Devasish Makhija’s Joram is such a bold film in todays’ times.
Joram narrates the story of Dasru, who is on the run from an enemy unknown to him that has already killed his wife and is out to kill him and his infant daughter, Joram. Dasru’s run to survive, opens to the audience the stark reality of an Indian life that hardly ever features in urban discourses. Chasing Dasru, among others are policeman Ratnakar and tribal political leader Phulo Karma. While Ratnakar wants to catch Dasru alive, Phulo wants to avenge her son’s death by killing Dasru.
I am not a technical expert on films, but Joram makes its points very clear from the onset. As an audience, you know you are not in it for any entertainment – you are in it to probably feel a sense of awareness. The acting by all lead actors like Manoj Bajpai, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Smita Tambe are terrific. The primary characters hardly have any dialogues, but their expressions speak volumes. That is probably the beauty of acting where skilled actors do not always require words. In one word the acting was superb.
I also would point out the camera work in Joram and the background music/sound. I did not watch the film on screen but at times I felt as if I was running with Dasru, the camera work was so good. Same with the sound – I could not leave the end credits thanks to the background sound.
As noted above, Joram deals with an issue about which we have stopped talking about. It is humanity. We may call this a political film because of the political undertones in Dasru’s circumstances but at the end of the day, Joram sheds lights on a world where there are no branded clothes or cars, big parties, wining and dining and expensive holidays. Joram shows a world where a father takes care of his family, a mother misses her own family and dutybound government employee wants to do the right thing without really knowing what the right thing is all about. Every character in Joram is doing the right thing – wanting to survive.
I will not talk more but would request people watch Joram even if they find the reality depicted disturbing. At least if not anything else, the film may make you respect our privileges’.
I was immensely touched by the scene where Dasru feeds his daughter fish. No Joram did not glorify poverty at all but Joram attempted to bring us back to the world that is very much our own.
Ulysses in Utopia 