Qskan: Jail (2009)

JAIL involves you from the very start. The inmates, their crimes, their individual stories… you get drawn into a world that’s very real. So real that you feel it’s happening right in front of your eyes.

Madhur has a knack of narrating stories and he narrates the story of Parag Dixit with razor-edge sharpness. Besides, JAIL also enlightens you of the legal process, which also acts as an eye-opener.

At the same time, the legal procedures and also the behavioural pattern of the inmates tend to get repetitive after a point and that’s when you start feeling restless. Nonetheless, the post-interval has some interesting twists-n-turns, like the convicts’ escape from the police van; prior to that Neil and Manoj exchanging stares before Neil perches himself in the van; Neil getting thrown in a dark cell, spending the next few days in solitary confinement; a convict using the garbage van as the means to escape; another convict realising that his wife is now a cop’s mistress. Also, the climax is touching and moves you.

Madhur hits the right note yet again. Madhur, Manoj Tyagi and Anuradha Tiwari’s script involves you in most parts. Raghuvir Shekhawat’s dialogues are true to life. There’s no scope for music in a film likeJAIL , but the three songs are smartly integrated in the storyline. Kalpesh Bhandarkar’s cinematography is top notch. Special mention must be made of Nitin Chandrakant Desai’s prison set, where the film is entirely shot.