JERSEY MOVIE REVIEW : 36 year old's Ordeal to Identity Crisis is Quite Touching! But The Cricket Episodes go cliché

Story/Premise

Jersey is the story of Arjun who Aspires to reconcile his Cricket Career to fulfil his son’s birthday wish. Why he had to quit his career at first place , why he really wants to resume it again ? forms rest of the plot.

Review

Jersey makes you believe, it has opened up all its conflicts in the first half itself, The reason why Arjun (Nani) left cricket? why he lost his job? How they got married? All curious questions are answered in the first itself. Since those reasons are not so strong to lead a looser life, you are not fully convinced by interval and hence the choice to resume his career again doesn’t sound as impactful as it should. But, by climax you would realize that it was planned to be like that, The real reasons are revealed in the climax. in a way, you can call Jersey a Thriller but the build-up for it was not created so we can comfortably call it a Drama.

Though The Truth is revealed in climax but the truth was uncalled for or the makers made you ignore it so much that you did not expect it by the end. The whole quest of Arjun (Nani) to play for Team India begins from his son’s wish for team India jersey (hence the title) as gift for 7th Birthday, which Arjun isn’t able to buy. From there the identity crisis and self-evaluation begins, which makes him work hard to be not judged by his son.

There are some beautiful scenes in the movie that shows a lot of homework is put to make them. Like There is a scene between Arjun and a rival cricketers Girlfriend in which he asks her to fight with her boyfriend as much as she wants but do not leave him for that and to support him and then praises his own wife for being so supportive though rudely, that comes unexpected. Whereas the cricket match episode goes as usual as a cliché. The lead actor is a born talent and thrashes centuries by just practising one night before the match.

The strong point of Jersey is the intense and calm performance of Nani. 36-year-old Arjun(Nani) is much composed than when he was 26, He prefers to quit a problem than facing it. you get to know why by the end, then it all makes sense. Shraddha Srinath’s performance is mildly dented by lip-syncing, sometimes the dubbing artist’s voice doesn’t align with her lip movements or vice versa but otherwise, she has done a good job. Other artists have also done a great job as per their reputations, especially the child artist, he takes special attention. Anirudh’s music is apt and enhances the feel and intensity of the movie.