Jogi Review - Relive The Story Of Bravery And Spirit During The Tough Times Of The 1984 Sikh Massacre

Ali Abbas Zafar brings the brave tale of a Sardar called Jogi, from the 1984 Sikh Riots, to Netflix with Diljit Dosanjh in the lead role. Now what's that you don't know about this event? Maybe the pre-passage, right? You won't get to see it here. Jogi is based on true events that took place in Delhi during the 80s, but has unnecessary filmy drama to spoil the importance of these major events. The 1984 Sikh Riots is not a subject that will bring a smile to your face. It's a story that will wrench your heart, so you better be prepared for that. And coming on Netflix naturally makes it dark and intense (I don't know why almost every Indian project on Netflix has to be dark?). The events do hold your attention and make you realise the pain of Sikhs, but somewhere the rest of the useless elements plunder worthy content.Jogi tells a story of a Punjabi Guy Joginder, aka Jogi (Diljit Dosanjh), who tries to save the lives of his family and neighbours during the atrocious period of Sikh massacres. He, with the help of his friends, plans a ground-level evacuation of Sikhs from Delhi, while the counsellor of the city, Tejpal (Kumud Mishra), and his puppet cop, Lali (Hiten Tejwani), use their powers to stop him. The film has a radio commentary that comes after a specific interval to let you know about the current affairs of the country and all the breaking news from Indira Gandhi's assassination, a tension period of 3 days, and the Indian Army taking over the operation. The political conspiracies are clearly shown in the film without taking any specific names, but the people who have witnessed those events know them very well.The plot of Jogi could have been handled with more care and sensibility. This topic is brutal and violent, so yes, the violent and explosive scenes couldn't be chopped off easily. Even the political crisis and the police department's failure didn't need any more comprises. But the real issues appear with the protagonist and his friends' characters. We don't know anything about Jogi or his past affairs. We don't know about his family and conscience. His love story and how Lali is connected to it are two other things that don't make any sense while confronting the main context of the film – Sikh Riots. It was humanity which should have taken over all the other things, be it personal revenge, love story, friendship, brutality, inhumanity, and politics. But the main vehicle is overdriven by all these others. That's what hurts film the most, if not anything else. Sukhmani Sadana and Ali Abbas Zafar should have focused on the riots rather than other dramatic tantrums.Diljit Dosanjh has got a tailor-made role in Jogi. His accent, locality, looks, body language, everything suits perfectly because he has lived a Punjabi life all the time. That scene, when he had to remove his Pagdi and walk around with open hair, is worth remembering, as is his commitment. Md. Zeeshan Ayubb and Hiten Tejwani don't have any specific Punjabi accents or looks. They just play regular cops with utter honesty. The devilish Kumud Mishra appears as Tejpal, someone you will despise from the bottom of your heart. He plays a political leader who has no kindness, and he makes you believe it with his powerful presence. Amyra Dastur comes, shows her gorgeous face, says some romantic lines and goes away. The supporting cast does well with whatever little scenes they have got.Jogi was a challenging film; let's just accept it. It needed someone who could think out of the box, someone like Vivek Agnihotri (that's the first name that came to my mind since we know about The Kashmir Files, and also because he is soon making The Delhi Files). Ali Abbas is more like a commercial director who hasn't explored hard-hitting and realistic cinema yet, and then he wrote a script like Jogi and decided to direct it. How unfortunate. However, I was impressed with his storytelling in the first hour. The dragging occurred in the second half, which took away most of the impact. The music, screenplay, background score, and cinematography are okay to decent, whereas the production design is a lot better for an OTT film. Ali Abbas Zafar misses his trademark front-loaded material and plays too safe to be unsafe. Despite its flaws, Jogi has some moments that deserve your attention if you have a Netflix subscription on your mobile and TV. Relive the painful chapter in the history of India and the brave tale and sacrifices of unknown heroes and their never-ending spirit who fought against inhumanity.