Jai Ganesh - Unni Mukundan and Ranjith Sankar's mystery thriller is a flawed yet engaging watch; Here’s why
Jai Ganesh, the Unni Mukundan starrer helmed by Ranjith Sankar, hit the big screens on April 11, 2024. The mystery thriller is a highly engaging film, which still has a few flaws.
Jai Ganesh official poster
Jai Ganesh – What the Unni Mukundan starrer an engaging watch?
The best thing about Jai Ganesh is its duration. The Unni Mukundan starrer has a duration of just 2 hours and 5 minutes which makes it a crisp and engaging watch. Director Ranjith Sankar and his team avoided the cliched flashbacks and a parallel love track, which made the film a fascinating watch, especially in the first half. Even though there was a high scope for melodrama, the filmmaker refrained from taking that route, and conveyed the protagonist’s past subtly and it worked.
Also Read: Jai Ganesh Review - Unni Mukundan impresses in Ranjith Sankar’s engrossing mystery thrillerEven though there is a budding romance between Ganesh and Nidhi, the characters played by Unni Mukundan and Mahima Nambiar, the mystery thriller never really explores the same. And it has clearly benefitted the storytelling of the film, which deals with another complex subject. The inner turmoil of Ganesh is portrayed in a couple of scenes, and leading man Unni’s effective performance makes it enough for the audience to connect with the protagonist. The first half of the film was indeed an edge-of-the-seat watch.The warm friendship between Ganesh and little boy Ayaan makes an impact, thanks to the duo’s camaraderie. Even though leading lady Mahima Nambiar has nothing much to do in the film, her character serves as Ganesh’s emotional anchor, and it lands well. The scenes involving Unni Mukundan, and his father (played by senior actor Ashokan) also felt quite organic. When it comes to the investigation part of the film, starts on a high note until the narrative throws in a twist, as the journey of Ravindra Vijay’s character ends.
Also Read: Ranjith Sankar: Would have made Jai Ganesh even if I’d seen Maaveeran before shooting the film | ExclusiveJai Ganesh – What doesn’t work in the film?
The biggest flaw of Jai Ganesh is its over-indulgent second half, which solely focuses on the protagonist’s struggles to find Ayaan. Ganesh’s journey and his efforts get extremely repetitive to the point where the audience struggles to even figure out what is going on. A bit more clarity in the writing and making of the final act would have done wonders for the film. Similarly, the climax portion, where the protagonist makes the big brave move of his life, doesn’t end up well due to the same reasons.
Watch the best of South cinema on ZEE5, aha, ManoramaMAX, SunNXT and 250+ live TV channels with OTTplay Premium subscription of the Simply South pack that includes 19 streaming platforms at just ₹75 for the first month, using the code OTTORG75 Jomol plays the role of an Advocate who brings a major turning point in Ganesh’s life in the film. However, after her introduction, the character gets sidelined quite instantly, to only reappearing at times to have brief conversations with the protagonist. Sreekanth Vijayan’s character Prakash Puthran, who is introduced with a lot of potential, also suffers a similar fate. Leela Samson appears for a few minutes, only to include Ranjith Sankar’s signature ‘motivation’ factor into the narrative. Jai Ganesh would have had a more interesting end, the director only focused on the investigation part of the narrative.
Also Read: Trailer of Unni Mukundan’s Jai Ganesh depicts the resurgence of a comic artiste with some ‘unknown’ abilitiesShare