Rai and Irrfan shine, but Gupta's style overkill and a weak script hold it back.
Verdict tier Mixed, lukewarm or divided, on a scale of Unfavorable, Mixed, Recommended, Exceptional.
Not streaming in India
Critic consensus
Critical reception for Jazbaa was mixed to mildly positive, with most reviewers treating it as a passable one-time watch rather than a strong cinematic achievement. The performances of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Irrfan Khan drew the most consistent praise, with several critics noting that Irrfan in particular commanded the screen. Common criticisms centered on director Sanjay Gupta's stylistic excesses — specifically an intrusive green-yellow color filter, heavy-handed slow motion, and overwrought melodrama — as well as a weak, convoluted script that failed to match the quality of its source material or its lead performances.
8 not-rated reviews aren't plotted
Positive = 6.5/10 and up · negative = below 5/10
AI-generated summary of 33 critic reviews · may contain errors
Report inaccuracyFrom the papers
Top critics first, then by score · not-rated last · updated
Top critic
Film review ·
Overall, Jazbaa feels like a wasted effort, a clear case of superficial style triumphing over substance by a fair distance. But it has just enough for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan fans to justify a trip to the multiplexes. Jazbaa, however, is just as much, if not more, Irrfan Khan's film.
Top critic
Film review ·
Frankly it delivers more than its awful trailer promised. But good luck protecting your eyes and ears from this sensory overload.
Top critic
Film review ·
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is over-the-top in this convoluted, over-plotted crime-drama...
Top critic
Film review ·
Jazbaa is a mercifully brief movie, just about two hours long, but that's about it in terms of the good part...
Film review ·
Director Sanjay Gupta has done a fine job with 'Jazbaa' as it has a gripping storyline which keeps you glued to your seat. 'Jazbaa' is indeed a well directed and a well made suspense thriller and it also has a shocking climax which is least expected. Full marks to Sanjay Gupta, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Irrfan Khan and also the supporting cast. Book your tickets right away if you like well made suspense thrillers and one with a good revelationary climax.
Film review ·
...is a well-made film true to its genre. It has a message and it has a motive!
Film review ·
It's a hardhitting unconstitutional message, packaged and projected with a precarious panache peculiar to Sanjay Gupta's cinema. If you've ever wondered what edge-of-the-seat thriller meant, here's your chance to find out.
Film review ·
An edge of the seat thriller that delivers because of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Irrfan Khan's able performances, Jazbaa won't disappoint. Book your ticket today.
Film review ·
If you enjoy whodunits, watch it. You won't see the suspense coming.
Film review ·
Despite the story being highly far-fetched, the film is still arresting for its pacy storytelling, actors who perform with conviction, and a few interesting surprises in the finale. Whether it's the performances, the characters, the motive, or the storytelling-there are traces of jazbaa everywhere. Worth a watch!
Film review ·
Jazbaa's narrative has pace and power. From screeching car sequences to emotionally-charged showdowns between his accomplished lead cast; the film throbs. Which is not to say that there are no flaws. The green hue overshadows Mumbai's skyline. Aishwarya is rusty at the start but eventually takes charge of the dual aspects of her character. Aishwarya has made a judicious screen choice after that five-year hiatus!
Film review ·
...is compelling. If it were served like a food, it can be said, it was the meat of a meal with its vintage-like cinematography, pace and drama. And an ensemble that lived up-to its expectation.
Film review ·
Jazbaa is a captivating thriller with good performances that make it a decent one-time watch.
Film review ·
Sanjay could have spared us the over exaggerated melodrama but at the end of the day, Jazbaa is a great weekend watch and entertaining movie that you will enjoy watching!
Film review ·
The wicked climax of Jazbaa makes it a satisfying watch, but not a watertight thriller. Don't miss it:
Film review ·
Jazbaa is a film which thrives on style and Gupta knows how to present a thriller. Aishwarya Rai and Irrfan will take you to a new territory and then keep you there for most of its 130-minute duration. Jazbaa is a good watch this weekend.
Film review ·
If only Gupta had gone a little easy on the unnecessary and intrusive melodrama. Even then, it's a good one time watch for sure.
Film review ·
Jazbaa is daring, menacing, intriguing and aptly gripping but is never more than a shadow of its original. Novelty is avoidable if the product is able to latch itself to your subconscious (My facourite example of this is Barfi), but Jazbaa barely scrapes through on those grounds. It works but it could've been so much better.
Film review ·
Jazbaa is not quite the re-entry to Bollywood Aishwarya's fans had been expecting. But she does do a largely good job of nailing her mother-in-distress act... when not screaming her lungs out or weeping her eyes out, that is. Watch Jazbaa for the performances.
Film review ·
What could have been a powerful human drama is diluted by over the top performances, incoherent storytelling and an overblown script.
Film review ·
More than Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, this film is laced with unmissable performances of Irrfan Khan and Shabana Azmi.
Film review ·
Jazbaa is superficial. The mother aches for her daughter, but it is the glycerin in those pretty wide eyes that tells you so. All characters are grey which is pretty rare in Hindi films but they don't come together to make the film interesting. The motivations are unclear which builds an air of mystery but the conclusion so convoluted that the only reaction can be a resounding facepalm.
Film review ·
Post interval 'Jazbaa' becomes immensely watchable as the investigation proceeds and you try to wrap your mind around the various findings of the seemingly open-and-shut case. Like I said - 'Jazbaa' is flawed, but the end justifies the means.
Film review ·
A film like Jazbaa needs a constant tension in the story and in its characters given the straitjacketed situation they are in. The pace needed to transcend inane car chase sequences and seep into the restlessness of the characters. Gupta had a good story to work with and he lifts up the second half by several notches. But sadly, he gets too caught up in pandering to his Korean cinema fetishes to polish the story. He lands on a punch line every now and then, uses one slide of text in the end to make the film seem like one that is fighting the cause of rape, thereby completely stripping it of any character. He told us how to hold a coffee mug. If only he could hold on to a script as tight.
Film review ·
The film gives such gyan on life, love and universe that it seems less like a whodunnit murder mystery and more like a satsang. There is a spiritual spin to everything. A character in the movie says, I like holding my coffee mug close, because I want to hold my life close and feel it with my naked fingers. I laughed out so loud that my cheeks still hurt. Yep, you can hold the coffee mug close, hold your life close too. I am not sure if you should come anywhere close to Jazbaa.
Film review ·
Jazbaa will entertain in bits and leave you bewildered at points. Watch if you are hardcore Sanjay Gupta fan.
Film review ·
A mostly watchable thriller marred by its director Sanjay Gupta's penchant for excesses -- a greenish yellow filter that renders the frames more sickly than stylish unless it's some sort of bizarre metaphor for Ash's light eyes brimming in agony, a pounding background score that's so commonplace it serves little purpose and terribly reckless use of slow-motion.
Film review ·
Based on Korean drama Seven Days, Jazbaa shows the Indian judicial system working at the speed of light and also a leading lady going over the top. Jazbaa is a ham-fisted drama which is loud and never hits the right notes.
Film review ·
Despite landing a great idea, 'Jazbaa' remains a shallow watch, where Gupta indulges his South Korean fetish but never challenges himself or his characters to create a world that could've been menacingly gripping.
Film review ·
Good actors in a not so good film, is a scenario all too common in Hindi cinema. Jazbaa is another addition. Sanjay Gupta has brought in all his trademark moves, the green tinge, the slow motion shots and the jumpy editing. But while the visuals look slick, the story is really all too old and the presentation feels jaded. Watch this if you must for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who's still in top form. Pity her comeback film doesn't measure up to her efforts.
Film review ·
Gupta takes the plot of the Korean film Seven Days, but there's none of the tension or ambivalence that has made South Korean crime thrillers so distinctive and popular. The director appears to think that panoramic shots of Mumbai as seen through Instagram will make up for a slack script and absurd lapses in logic.
Film review ·
An fairly interesting plot kicks in. An official remake of Korean film, Seven Days, the screenplay moves fast in a gripping enough thriller mode. Gupta displays his old penchant for slick action and weaves a fairly engrossing tale.
Film review ·
Jazbaa is yet another testament to commercial Hindi cinema's obsession with impact over intent, which leads to making films that they think will earn money via razzmatazz and star power, as opposed to adhering to the basics of screenwriting, acting, and direction. In other words, it's a perfect addition to Gupta's checkered oeuvre.
Film review ·
Jazbaa will fail to deliver at the box-office and will entail losses to all concerned. Class audiences may find the film interesting but that will just not be enough.
Film review ·
Sanjay Gupta's remake of a Korean hit is designed as a comeback vehicle for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, but Irrfan holds sway all the way. The movie loses momentum after the interval and the contradictions pile up as in a train wreck, but there is always a scorchingly lit corner in a never before-seen shade of yellow or green to gaze upon.
Film review ·
The plot has all the ingredients for an entertaining potboiler but the director and the dialogue writer do not create empathy for the characters.
From our readers
15 ratings · user score 6.0
must watch this time irrfan and aish rocks..
Just loved it. Aishwarya is back.
In beginning few scenes, you come to know that makers have lost their balance. Like main female lead shouts like hell when her daughter gets missing from school relay race as if she was aware that her daughter could get kidnapped, if it was there then they should have established it in earlier scenes. Mother, daughter scenes are very routine, like missing to kiss while seeing her off to school, missing on dinner table. An over smart lawyer believes on kidnapper words, only seeing her daughter video that she is safe right now, video could have been past recorded too. Except climax nothing is new in story. Screenplay fails to offer any thrill. It just passes the information. First scene of court room is very childish but they wanted to use this character in later second half of film so just stuffed it. Dialogues by Mr. Kamlesh Pandey are too good. It is quite surprising that how can he manage to stud romantic gems in such type of dry genre film, like "Neend To Mashooqa Ki Tareh Hoti Hai, Waqt Na Do To Bura Mankar Chali Jati Hai" " Mohabbat Hai Isiliye To Jane Diya, Zid Hoti To Banhon Me Hoti." His work is simply adorable. Screenplay is so lame that ransom caller knows her every whereabouts except when she investigates. Even kidnapper send dummy hand to terrify her, how obsolete and repeated this one!? When they felt that screenplay is not being tight then they stuffed some meaningless characters, like Neyaj wife and few others. Most irritating stuff is showing flashback with every ones point of view statement. Seeing almost same things so many times is mentally tiring. How can a thriller can carry such type of stupid scenes? Interval is so exaggerated like typical high octane action movie. I liked one shot that is the way to take kid medicine by giving instruction to keep it in dog's collar pouch. Performance wise Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is good. Irrfan Khan is fantastic as always. Chandan Roy Sanyal as Neyaj, is very good. Shabana Azami makes her character believable with her fine expressions. Jackie Shraoff is OK. Atul Kulkarni is fine. One track by Amjad - Nadeem " Bandeya Tu Munh Mod Ke Na Ja Re, Ruk Ja Re" is melodious.
JUST SAW.. IT IS SIMPLY FABULOUS..
Take a city, add bombastic dialogs, add lots of green, and you get a Sanjay Gupta Film. Take the recipe, add an actress who had a hiatus of at least 5 years, and you get Jazbaa. Had it been 7 years, you would have got Jazbaaa, 8 then Jazzbaaa, 9 then Jjazzbaaa, and so on, but that's not the issue here. After showing the audience that she is fit and fine to come back to the screen by running through Marine Drive, Bachchan starts portraying the roles of a criminal lawyer, a marathon sprinter, a helicopter mom, and a Gold medallist screamer. Boy, she can scream anywhere, anytime, and at anybody. Suddenly, her school-going daughter is kidnapped by a tech-savvy abductor-cum-hacker-cum-righteous mamzer who demands that she fight the case of a convicted drug dealer and let him walk free. To our surprise, she agree to pay the unique ransom, and helping her in her child-saving mission is her childhood friend (really?), rustily played by Khan who is himself fighting an alleged graft case for heck's sake. What follows is neither new to our thriller senses nor is novel by an of its look-good approaches. Throwing green and more green at you just because it's your signature style does not work in 2015. We have reached Mars, for god's sakes. Apart from those delivered by Khan, all the dialogs are preposterous. Do you think you would scream "Where are you?" to a kidnapper who has just abducted your baby? Mr. Gupta does. Mrs. Bachchan's performance is particularly cringe-worthy as she moves here and there with a dead stare in her eyes and a lion's roar for a throat. Reacting throughout the film like you hate everybody is not the appropriate type of characterization that one adds into a story whose climax is more apparent than the actors' ages. The protagonist plays a lawyer who only defends known, guilty offenders because, she claims, "those who are not guilty cannot afford her." With this attitude, I had Arybhatta's greatest invention of cares to give. The screenplay is a hot mess. Trying to slip in few songs between a thriller film is the lowest thing Gupta has done for Jazbaa. There's even a hip hop song by Badshah somewhere which had great similarities with his number in Khoobsurat. It reminded me of its actress and I was done for the day. Courtroom sequences are nicely carved jokes here, where the judge is sleeping and the advocates themselves reaching a verdict, even making few educated guesses in front of him; it was unintentional humor. They are so bad that just these sequences can be tried in a real court for perjury. There's also a touch of activism, for cryin' out loud. I am all for woman-centric films, but churning out rubbish in the name of thrills and hiring an actress with a huge fandom and telling an ordinary story will be received the same way how other recent films are received in Bollywood, irrespective of the genre. Shroff and Azmi did a good job. BOTTOM LINE: Sanjay Gupta's Jazbaa is maybe made for the modern world where every other person is a thug, but after analysis, it just looks like green beef. GRADE: D- Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES
In the past year or so, we have been witness to some prominent heroines such as Manju Warrier, Jyothika etc. venture back into mainstream cinema . The latest to join that bandwagon is Aishwarya Rai who had taken a career break for motherhood. Her comeback vehicle is Sanjay Gupta's "Jazbaa", who is infamous for blatant ripoffs of Hollywood & Korean movies. Well the trailer seemed stylish & evokes expectations, but will it be the fairy tale return for Ash??? Anuradha Verma (Aishwarya Rai) is a prominent criminal lawyer whose exceptional competence meant she got her clients off the hook, irrespective of whether they were guilty or not; if they were able to afford her hefty pay check. Things take a turn when her daughter gets kidnapped & she is instructed to defend a convicted felon as ransom. With a few days left for the final verdict on that case, she had to race against time & ensure she turned the tables on an open & shut case for the sake of her daughter. With the help of her childhood friend, Inspector Yohan (Irrfan Khan) suspended from the force for charges of corruption; they try to unravel evidence that could possibly prove that the case wasn't as crystal clear as it seemed. But with time, it becomes apparent that there were other stronger forces at play who didn't wish that the case was reopened. So can Anuradha save her daughter & if so, at what cost??? It's been a couple of years since Sanjay Gupta had last made his appearance felt at the theatres through "Shootout at Wadala". To be frank, I have never been a fan of his movies as it oozed style & lacked content in most cases. Another aspect of all of his movies was that they were either copied from the West or Far East, which I didn't actually mind as long as it appealed to the senses; but invariably it didn't. His latest venture is also said to be a rip off of a Korean movie titled "Seven Days" (which I haven't seen), that has the premise of a thriller, but it failed to rise beyond a certain level & relegates to a melodramatic flick. Though the climax does provide a twist, it doesn't quite surprise the audience as expected & culminates in a predictable manner. In the technical department, the BGM by Amar Mohile was irritating while the colour tone used by Sameer Arya in the visuals didnt make it an enjoyable experience. However, Bunty Nagi's editing was crisp while Kamlesh Pandey's dialogues was witty at times. Though Ash doesn't quite fit into the top bracket of actresses (in terms of skill), she has done a decent job as the protagonist. Irrfan Khan tries to do justice to his role which didn't quite have the depth for an actor of his caliber, due to which it fails to impress. The same applies to Shabana Azmi & Atul Kulkarni as well, while the rest seemed average in their brief roles. Verdict: There is no doubt that the movie isn't going to make much impact at the box office & will depend on the multiplexes to break even. It should be able to do that after all there isn't much competition around & also due to its reasonable budget. So is it worth a try??? Hmm..well only if you are a fan of Ash or else forget it!!! Rating: 2.25/5 Regards...Ben
Credits
Aishwarya Rai BachchanAnuradha Verma
Irrfan KhanInspector Yohan
Shabana Azmi
Chandan Roy Sanyal
Jackie Shroff
Sara ArjunSanaya
Priya BanerjeeSia
Siddhanth Kapoor
Atul KulkarniHindi films like Jazbaa
Shootout at Wadala
2013
Kaante
2002
Yeh Saali Zindagi
2011
Dhoom 2
2006
Dhurandhar: The Revenge
2026
Radhe
2021
Shanghai
2012
Badlapur
2015
NH10
2015
Udta Punjab
2016
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