Rating:
2.0/5
Star
Cast:
Vidyut
Jammwal,
Pooja
Sawant,
Vicky
Kadian,
Asha
Bhat,
Makarand
Deshpande
Director:
Chuck
Russell
Junglee
Movie
Review:
Vidyut
Jammwal|Chuck
Russell
|Pooja
Sawant
|
FilmiBeat
When
you
hear
the
word
'Junglee',
the
first
thought
which
comes
to
your
mind
is
Shammi
Kapoor's
iconic
song
'Chahe
mujhe
koi
junglee' from
Junglee
(1961).
The
power-packed
song
had
an
effervescent
Kapoor
bursting
with
energy
in
the
snow-clad
mountains.
Cut
to
2019,
the
word
'Junglee'
makes
a
comeback
in
the
form
of
Chuck
Russell's
latest
film
starring
Vidyut
Jammwal.
Sadly
this
time,
we
are
offered
some
tepid
fare
instead!
To
begin
with,
our
hero
Raj
(Vidyut
Jammwal)
is
a
Mumbai-based
veterinary
doctor
who
always
lends
a
helping
hand
to
animals
in
trouble.
When
his
estranged
father
asks
him
to
return
to
his
native
place
-
a
sanctuary
for
elephants
for
his
mother's
10th
death
anniversary,
he
agrees
half-heartedly.
He
is
tailed
by
a
journalist
Meera
(Asha
Bhat)
who
is
keen
to
interview
his
conservationist
father.
On
reaching
there,
Raj
reunites
with
his
childhood
friends,
Shankara
(Pooja
Sawant)
who
is
now
a
female
mahout
and
Dev
(Akshay
Oberoi)
who
works
as
a
forest
ranger
and
most
importantly,
Didi
and
Bholi
(the
two
elephants
who
grew
with
him).
Things
take
a
bloody
turn
when
Keshav
(Atul
Kulkarni)
and
his
gang
of
gunmen
enter
the
jungle
and
their
drone
catches
a
glimpse
of
the
tuskers.
The
rest
of
the
plot
revolves
around
how
Raj
manages
to
defeat
the
poachers
to
save
his
animal
pals.
Hollywood
director
Chuck
Russell
who
has
helmed
films
like
'The
Scorpion
King',
'The
Mask'
in
the
past,
makes
his
directorial
debut
in
Indian
cinema
with
Junglee.
Sorry
to
break
your
hearts
folks,
but
he
whips
up
an
action-adventure
ride
that's
bumpy
right
from
the
word
'go'.
The
wafer-thin
plot
hardly
gives
him
any
scope
to
impress
us
with
his
directorial
skills.
Further,
the
holographic
representation
of
Lord
Ganesh
in
one
of
the
sequences
looks
out
of
the
place.
Chuck
fails
to
explore
the
man-animal
relationship
effectively.
Speaking
about
the
performance,
while
Vidyut
Jammwal
gets
to
kick
and
leap,
the
action
hero
hardly
manages
to
leave
a
solid
impact
because
of
the
inadequate
action
sequences.
When
it
comes
to
his
emotional
scenes,
the
lesser
said
the
better.
Pooja
Sawant
who
has
a
impressive
body
of
work
in
Marathi
cinema
fails
to
making
a
striking
Bollywood
debut.
Newbie
Asha
Bhat
too
suffers
a
similar
fate.
Sadly,
talented
actors
like
Atul
Kulkarni
and
Makrand
Deshpande
are
saddled
with
ridiculously-sketched
characters.
The
cinematography
of
Junglee
has
nothing
new
to
offer.
Even
the
songs
barely
register.
Junglee
is
a
trip
which
couldn't
have
been
easily
skipped.
All
I
can
say
is
that
the
elephants
deserved
much
better
than
this.
I
am
going
with
2
stars.