Begum Jaan Review: Begum has arrived! And she is here to take ur 'Jaan.'

Before watching 'Begum Jaan', I watched the movie that inspired this remake-'Rajkahini', a Bengali movie so there are going to be mentions of it in this review too. Rajkahini and Begum Jaan, both are lead by the same director, Srijit Mukherjee. It is suprising to see that the presentation of both movies differs drastically. Rakahini was led by the bengali actor, Rituparna Sengupta, Begum Jaan is lead by the super-talented Vidya Balan.
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Begum Jaan is superiorly backed by the ample of power packed performances. Vidya Balan playing the titular role can just be described in one word- Phenomenal. Though at times she goes a little 'too loud' but majorly she holds the movie together. With 16 characters in the movie, everyone having their share of screen time but Gauhar Khan as Rubina, Pallavi Sharda as Gulaabo, Ila Arun as Amma and Sumit Nijhawan as Salim impress the most. Though Ashish Vidyarthi and Rajit Kapur make an appearance, they disappoint. It won't be wrong to say that the cast at times went a little too overboard with their antics upsetting certain sections of the movie and Chunky Pandey as Kabir is the least menacing antagonist.
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The storyline of the movie is amazing, but I wonder why did Srijit Mukherjee had to unnecessarily infuse his clichéd writing, which I didn't get to see in Rajkahini .Somehow Srijit did try to infuse emotions and get us connected to the movie but sadly failed. What started as a promising movie turned into a sadistic, emotional and a disturbing drama. The editing, the cinematography, the art direction were on point but the hazy, fidget camerawork turn this brilliant piece of cinema disappointing and at times, a test of patience. But still, the dialogues the soulful lyrics of and the melodious voices of Asha Bhosle in 'Prem mein Tohre', Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Arijit Singh make this journey, soulful. The background score and the costumes are bang-on.
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With all said and done, Begum Jaan is not everyone's cup of tea and is a little overcooked with emotions and acting and at times goes overboard with the same but can be your watch for it's  brilliant premise, Vidya, Gauhar and music, which is not meant for mass appeal but the soulful voices infuse life and carry the movie forward. Begum Jaan also makes a strong statement about the condition of women in the country that much hasn't changed much since 1947. Begum Jaan is dark, disturbing but has its soul in the right  place especially in the last 8 minutes. Begum Jaan deserves a 3.5 stars and a score of 7/10. Begum Jaan is at par with Rajkahini, it's Bengali counterpart.
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P.S. Watch it only if you can handle exceptional noise and at times, over the top melodrama.
 

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