Jugnuma Review: Manoj Bajpayee Turns Birdman In This Interpretation Of A Vivid Dream

Cinema is make believe and director Raam Reddy tries to do just that in his film Jugnuma, originally titled The Fable, which hit the screens today.

Set in 1989 where phones were still analogue, TVs were in boxes, and handycams were the new favourite gadget of the rich, the Hindi-English movie plays out like a grainy memory of a distant past exploring themes of class, ownership, outsider versus insider debate, and environment that are at the centre of today's discourse.

Jugnuma, shot on 16 mm film, begins like most fairytales. Before we are let into the world of Dev (Manoj Bajpayee) and his family, we are told "Ek samay ki baat hai", the Hindi equivalent of Once upon a time.

In this serene unnamed hilly town in Uttarakhand somewhere by the Himalayas lives Dev, who owns the Teen Pahad apple orchard estate which was passed on to him by his grandfather. We are told that the expansive property, which boasts of apple blossoms, pines, and all those trees that give the terrain its very character, was awarded to Dev's grandfather for being loyal to the British in the colonial era.

Dev and his family, a complaint wife Nandini (Priyanka Bose), a rebellious teenager daughter Vanya (Hiral Sidhu) on the cusp of sexual awakening who reminds one of a young Sofia Coppola's Mary from The Godfather III, and a playful son Juju (Awan Pookot) converse with each other mostly in English.

What we hear once the credits stop rolling is the sound of Dev brushing his teeth. The opening sequence, shot in a single take, sees Dev getting ready for the day in front of the mirror and applying a cream (moisturiser or ointment) on his shoulder blades. Weird, right? But we get the answers soon, well somewhat.

Dev is then greeted by the orchard workers who belong to Mool Gaon, a name that is an apparent hat-tip to the villagers to whom the estate originally belonged before it was colonised and then handed over to Dev's forefathers. Dev, eventually, enters his outhouse where he straps on a pair of wings, runs across a wood strip by a water body and takes off like a large bird into the sky. Here, we get our desi Birdman.

Jugnuma blends reality and reverie with the most gorgeous visuals of the mountains, clouds, trees, and streams, with fireflies or jugnu in Hindi as a leitmotif.

One day, Dev, played by a superlative Manoj Bajpayee, finds that a tree mysteriously burnt. He is confused but doesn't dwell much into it. Then "someone" burns five more trees. As there's no smoke without fire, Dev asks his pointman, estate manager Mohan (an excellent Deepak Dobriyal) to investigate if everything is normal in the village. The owners had asked the villagers to use pesticides to protect the trees and crops, a new move that initially caused some strain.

Mohan assures Dev while all is well, he'll still look into it. There's a subplot of passing horse nomads who meditate and chant in the mountains, who are later suspected of setting the fire. The patwari is also under viewed as a suspicious figure.

Amid these rising tensions, there's Keshav and his wife Radha. Keshav is Dev's trusted aide who takes care of the estate along with several other villagers. Like Mohan, he also asks Dev to trust him.

Radha, played by an ever dependable Tillotama Shome, is this young, wise village woman who narrates to her children a bedtime story of fairies who are stuck on earth but will go back once they realise who they are.

Just before the interval there's a scene where someone sets fire to blocks of trees in different wings of the mountainous estate. Dev and his employees try to contain the fire as much as possible but not without injuries. The entire frame of the scene burns frighteningly bright with the fire spreading in every direction.

The sight is scary, gutting, and enticing at the same time. The peaceful pinkish-blueish tinged beauty of the mountains and the vibrant yellow of the raging fire and the grey ash and smoke rising from the grouns in the aftermath as contrasts cut through Sunil Borkar's cinematography.

After the fire is put out, Dev is dejected, his trust in his loyal employees is broken and like a ruthless master, he stops their salaries till the culprit is found following an investigation, something that we all know by now would never happen.

Dev, meanwhile, asks his wife to go to her mother's house along with the children for safety. One night, the resigned patriarch spots fireflies in the garden. He is soon engulfed by them and all the viewer can see on that dark night are clusters of fireflies.

The magic realism makes you think. You ask were they just fireflies or were they sparks of fire that led to all the destruction? Looking at the fireflies warms your heart, for in the year 2025 spotting them is a rare sight. You also know a spark is enough to raze an entire estate to the ground.

After that dark, we never see the family together. We are told they are going "home".

Were Dev and his family those heavenly creatures Radha was talking about? Is the film a commentary on how greed corrupts the seemingly nicest people? Or, is it about preserving the environment and giving back to the community?

Jugnuma can also be pronounced as jagnuma, which means someone who can view what's happening with the world.

Had you seen it with your eyes as your aankhon dekhi you would have probably believed that not all was a dream. Take a leap, you might die or fly and find out who you are.