‘Jugnuma: The Fable’ movie review: Manoj Bajpayee makes Raam Reddy’s meditative exploration of human hubris and guilt fly

Coming at a time when the debate about the original inhabitant and the migrant/trespasser is raging across the world, young filmmaker Raam Reddy mounts a fable that fascinates with its subversive tone and veritable voice.

The atmospheric visuals and magic realism remind one of Marquez and Manoj Night Shyamalan, but Raam sets up his own leela in the hills of the Himalayas. In Jugnuma, Dev (Manoj Bajpayee) lords over the orchards that once belonged to the British masters. He has inherited the colonial privilege that he delegates to the locals to nurture his sprawling estate. Mundane meets the magical, as Raam opens a window to the Dev’s introspective nature. Suggesting the misplaced pride of being self-made, the genial master makes his own wings and glides over the hills to keep a check on the locals who work on his estate, look for possible trespassers, and perhaps test his boundaries.

As Sunil Borkar’s painterly camera, dressed up by Nithin Lukose’s evocative sound design, follows Dev before the jump, the heart skips a beat as Raam draws you into his canvas. Within the four walls of Dev’s heritage bungalow, there is a nurturing wife, Nandini (Priyanka Bose), who sings of Lord Shiva, the destroyer, a teenage daughter, Vanya (Hiral Sidhu), who is grappling with questions of sexuality and freedom, a precocious son, Juju, and two dogs. Together, they look for stars in the clear sky but miss the fireflies (the source of the Hindi title) in their garden that have been uprooted from their natural habitat because of pesticide use.

The poetry goes discordant when the cherry blossom trees in the estate start catching fire mysteriously. Doubts crop up in Dev’s mind as the fire engulfs large tracts of the estate. He feels the locals have challenged his authority. After the death of a worker, the local women allege a possible role of the pesticides. Dev’s devoted manager, Mohan (Deepak Dobriyal) and Keshav, the trusted leader of the workers, look for the clues, but Dev’s patience wanes. A vicious government official adds fuel to the fire.

Meanwhile, Keshav’s wife (Tillotama Shome) tells a bedtime story to her children about the fairies that descend from the ether to reclaim creatures of their ilk. As Dev’s fear behind the frown becomes apparent and he calls in the police to find the source of the fire, the cracks in the social contract surface, and the barriers of class and privilege unravel for the discerning. Do the lands truly belong to Dev? Like the cold fire of the uprooted fireflies heats the orchard in the realm of magic realism, the locals become agitated when they are put under suspicion. Raam doesn’t underline his intent; he whispers his point of view in the mountain air.

Shot in 16mm, the visuals work like weather-beaten memories stashed in a corner of the conscience that generate moments of guilt and introspection.

On the surface, it is told with a ‘once-upon-a-time’ flourish for an audience who don’t measure their cinematic experience in terms of slow or fast, parallel or crossover, the groggy voiceover conveys the tumult of the late 1980s when the old order gave way to the new, but 35 years later, the concerns remain the same. Vanya, the teenage daughter of Dev, gets hooked on one of the spiritual lamas roaming in the jungle. Curious to know the secrets of the jungle and his father’s wings, Vanya becomes a symbol of change. While Dev is busy looking at the bird’s-eye view of his property, the fire threatens to burn his courtyard. As the film progresses, Dev’s wings lose their magic, and the outsider/insider, the safe and the hazardous narrative, grips you.

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Manoj relishes roles that are rooted in moral ambivalence. Here again, he is absolutely convincing as Dev, a seemingly mild-mannered man at the top of the social hierarchy. He doesn’t have to shout to command respect. When the mysterious fire rages in his territory, the fear of losing his wings of superiority starts appearing on his face and body language, a space tailor-made for Manoj. Priyanka and Deepak merge into the narrative, but as I said, they are all puppets in Raam’s play.

Jugnuma: The Fable is currently running in theatres