Joram Movie Review: Manoj Bajpayee Film Is Our Own Killers Of The Flower Moon

Manoj Bajpayee and filmmaker Devashish Makhija’s third collaboration after the brilliant Tandav and Bhonsle is the kind of rare cinema that makes the whole cultural ethos of filmmaking proud. At a time when clowning is considered great acting in Indian cinema, Manoj Bajpayee playing an Adivasi from Jharkhand on the run, gives the kind of intuitive immersive performance that makes you wonder which came first: the actor or the character?

However Joram(the title is explained towards the second half, but only if you listen carefully to the dialogue, a mixture of Jharkhandi Hindi and Mumbai colloquialisms) goes much beyond a celebration of the lead actor’s virtuosity. It is a gut-wrenching exposition on the ruthless usurpation of the original Adivasi tribals in the Jharkhand by vicious unscrupulous miners and other deforestation-ers who don’t think twice before plundering the land and the people who own it.

The elegance with which writer-director Makhija sets up the restless plot of land-grabbing immorality reminded me of Martin Scorsese's recent masterpiece Killers Of The Flower Moon, minus the cockiness of the characters.

There is a profound sense of guilt and grief in Joram, as if the the director though determined not to turn his film into a bleeding-hearts statement, must unburden. This lowkey treatment of exacerbated emotions is a unique trait that Makhija shares with Neeraj Ghaywan and, yes, Scorsese in Killers Of The Flower Moon.

Makhija never infuses a sense of drama into the inherently dramatic story. This is one of the great virtues of Joram. The masterful meditation on exploitation opens with Dasru(Bajpayee) and his wife Vaano(Tannishtha Chatterjee who, alas, is gone too soon) sharing a blissful togetherness that I cut short(and what precise editing by Abhro Banerjee!) as we see them being forced out of their land in Jharkhand to Mumbai where they work as casual labourers on a construction site.

Soon, very soon, Dasru is on the run with his infant child(that baby’s bright bewildered eyes will haunt you for a long time) as he is hunted down by a vendetta-hungry tribal MLA Phulo Karma(Smita Tambe, excellent). There is also a sleepless cop Ratnakar(Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) on Dasru’s trail. But Ratnakar, you sense, is not on a bloodthirsty mission. He is as conflicted about Dasru’s alleged crime as we all are.

The sharp narrative taps into the culture of exploitation and usurpation with vigorous savoir-faire, never crossing the line of restraint as the plot travels from Mumbai to Jharkhand. There is this incredibly macabre and funny sequence where a man in drag performs a raunchy item song in the courtyard of a derelict police station in Jharkhand. As the cops get aggressive, the dancer loses his rhythm, falters and withdraws fearfully.

Piyush Puty’s camera captures the despair of abject powerlessness in frames that are at once lyrical and documentary-direct. Joram is not a film for those who think cinema is about titillation and sensationalism. This is a non-exploitative film about exploitation with performances that do not scream for attention.

Manoj Bajpayee is the best onscreen representation of exploitation since Om Puri in Govind Nihalani’s Aakrosh.

My best takeaway moment from Joram? When the viciously vengeful Advasi MLA Phulo Karma, herself a victim of exploitation, can’t bear to eat her meal alone, asks her assistant Bidesi(Megha Mathur) if she would join her for the meal. Bidesi politely declines the offer, saying her father is waiting to eat with her.

This is where the film’s chilling subtext hits you the hardest: powerful or powerless, you are finally on your own.