A docudrama gone terribly wrong

This is the first for me. I enjoy watching films, but have never really reviewed a film. However, this film based on the real life shooting of a model named Jesicca Lall in 1999 has somehow prompted me to write a couple of my reactions down. I was looking forward to the film 'No One Killed Jessica'. I was impressed by the promos that I saw on youtube and all the promotional interviews that I came across. After the film released I found many of my friends raving about this film on both Facebook and Twitter. Most of the film critics also praised the movie for both its bold choice of subject and its direction.

I watched the film last night on netflix and was left without a single emotion. I found that there were many problems with the film.

First, most of the characters in this film did not evoke a single emotion out of me. Be it the super bitchy role of Rani Mukerji (or however she spells it now!) based on journalist Barkha Dutt, or Sabrina Lall the younger sister of Jessica Lall who fought for justice for almost a decade, or the various witnesses in the case including the character based on Bina Ramani. The only convincing character was the investigating Police Inspector who was as real as the person sitting next to me. I was touched by the degree of helplessness that was portrayed by a government official who is supposed to be the keeper of law and order in the country.

Second, in his attempt to dramatize a real event, the director was not able to keep the authentic emotions of the characters and neither was he able to give it cinematic touch. It was somewhere between a documentary and thriller, which left me feeling quite cheated. Most of the characters overacted-the main culprit being Rani. Unfortunately she tries to hard to be the uber cool foul mouthed journalist. Vidya was passable. None of the other character actors left an impression on me either.

Third and probably the most important was the lack of portrayal of the case being retried. What happened in the high court? How was the missing evidence brought back? Were the hostile witnesses  used for the case again? There were also some obvious mistakes in the film. 

All and all, a film which already had such a fantastic story line, a film which could have been used to extend the optimism of the Jesicca Lall murder case and youth activism to other classes and sections of the society has not only disappointed me as a cine goer but also as a member of our society.