Mahakaal Movies Pvt. Ltd.’s Jahangir National University (A) is about the left wing students and their confrontation with the right wing students in a college campus. It is inspired by the activities in a controversial college of the country.
Saurabh Sharma (Siddharth Bodke) is a new student in Jahangir National University. He supports the government at the centre and, therefore, is like a thorn in the eyes of the left-wing students led by Krishna Kumar (Atul Pandey). Some of the staff members and professors of the college also support the left-wing students and even turn a blind eye to their wrongs. Saurabh Sharma is the leader of the group of right-wing students.
The story and screenplay (credited to nobody) borrow liberally from the current affairs of the country in general and the happenings in a leading college of India in particular. The plus point is that it is contemporary and shows threadbare what all goes on on a college campus in the name of education. The minus point is that since one has already read and seen a lot of the same drama in newspapers and on television channels, there is very limited shock or novelty value. The dialogues (again, credited to no one) are laden with swear words, many of which have been passed by the CBFC and several of which have been muted. It is good that the CBFC has cleared many of the four-letter words because without them, the drama would’ve not had half its impact.
Siddharth Bodke acts wonderfully as Saurabh Sharma. He gets into the skin of the character and holds the audience’s attention with a powerful performance. Urvashi Rautela is alright as Richa Sharma. She gets very limited scope to perform. Atul Pandey gives a good account of himself in the role of Krishna Kumar. Another fine performance comes from Kunj Anand who plays Akhilesh Pathak (Baba). Sawant Singh Prem is endearing as Tatli; his acting is natural. Shivjyoti Rajput is earnest as Saira Rashid. Jennifer Piccinato makes her mark as Nyra. Umar Sharif lends decent support as Nyra’s first boyfriend, Amar. Ravi Kishan and Vijay Raaz lend lovely support as police inspectors Ramkishan and Tokas respectively. Piyush Mishra has his moments as Guruji. Rashmi Desai leaves a mark as Yuvedita Menon. Pratima Dutta stands out in the role of Varsha Dutt. Vinay Sharma is good as Rabish Kumar. Ashok Kumar Beniwal entertains as the effeminate Prof. Bhaskar. Siddharth Bharadwaj is impactful as Prof. Anjum Shakeel. Chanchal Khatana is natural as dean Mahalakshmi. Savi Sharma (as Priyadarshni), Geetika Mahendru (as Vasudha Kumari of the left-wing group), Fenny Gandhi (as Saloni Yadav), Yogesh Garg (as Pradeep), Sonali Seygal (as Jahanvi Ojha) and the rest are adequate.
Vinay Sharma’s direction is convincing. He has narrated the drama in an interesting manner. Music (Vijay Verma, Amjad Nadeem and Saaransh Maiden) is fair. Lyrics (by Manthan, Deepak Sharma, Vinay Sharma and Danish Rana) are appropriate. Adil Sheikh and Tushar Kalia’s choreography is functional. Vijay Verma’s background music ought to have been better. Parth Navle’s camerawork is appealing. Shivani Shivaji Bhosale’s production designing, and Biswanath Ray’s art direction are alright. Sanjay Sankla’s editing is crisp.
On the whole, Jahangir National University is a well-made film but its box-office prospects are poor because awareness about its release and, in fact, about its existence is minimal.
Released on 21-6-’24 at Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PVR Inox Pictures. Publicity & opening: very poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak everywhere.