Jubilee series review: Treat for cinema lovers but leaves an unsatisfactory aftertaste

Nostalgia is arresting. The present is tormenting, the future is fidgety but the past is ever so calming. We always look for the good old days in the days gone by. This otherworldliness, the dim yellow lights, the red trams, the vintage cars, and the marquee theatres, bring alive the world of Jubilee, a new series by Vikramaditya Motwane and Soumik Sen. It’s a box of chocolates for film lovers, you never know what you’re gonna get.

Cast: Prosenjit Chatterjee, Wamiqa Gabbi, Aparshakti Khurana, Aditi Rao Hydari, Ram Kapoor, Sidhant Gupta, Nandish Singh Sandhu and Shweta Basu Prasad

Created by: Vikramaditya Motwane and Soumik Sen

Written by: Atul Sabharwal

Streaming on: Prime Video

1947. Not a simpler time. India is breathing in the fresh air of freedom mixed with the fumes of Partition. Movie mogul Srikant Roy (Prosenjit Chatterjee), the owner of the country’s biggest studio, Roy Talkies, wants his upcoming star Jamshed Khan (Nandish Singh Sandhu) back in Bombay. He has run away to Lucknow with Sumitra Kumari (Aditi Rao Hydari), the better half of both Srikant and Roy Talkies. The lovebirds wish to fly away to Karachi. Srikant isn’t pleased as this hampers his plans to launch Jamshed as Roy Talkies' biggest star, Madan Kumar. He employs his minion, the servile Binod Das (Aparshakti Khurana), to escort them back to Bombay. Things, however, don’t go as per the plan. There is a car accident. Jamshed is lynched by a mob during the riots. Binod becomes the new Madan Kumar.

If you are a film history buff, you will draw parallels between the plotline and the tale of Devika Rani and Himanshu Rai who established Bombay Talkies in 1934. Devika eloped with her co-actor Najam-Ul-Hassan during the shooting of Jeevan Naiya (1936). She eventually returned and the film was reshot with a new star, a lab assistant at Bombay Talkies, Kumudlal Ganguly, better known as Ashok Kumar. Although, I hope the similarities end here.

Jubilee’s strengths lie in weaving a plot around the myths and legends of the film world. It almost becomes a game for the audience to spot who’s who. Aparshakti’s Binod has Ashok Kumar-like origins but on-screen he acts with restraint like Manoj Kumar. Aspiring director Jay Khanna (Sidhant Gupta) has a street-hustler charm like Dev Anand. His first directorial is also called Taxi Driver, a namesake of Anand’s 1954 film. Srikant Roy’s introductory shot, where he enters the gates of Roy Talkies in his luxurious top-down car, reminded me of Guru Dutt’s entry scene in Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959). The dialogue is sometimes ominous, sometimes tongue-in-cheek. A minister, when shown that songs can be shot with freer visuals on pre-recorded music, surmises “Songs are supposed to be heard, nobody cares how they look.” The same minister later assures his Russian cronies, “Don’t worry, films will come under the government soon.”

When it comes to performances, Aparshakti Khurana reigns supreme. He implodes with psychological turmoil, speaks plainly and seems like he is always on the lookout for an abyss to scream into. Sidhant Gupta as the hustler Jay is a bit raw but what he lacks in experience he more than covers up in sincerity. Nandish Singh Sandhu and Prosenjit Chatterjee have a looming presence over the series. Aditi Rao Hydari looks dreamy as a yesteryear heroine but her expressions are one-note at times. Wamiqa Gabbi scores as the courtesan, mistress and aspiring actress Niloufer Qureshi. Her eyes are exuberant and she effortlessly taps into the chirpiness of the character. Ram Kapoor is affable as the money-minded financer Shamsher Walia.

The series boasts impeccable production design. Production designers Aparna Sud and Mukund Gupta have built the dream world of 1940s Bombay in soft hues and vibrant colours with commendable consistency. Pratik Shah’s cinematography grabs the despondency of a refugee camp and the dazzle of elite clubs with finesse. The shots of vintage cars parked outside high-end hotels or on beaches are worthy of being put on canvas.

The plot, however, wears thin after some time. The central contention of whether leaving a man to die is the same as murdering him loses heat. Atul Sabharwal’s screenplay seems too sure of its beats and soon starts wobbling and going haywire. Jubilee rushes at some bits and feels indulgent in others. The world it builds has the grand beauty of cinemascope but when it comes to the narrative, the reel runs out, too fast, too soon.