Avinash Patalay In life some moments end up obtaining the status sacrosanct. No matter how hard one attempts, they cannot be relived and any attempt to recreate the magical moments go futile. The same would applies to Madhur's "Page 3". In hindsight it serves the purpose of being an yardstick, a guiding light force, a benchmark simply to aspire but never surpass. "Page 3" created a genre which signified a fine balance of ingredients of parallel cinema doused with commercial sensibilities. Madhur's subsequent outings were attempts to fit into this genre but his every passing milestone were getting over-weighed by commercial temptations. "Corporate" and "Traffic Signal" to a certain extent carried the soul of "Page 3" but with "Fashion" it was transparent that the voice of "Page 3" was silenced and in his recent outing "Jail" the voice has perhaps died of extreme suffocation. "The Green Mile", "Teen Deewarien" and "The Shawshank Redemption" are the thought that would spring into the mind as you watch "Jail" especially the latter with Manoj Bajpai reprising the role of Morgan Freeman. Indeed the stark reality, the rustic look and nexus is portrayed with utmost perfection. Sadly the plot fails to bear the weight and the seams begin to give away with each passing reel. Performance wise, everybody is spot-on. Its difficult to segregate between the actors and the actual inmates. ˚ Niel: Gets a role of his life-time to showcase his talent in full glory. Sadly, as mentioned earlier the writing fails. Commendable is his commitment to get into the character and thereby gets an authentic look. And yes, the way his character gets implicated warranted better writing. ˚ Mughda: Seemed her character was more of glam-doll. And quite cinematic for her to stand up to the protagonist right from first frame.˚ Manoj: The character did not have much meat in it therefore he appears to akin to a goat peering his eyes into the camera.˚ Arya Babbar: Leaves an impression.˚ Navni Parihar: Except to stand next to Mughda, her character served no purpose (probably pre-meditated the "Saas-Bahu" equation well in advance!)˚ Atul Kulkarni: Very small role.Whilst the "Page 3" ending was a realistic ending, the wrap-up of "Jail" is so commercial (on the same note even "Fashion" was).

danish_c Madhur Bhandarkars movies are completely different from the senseless bollywood movies we have become use to. This person has the courage and guts to bring life to film making in India. I feel sorry for the people who have failed to appreciate his art. Neil Nitin Mukesh has made a tough but correct decision in his career as an actor, there are greater things in life than making a lot of money with zero effort and Niel has proved his worth as a true artist. Manoj Bajpai is one of the greatest in this industry and jail is another great piece of his work. i would recommend this movie to every one as it is an eye opener to the cruelty which innocent people have been facing in the sub continent for decades. Britain has a great legal system, Pakistan and India follow the same law but apparently have become a lost cause. Rating: 5/5

sniperswagat With Jail, Madhur Bhandarkar continues his take on reality. This time, he looks behind the closed bars of a jail to look at the stories that reside there.Parag Dixit (Neil Nitin Mukesh), a financial whiz- makes money by the plenty and lives life to the fullest with his air-hostess girlfriend Mansi (Mugdha Godse) in tow. Unfortunately for him, his roommate turns out to be a drug peddler and operates without his knowledge. The police catch Neil and accuse him of co-conspiring with his roommate, who lies in an ICU, in a coma.Falling prey to the notoriously slow judicial system, Parag ends up in jail, still pending trial. How he handles this new environment, and the stories of other individuals that inhabit the world behind bars, makes up the crux of the story.The basic premise of 'Jail' is one that can be claimed to have been lifted from a Jeffrey Archer novel, or the countless masala movies that are churned out of Bollywood every year. Where it differs is in the portrayal of the jail, forever consigned to be fairly open cells housing 1-2 prisoners, 'Jail' shows them for being what they really are. But unlike some of his earlier ventures, the exposes and the inside look ends there. There is nothing new that Madhur uncovers here: the underworld, the wrongfully-in-jail characters, the politicians holding court have all been seen before. Another problem is that the characters are too stereotypical. The good boy, the bhai's henchman, the gay couple seem out of a story and not real life. And that is where 'Jail' falters.Madhur Bhandarkar is known for his brilliant direction that keeps us motivated to sit through potentially depressing themes and stories. While this is his least depressing venture till date, he fails to deliver the same brilliant speed and sense as always.Neil Nitin Mukesh does a good job of portraying Parag, the man who is wrongfully incarcerated. It takes an immensely brave man to take up a role which is so challenging in nature. He's on screen for more than 90% of the screen time, going through so many different emotions, and also the much-talked about nude scene. He makes Parag believable. Kudos to Neil.Mugdha Godse gets very less scope as Mansi, but manages to do a decent job. Manoj Bajpayee as Parag's sympathizing co-inmate is the narrator of the movie, but somehow gets only a perennially sad expression to work with. He manages to still pitch in a good performance. His performance in the flashback sequence is his high point. This has to be expected though, with the film showcasing and focusing on Neil throughout.The music in 'Jail' is simply there to make up the numbers. Even the legendary Lata Mangeshkar's 'Daata Sun Le', though rendered as well as her songs are, could have been done without. 'Bareily ke Bazar mein' is absolutely useless placement wise and is only just bearable in terms of song quality.Kalpesh Bhandarkar captures the jail well on screen, giving the viewer as if he's looking at a sea of humanity and brings home the gruesomeness of the jail. Nitin Desai should bag the award for the best art direction unless a Sawariya or Devdas like set comes up in the movies coming up in the next month. The jail is incredibly well etched out, right down to the wall carvings.Final Verdict: Overall, Jail is only slightly above average. Watch it on the big screen only if you must. Wait for a TV release in my opinion.

Herag Halli If any one can depict a "bewildered" "why-me?" look, that would be clearly-Neil Nitin Mukesh as Parag Dixit. The look is familiar since his Debut in "New York". He takes the look further with some depth and dexterity under the baton of Madhur Bhandarkar. The other good actor is Arya Babbar-as Kabir. The look he gives when Parag tells him, that he could kill, is fine piece of acting. Mughda Godse's who made her Debut in "Page 3", as Parag's fiancé has acting skills akin to Konkana Sen Sharma, with buxom expressive eyes. The movie has a thriller quality to it with sub-plots that keep you on the edge. Manoj Bajpai as Nawab, comes across like a Halloween scary character on the surface appears to have a devious agenda but he is one character that the viewer will have most sympathy for-even though he is in for a serious crime. He also has the best diction for narration in fact he should have narrated the whole movie as Morgan Freeman did in "Shashank Redemption". The movie has few similarities to "Shashank Redemption" but the similarities are more generic since the theme is a Jail irrespective of the geography. Madhur Bhandarkar has a flair for showing the raw-edge of the society, where as the other film makers would shun away from. He is one of the best self made "Casting Agent" in India. He would never hire meat-head actors like Salman Khan, Aamir Khan who have absolutely nothing to offer to the Indian Cinema.Bhandarkar,invariably has a deep message ("behind bars but not beyond justice") as in "Traffic Signal", "Chandini Bar" "Satta" and other fine movies. I am sure he has other "Themes" in the pipeline that would wake up the Society from Slumber. Suffice to say, I have become a devote fan of this director-more so after this movie.