Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey Review: Razor-sharp satire induces chills and laughs at once

Darshana Rajendran doesn't speak a lot in Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey. But whenever she does say something, it's designed for maximum impact. (She also does another, very cool, thing for the same purpose, but let's not get into spoilers, shall we?) If I remember the details correctly, except for three characters in Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey (JJJJH), everyone else talks too much; and they cause the most problems. It reminds me of that Denzel Washington line in American Gangster: "The loudest person in the room is the weakest person in the room." The three characters who talk the least are Jaya (Darshana Rajendran), her brother (Anand Manmadhan), and her sister-in-law (Sheethal Zackaria). 

Director: Vipin Das

Cast: Darshana Rajendran, Basil Joseph, Sheethal Zackaria, Anand Manmadhan, Azees Nedumangad

Although Jaya is the central character, the other two also make a memorable impression despite their short screen time. It's one of the admirable qualities of JJJJH, you see -- every character is so vividly written and performed. Only hours after seeing the film, I recall clearly what role each actor played in it, just by looking at their faces in the poster; none of them seemed unnecessary: they all had something to contribute, even someone like Jan-e-Man breakout Sarath Sabha, who, despite playing a background character, pitches in with some great comic relief.

JJJJH is like a psychology textbook. You can create profiles of every character in it. You can initiate debates around them because it's a microcosm of Indian society in general. One doesn't find a film that makes you uncomfortable and laugh at once every day. Odd combination, isn't it? I recognised people in my own family, only with different faces. I've heard some of these conversations before, and it's precisely why the film made me uncomfortable -- because it reminded me of all those times when I had to challenge every narrow-minded family member I had encountered. And I'm sure this is true of many people in India, too, especially in Kerala. 

I was also enraged because I wondered why people have to be so absurd. I asked why they still hold on to some archaic beliefs belonging to someone from generations past. Why aren't they thinking for themselves? A newly married man in the film makes the mistake of seeking advice from his recently divorced elder brother. What's wrong with you? I asked. But if nothing were wrong with him, we wouldn't get a movie. 

So when you hear the theatre erupting in laughter, you feel a collective sigh. Maybe a few of those laughs are the nervous kind -- from people who got suddenly reminded that the film is about them. It's like those guys laughing while watching a horror movie. You know they are scared out of their wits and are laughing and making strange noises to mask their cowardice. JJJJH has some 'scary' moments, too, only here, the horror comes from living in a society inhabited by some very messed up people. Tring, tring. Therapy session is in progress.

Coming back to my point about Jaya not talking much, her voice often gets curtailed by everyone around her, mostly the older men and women comprising her parents and in-laws. We get a brief opening montage of her childhood and high school days that show how her parents were always trying to save their budget when it came to her. She is either asked to share her brother's stuff or use whatever he had -- like his study material for entrance exams. It only worsens when she meets her husband Rajesh (Basil Joseph), the loudest character in the film; also the weakest. Isn't it always such a person who inflicts the maximum damage? 

When Jaya first enters Rajesh's home, she notices many objects broken -- a table, remote control, and a few other things -- all victims of his unreasonably horrible temper and unchecked aggression. She is next in line. Her fears come true when Rajesh slaps her for the first time. It doesn't end there. She is subjected to slaps many times in the film. Now that's another thing that made me uncomfortable. Perhaps it's because Malayalam filmmakers have been holding back for a long time from portraying violence against women on screen most effectively. But being the uncompromising filmmaker that Vipin Das is -- his last film Antakshari contained some very haunting sequences -- we strongly feel the impact of every slap falling on Darshana's face. I heard multiple gasps in the theatre every time that happened. 

However, JJJJH is careful not to get too serious in a way that would alienate family audiences. Its most impressive quality is the way it balances both the serious and comical elements -- a quality also shared by another Basil Joseph hit, Jan-e-Man, produced by the same banner. And trust me, JJJJH has so many hilarious moments that I should say that I don't recall laughing this way, even with Jan-e-Man. Perhaps it's because JJJJH calls out the very sort of people that I wanted to see called out in a movie. It doesn't spare anyone, including the pseudo-progressive men who talk about female empowerment and bat for women's rights but reveal themselves to be as bad as the very toxic men they pretend to be rallying against once they get close to a woman. Haven't we seen this kind before -- the ones who mask their perversion with their loud wokism? Anyone who has spent so much time on social media will remember real-life instances. 

It also calls out small-minded morality police across all religions. It also calls out the female enablers -- a mother who finds nothing wrong in her son hitting her daughter-in-law; a mother who tells her daughter to "adjust". The older men either can't spare some time to listen to their daughters' troubles or are too caught up in how their pride would get affected. There is also subtle political detailing here, made evident from their sartorial and culinary choices -- Rajesh's aversion to beef, for example, or the saffron-coloured shirt worn by his elder brother.

Nobody is perfect in this world, and JJJJH depicts this very thing in myriad ways. It takes on toxic masculinity, toxic parenting, body shaming, and so on without looking like one of those progressive movies made for the sake of being so. JJJJH could've become another "greatest hits" compilation of every problem women encounter, but it manages to bring up each issue at the right time. Everything fits together perfectly without seeming incorporated forcefully. 

I see JJJJH as the funnier sibling of The Great Indian Kitchen (TGIK). I don't mean it dismissively. I'm simply implying that if you belong to the camp that loved the ideas in the latter but didn't find it entertaining, then JJJJH might be more to your liking. I also found JJJJH to have more bite than TGIK, perhaps because it has more characters -- characters who are louder than the ones in TGIK. I agree that not every film has to look and sound the same way. It's just that when it comes to pure entertainment, JJJJH has more replay value. Now you might ask how a husband slapping a woman is entertainment. Well, what she does to him later is "pure entertainment."

A male character says at one point, "Women can live without men, but men can't live without them." It's a debatable topic, but I sometimes think it's true. Whether every woman on this planet believes in the same, I can't say for sure. At the time this character realises this, the damage has already occurred. He should've thought of this before taking certain things for granted.

Darshana and Basil rightly earn all the claps they get. There is something that Darshana does midway through the movie that made me want to see a female-centric action movie led by her. As for Basil, this man is getting better and better with every film. One can sense his confidence growing with every new role. The actor-filmmaker has come a long way from playing background comic relief. Jan-e-Man, Palthu Janwar, and now JJJJH are testaments to his range as a performer. In JJJJH, while he is not making you feel uncomfortable when going through one of his moods, he brings the house down whenever he experiences a shameful episode. Darshana and Basil are supported ably by other inspired casting choices in the background. 

I'm thinking of going for round two because this is an instant classic material that should reveal more layers upon revisits. Take your family members to the theatre. If they are unwilling, dupe them by telling them that JJJJH is a laugh riot from start to finish. Once inside the theatre, they'll realise it's a therapy session. In a country where mental health stigma is a thing, let's hope at least movies make an effort to change people's minds.