it was shot in the spaces provided during the shooting of Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar.
Anurag defended the delays, “Whether it’s Imtiaz during Barfi or Anurag Kashyap during Jagga Jasoos, they are both friends. And besides, it’s all Ranbir’s projects, so there is no question of prioritising wrongly.”
