Suriya

(Amazon Streaming, February 2022) It’s uncomfortable to be against films that espouse virtue. Jai Bhim is, at its core, not that different from a long tradition of Hollywood films in which a lawyer goes to fight against injustice in a system designed to marginalize the oppressed. Here, Suriya plays an idealistic lawyer who takes on a case in which a tribe member is falsely accused of theft by an upper-caste woman, and then disappeared by the police. At its best, Jai Bhim gets deliciously overdramatic in portraying its protagonist in slow-motion going through the halls of justice, tirelessly fighting for justice and equality. It may all be a bit too much, but at least they’re entertaining moments of too much in a film that vastly overstays its welcome at two hours and 44 minutes. Despite the crisp images, slick direction and heartfelt intention to denounce a social problem, Jai Bhim feels interminable, repetitive and obvious. I did like Suriya and many moments of the film, but in total it all becomes overbearing—and that’s all without mentioning the de rigueur musical numbers that kill the pacing of the film even more. This assessment won’t go over very well in some corners of the Internet, as IMDB votes for the film appear to have been subject to an organized campaign to make this the highest-rated film on the site. This kind of organized brigading is frequent for Indian films on the platform—but in doing so, they expose flawed films to greater scrutiny—I expect the ratings to go down significantly over time. In the meantime, Jai Bhim ends up recommended to anyone trying to keep track of highly-rated Indian films… but even that may be putting expectations far too high.