Jack Movie Review

After delivering two back-to-back blockbusters, DJ Tillu and Tillu Square, Siddhu Jonnalagadda teamed with director, Bhaskar, for an action comedy thriller film, Jack. The combination of Siddhu & Bhaskar’s raised the curiosity among the audience when the film was announced. And, the expectations were raised further when the makers roped in Baby fame, Vaishnavi Chaitanya, to play the female lead in the movie. However, due to the not-so-good songs, the teaser and the trailer, the hype around the film got diluted and the film released in theatres today devoid of any buzz around it. Did Siddhu Jonnalagadda deliver a hat-trick of hit films with Jack after DJ Tillu and Tillu Square? Did the director, Bhaskar, utilise the opportunity to provide a hit film? Did Siddhu Jonnalagadda and Vaishnavi Chaitanya’s pairing look good on screen? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

Pablo Neruda Aka Jack (Siddhu Jonnalagadda), a topper in studies does not want to do a boring and ordinary job and aspires to become a RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) agent to serve the country. He attends the interview to become a RAW agent and even before the interview results are announced by the agency, he starts his mission along with another aspiring RAW agent, to catch a terrorist. What were the troubles Jack caused to him and to the official RAW agents who were already working on a mission to catch the same terrorist? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Siddhu Jonnalagadda continued from where he left in Tillu Square. Although not in sync with the actual storyline of the film, he was able to generate a few laughs here and there with his Tillu’Ish dialogue delivery and mannerisms. He did try action sequences but it did not work due to the director’s lack of clarity in execution.

The idea of casting Vaishnavi Chaitanya as a female lead opposite Siddhu Jonnalagadda backfired big time. The lack of chemistry between the lead pair along with the boringly written romantic track made the proceedings awful. Even an actor of Prakash Raj’s calibre appeared lost because of the weak characterisation.

Naresh and Brahmaji generated a laugh or two during their initial sequence but again, they too do not have much to do in the film. Rahul Dev appeared in a brief role as the antagonist and there is not much to talk about his performance.

Prakash Raj, Naresh, Brahmaji, Subbaraju and Rahul Dev are seasoned actors but all of them appear lost throughout the film due to the poorly written characters and their execution.

Technicalities:

Three music directors, Achu Rajamani, Sam C.S. and Suresh Bobbili shared the credit for the music of the film but none of their work is worth appreciating. Both the songs and the loud background score failed to create any impact.

Vijay C Chakravarthy’s cinematography is pretty ordinary. The duration of the film is only around two hours and fifteen minutes and yet gives a feeling of being dragged. Editor Naveen Nooli should have edited at least ten minutes of sequences. Production values by the banner, Sri Venkateswara Cine Chitra, are extremely poor. It looked like the film was shot in a hurry with very limited budget, especially in the second half.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠Siddhu’s Comedy Timing

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Direction
2.⁠ ⁠Silly & Confused Screenplay
3.⁠ ⁠Production Values
4.⁠ ⁠Songs
5.⁠ ⁠Loud Background Score
6.⁠ ⁠Lack of Chemistry Between The Lead Pair

Analysis:

The current generation of audience, especially post covid, are quite used to watching many very well-made SPY thriller movies and shows (i.e. serious & intense action thrillers and action comedy thrillers) available on multiple digital platforms. Most of the already available shows and movies were made with very gripping and intelligent writing and breathtaking action sequences. A filmmaker who wants to make a film involving SPY action should put all the effort into the writing and should come up with a very gripping narration.

Unfortunately, three Telugu filmmakers who tried the SPY genre in the last few years failed miserably at the writing table itself. Akhil’s ‘Agent’, Nikhil’s ‘Spy’ and now Siddhu’s ‘Jack’, all three films suffered with poor writing and silly execution. Right from the very first sequence, Jack suffers with lack of imagination and innovative ideas from the director and writer, Bhaskar.

The director, Bhaskar tried to mix almost every emotion(i.e. action, comedy, romance, patriotism, mother sentiment, thriller, etc.), but none of them worked. All we get to see is a group of RAW agents behaving like small-time police constables who do not have a clue about what they are doing. An amateur, Jack, finds out all the plans of the protagonist with his so-called intelligence and street-ass smartness even before the senior RAW. The entire screenplay involving RAW agents is silly and laughable.

On top of the boring ‘thrilling’ drama, the director included an equally boring romantic thread. All the sequences involving Siddhu Jonnalagadda and Vaishnavi Chaitanya lacked freshness and the lack of chemistry between them was very visible on screen. It looks like the entire romantic track, especially in the second half and the dialogues in the romantic track werec written by Siddhu himself. All the dialogues were straight out of Tillu’s book and lacked freshness.

Overall, Jack is a disappointing film from Bhaskar in every possible way with his lack of clarity and imagination in his thoughts while writing the script. Siddhu Jonnalagadda generated a few laughs here and there but the lack of support from the technical department including the director worked against the film.

Bottomline: Disappointing

Rating – 2/5

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