No One Killed Jessica
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When the entire nation was united during the Kargil War in 1999, one gritty sister was fighting a lone battle seeking justice for her sister Jessica Lall, a budding model who was shot dead during that summer.
Seven years later, when the accused were acquitted, a news channel took up the task to ensure Jessica got justice and united the nation again.
Now, in 2011, director Raj Kumar Gupta tries to rekindle the same emotions with No One Killed Jessica.
Gupta’s film looks at the aftermath of the Jessica murder case and brings to screen the trauma faced by Sabrina, Jessica’s sister, and her family. Jessica (Myra), a young bartender, is shot dead at a celebrity party for refusing to serve a drink after closing hours.
Pistol in his hand and power in his head, Manish (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub), the son of a politician, pulls the trigger in a fit of rage and kills Jessica. Here starts Sabrina’s (Vidya Balan) struggle. But she’s left all alone in her fight as the Kargil War and the Kandahar hijack take precedence over an ordinary citizen’s murder. The first half of the film is all about Sabrina, who travels to Kolkata to meet the prime witness, ‘bribes’ one and tries to keep all the seven witnesses on her side before the trial starts, only to lose the case.
Enter Meera (Rani Mukherjee), a journalist, who decides to bring out the truth in her own way.
To reconstruct a true incident that is still fresh in people’s mind (thanks to the media) is a tedious task. Yet one-film-old director Gupta does justice to the spirit. But in the second half, in an attempt to cover all the aspects of the murder case, he goes overboard. Rani Mukherjee’s role is brief.
Both her character and performance could have been better fleshed out. Vidya Balan steals the show with her simple looks and hard-hitting performance. Now, how about making films like No One Killed Ruchika and No One Killed Aarushi, Mr Gupta?