Annand Chavan and Mobius Films’ Jhalki (UA) is the story of a little girl who fights a valiant battle with powerful men who’ve held her younger brother captive alongwith other kids to use them as bonded labour.
Jhalki (Aarti Jha) follows her younger brother, Babu (Goraksha Sakpal), when he is sent by their mother with Ramprasad (Govind Namdev) who trades in human beings, mostly kids. When Jhalki is unsuccessful in tracing her brother after the two are separated, help comes from a reporter, Priti (Tannishtha Chatterjee).
Prakash Jha and Brahmanand S. Singh have penned a story about kids but it lacks emotional appeal. The screenplay, written by Kamlesh Kunti Singh, Tanvi Jain and Brahmanand S. Singh, is predictable and hence loses charm. There is hardly any novelty. The trio’s dialogues are in Hindi and Bhojpuri — and the Bhojpuri part of the dialogues becomes restrictive in appeal.
Aarti Jha is a natural actress and impresses with her innocent face and overall performance. Goraksha Sakpal is alright. Sanjay Suri lends good support as collector Sanjay Bharatiya. Divya Dutta stands her own as Sunita Bharatiya. Tannishtha Chatterjee makes her presence amply felt in the reporter’s role. Govind Namdev is quite good as Ramprasad. Akhilendra Mishra has his moments as Shivlal. Bachan Pachera lends nice support as Rahim chacha. Joy Sengupta is passable as SDM Akhilesh Kumar. Boman Irani adds star value in a brief role as Kailash Satyarthi. Yatin Karyekar, Sailesh Dubey, Sanchita Goswami, Vikram Singh and Krishnakant Bajpai provide average support.
Brahmanand S. Singh’s direction is below the mark. He has not been able to make a heart-touching drama. Sandesh Shandilya’s music is ordinary; the ‘Chandamama’ song is alright. Lyrics are commonplace. Rupesh Kumar’s cinematography passes muster. Suresh Pai’s editing is ordinary.
On the whole, Jhalki is a flop show.
Released on 14-11-’19 at Inox Metro (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Panorama Studios. Publicity: fair. Opening: weak. …….Also released all over. Opening was very poor everywhere.