Image copyrights: Dhun Productions

Venue: India Habitat Centre
Date: 14 May, 2016

Habitat Film Festival makers us watch many films that we would have otherwise not noticed. This year we watched this amazing documentary “The Man who Dwarfed the Mountains”, the yesteryear Hindi thriller “Gumnam” and a little known Hindi film that was made last year – “Jugni”.

Directed by Shefali Bhushan, “Jugni”, especially in the first part, seemed like a documentary. The plot is about a talent scout / wannabe music director Vibhabari (Sugandha Garg) who went to find Bibi Swaroop a folk singer in a remote village in Punjab. She not only found Bibi Swaroop but a companion in her son Mastana (Sidhhant Behl).

This film seemed to have a split personality. Some parts of it were will made while other parts completely lacked any attention to details. For example Garg  always looked impeccable in her makeup and hairdo notwithstanding that she spent the night in a dilapidated brick structure in the villgae. This actor, in our opinion, weakened the film. The other actors particularly Behl and Sameer Sharma as the ex boyfriend of Vibhabari lived their roles and impressed us. The music, though a little contrived at times, was interesting listening.

For us, the talking point would be the climax that seemed to be directed by a completely different person. It was profound and made us believe that love for your craft can be, at times, stronger than the love for a person.