Zee Studios and Makhijafilm’s Joram (UA) is  a thriller. A desperate man runs for his life with his infant daughter even as the system wants him crushed at any cost.
Dasru alias Bala (Manoj Bajpayee) is a tribal Adivasi who now lives in Bombay and works along with his wife on a construction site. An unknown person murders his wife (Tannishtha Chatterjee) and makes an attempt on Dasru’s life too but he overpowers him and escapes with his infant daughter, Joram. A police officer, Ratnakar Bagul (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub), is hot on his trail and so is a bereaved mother seeking revenge. Has Dasru wronged the mother? Who was the stranger who wanted to eliminate Dasru? Does Dasru succeed in saving his own life and that of his little baby?
Devashish Makhija has written a story and screenplay, both of which hold the audience’s attention to some extent and keep them engaged but not completely involved. The drama is often dry, and it is meant only for the class audience because it does not have the usual trappings of a commercial potboiler. It also tends to get monotonous at places because it moves on a single track with no diversions whatsoever. The first half is slower than the post-interval portion which even otherwise is better. Devashish Makhija’s dialogues are not as weighty as they ought to have been. The dialect of Jharkhand, spoken by the characters, further restricts the appeal of the drama.
Manoj Bajpayee is extremely good in the role of Dasru/Bala. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub lives the role of Ratnakar Bagul. He expresses his predicament beautifully. Tannishtha Chatterjee leaves a mark in a special appearance as Vaano. Smita (Tambe) D. Dwivedi is effective as Phulo Karma. Megha Mathur makes a fine impression as Bidesi. Suman Purty delivers a good performance as Birsi. Jacky Bhavsar has his moments as Muchaki. Aditya Kumar Bhagat is cute as baby Joram. Amrendra Sharma lends nice support as Samson. Shubham Panna (as Madvi), Nimmy Raphael (as Sammakka), Sandeep Shikhar (as sub-inspector Khatri), Sunil Jadhav (as ACP Raje), Mandar Gokhale (as MLA Bhavsar), Dashrath Hansda (as Babulal Karma), Pankaj Murmu (as Sido), Pankaj Sinha (as Dhuriya), Manikant Shital (as Agrawal) and the others provide decent support.
Devashish Makhija’s direction is effective and sensitive. Music is fairly good. Jungle mein mare miss call (composed by Pratul Vishera, lyrics by Vinamra Pancharia) is the best number. Zameen nahin denge (music and lyrics by Vinamra Pancharia) is also good. Mangesh Dhakde’s background music is quite nice. Piyush Puty’s camerawork is excellent. Action and stunt scenes (by Riyaz Shaikh and Habib Sayed) are raw. Shamim Khan’s production designing and Sunil Shirsat’s art direction are both very good. Abhro Banerjee’s editing is quite sharp.
On the whole, Joram is a well-made film but its box-office prospects are very poor. It is actually a festival film worthy of awards.
Released on 8-12-’23 at Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay by Zee Studios. Publicity & opening: extremely poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak everywhere.