What Is the Story About?
Prime Video India’s latest original series ‘Jubilee’ centres on the early days of Hindi cinema in Bombay, the city of dreams. Blending fact with fiction, the series tells the story of the rise of Hindi film stars of yesteryears, juxtaposed against the glamour, deceit, betrayals, manipulations that were a part of filmdom back in the forties and fifties.
Jubilee is written by Atul Sabharwal, created by Vikramaditya Motwane and Soumik Sen, and directed by Motwane. The series is produced by Andolan Films, Reliance Entertainment and Phantom Studios.
Performances?
Jubilee boasts excellent performances across the board. Prosenjit Chatterjee is superb as film studio owner Srikant Roy. He brings dignified gravitas to his character, padded up with the rakish sleaziness of a playboy. Aparshakti Khurana is perfectly on point as Binod Das, a film studio technician thrust in the limelight of stardom. Both are a terrific casting choice – full marks to Aman Devgan, the casting director of Jubilee, for going with the unconventional choices.
Aditi Rao Hydari looks luminous as Sumitra Kumari. Sidhant Gupta is a live-wire as aspiring filmmaker, Jay Khanna. He is entertaining to watch, not to say, portrays his character with effortless skill. Wamiqa Gabbi is very good as the badass Niloufer Qureshi. Ram Kapoor impresses in his shrewd, money-minded film financier avatar. Nandish Singh Sandhu is compelling in his tragic actor role. The rest of the cast is apt as well.
Analysis
Jubilee is Vikramaditya Motwane‘s love letter to Hindi cinema and its luminaries of a bygone era. Or more specifically, of the starry-eyed filmmaker in him. Starry-eyed, not because he’s some small-time country bumpkin, reveling in his first brush with the glamour of the film industry. But because every filmmaker — be it big-time and established; or small-time and aspiring — is bound to get starry-eyed when pondering over the hallowed history of Hindi cinema. Jubilee is more than a love letter. It is a mesmerising ode, a riveting ballad, a stirring sonnet to the fine art of filmmaking; to stars born, and the ones that fade into nothing.
In Jubilee, Vikramaditya Motwane has taken legendary anecdotes from the annals of Hindi film history, and spun a silken web of fictionalised tales from them, a web that lures and snares you in its enigmatic, seductive depths. Set in the forties and fifties, when India was in the throes of newly-won freedom, Jubilee recounts the rise of the Hindi film industry, the superstars of that era, and its experiments with new-fangled concepts of playback singing, cinemascope, and more. The series also highlights the absolute control that film studios had on the film business and its stars back then. And it does all of this in a way that engrosses and enthralls, keeping you glued to your seat as the story undulates mesmerisingly.
The colour palette is soft and sepia-toned, a necessary tool to pull off the period setting of the series. The colour grading strongly gives the feel of black and white films, despite the series being shot in glorious technicolour. Digitally created sets efficiently take one back to the Bombay of the forties. Watch out for digitally created shots of the legendary Empire theatre, Fort, Flora Fountain, all depicted the way they must have looked back then. The attention to detail in Jubilee is impressive and obsessive.
The pace of the narrative is perfect, as are the characterisations – all taken from real-life people of that bygone era. True-blue film buffs will have fun deciphering who’s who. Mildly fictionalised versions of Himanshu Rai, Devika Rani, Ashok Kumar, Sashadhar Mukherji, Suraiya, Dev Anand (or is it Raj Kapoor?), tainted one-time actor Najm-ul-Hassan, and yes, even a young Kishore Kumar, all make an appearance in Jubilee, along with the unique eccentricities and destiny drivers of the real-life characters. We’ll leave it to you to guess who’s who. Cinematic versions of Bombay Talkies, Achhyut Kanya, Radio Cylon, and more, also make an appearance in Jubilee.
To sum it up, Jubilee is a riveting watch, entertaining, engaging and enthralling in equal measure. The series is a must watch, especially for lovers of Hindi films, and its chequered history. Only five episodes of the series are out, from a total of ten. Let’s hope the rest of the series maintains the standards of excellence set by the first five episodes.
Music and Other Departments?
Amit Trivedi’s musical score is excellent, especially the Babuji song. The retro touch lends the perfect notes for the music to hit the sweet spot of authenticity and aural appeal. Alokananda Dasgupta’s background music is unique, unconventional and suits the tone of the series perfectly. Pratik Shah’s cinematography is superb, and enhances the storytelling by notches. The production design by Aparna Sud and Mukund Gupta is excellent, as are the digital effects by Arpan Gaglani. Production values are top tier. Aarti Bajaj’s editing is taut, crisp and flawless.
Highlights?
Casting
Performances
Treatment
Direction
Plot and premise
Production values
Technical aspects
Music
Drawbacks?
A tad contrived
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes
Will You Recommend It?
Yes
Jubilee Series Review by Binged Bureau
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