Nagraj Manjule pulls of another fantastic stint with raw actors and along with Big B, delivers an entertaining yet heart-warming sports-drama depicting a real picture of the India we live in.

Jhund is the Bollywood debut of the Sairat director, Nagraj Manjule. He has previously predominantly worked on Marathi films including the critically acclaimed Fandry. The super-hit Sairat still remains the highest grossing Marathi film of all time. Nagraj’s films always revolve around and depict social issues and are mostly inspired by his growing up days as a Dalit boy in a small village of Maharashtra. He has also written-directed and acted in a short film of the anthology series ‘Unpaused: Ek Naya Safar’ streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Jhund is inspired by the life of Vijay Barse who founded the NGO, Slum Soccer. Amitabh Bachchan plays the character of ‘Vijay Borade’, a teacher on the verge of retirement who unites the slum kids to play football. Jhund has a golden heart and a strong message to give. Just like other films with this theme including Gully Boy, Parasite and ABCD etc., Jhund also puts forth how we have differentiated the people who live in the slums and consider them as untouchable human beings. Nagraj has very beautifully captured the fact that the people of the slum are bound to make wrong decisions only to be able to make an existence. Yet, these people are kind, understanding and have a big heart. He also beautifully pictures the change in the behavior of the entire slum as soon as Football unites them and everyone starts finding purpose in the sport.

The best of this movie lies in its performances. While Big B is great, of course, the real stars of this movie are Nagraj’s handpicked actors who are raw, organic and yet flawless in front of the camera. Just like Akash Thosar and Rinku Rajguru from Sairat, he is giving the industry a few more brilliant actors. Only and only Nagraj Manjule can direct and juice out such exceptional performances from actors like these.

The writing of Jhund is great. Especially, the dialogues are written very organically. The production design and cinematography are excellent too. Ajay-Atul’s BGM is decent if not their best.

Jhund, apart from being a film with social agendas, it is also an entertaining sports drama. The first half is filled with wholesome comedy and an extremely enjoyable football match sequence. The second half, though, gets hay-wire, boring and is extremely dragged to a relatively flat climax.

Overall, Jhund is not only entertaining but also puts forth an important message in a way that the mass and people who don’t consume a lot of art and intellectual content on OTT will be able to digest. And of-course, it is also a treat for all the Bachchan fans!

You can watch the trailer here: