Review of The Jengaburu Curse: The series, directed by Nila Madhav Panda, examines institutional corruption and tribal eviction with a thriller-like aesthetic. The series recounts the journey of Priya Das, a financial analyst living in London, who, when her father goes missing, decides to visit her native state of Odisha. Her pursuit of him sparks a struggle for an objective greater than any one individual.
The Jengaburu Curse, written and directed by Nila Madhab Panda, is hailed as India’s first sci-fi series. It must achieve the delicate balancing act of sincerity in storytelling with a focused and clear message while dealing with the serious problem of corruption and how tribal are being victimized in the name of Naxals. Even if The Jengaburu Curse sticks to its original plan, some conceptual issues arise from its loose ends, and the more it tries to put together a tense, raging story about the unbalanced relationship between nature and humans, the more it unravels.
The Story
The Jengaburu Curse, which is broken up into seven parts, begins when financial analyst Priya Das (Faria Abdullah), who works in London, receives a call from social worker Mr. Rao (Nassar), telling her that her father has been missing for a few days and that she needs to fly back to her birthplace of Odisha to identify a dead body. Upon her instant return, Priya discovers herself searching for her father, long-time activist Swatantra Das, who has gone missing.
The truth, however, is far more disturbing and intricate, involving illegal mining and the eviction of the local “Bondia” tribe to make way for a mining network. She receives help from an IAS officer, Dhruv (Sudev Nair), as she navigates the web of events.
What works for the Jengaburu Curse is the SonyLiv web series.
The Jengaburu Curse’s prose deserves praise for transporting readers to a setting that has typically been reserved for conventional parallel plots. The issue here goes well beyond Naxals and those who look to be from that region. There are tribes that are still unaware of the advancement. In their reckless attack on a vehicle in search of clean water, they are labelled naxal terrorists. The legal system is nonexistent, and the ministerial cabinet serves no purpose. Sharp political criticism is there, and Mayank Tewari’s background serves him well in this regard.
The Jengaburu Curse advances the mythology-fused-with-the-excitements-of-real-life tropes. It relates the imagined past to the actual present and explains how someone revealed the existence of the aforementioned fantasy and how they weren’t wholly mistaken. The curse still exists, and it is still capable of doing harm in any way.
While the concept of the Jengaburu Curse is compelling, the drama in the film comes from the fact that a woman chooses to take on a malicious system. Nila’s plan is presumably to convince us that a military force is not necessary to fight for a cause. It is adequately translated, and one person can bring about change in society.
Courtesy pic: thefilmibaap.com
Review of The Jengaburu Curse: Outstanding Performance
Priya, played by Faria Abdullah, is a born actor. She naturally lives the role; it doesn’t appear that she is acting. Her wrath elicits the appropriate response, and her emotions are well-placed. It is also clear where she is vulnerable. The performer excels in every scene.
Despite having little to do, Makrand Deshpande is a talented actor who makes these roles look easy. Speaking about cakewalks, Nassar brings the right amount of drama to the table and is aware of what is expected of him. Sudev Nair’s decision is a wise one, but considering his status in the film fraternity, he doesn’t have much to do.
Review of The Jengaburu Curse: What Fails
The mythology and the real world in The Jengaburu Curse do merge somewhat, but not totally. The main cause is that we don’t actually set foot inside the mining base until the very end. And even then, comprehending its grandeur is insufficient. For instance, the landscape’s previous appearance before being transformed into a mining community is not depicted. As a result, we are always sympathetic to the tribe and rarely to the mountain from which the uranium is being extracted and turned into wealth for the wealthy. Despite being the major character, we have never seen the mountain or its interior.
The script spends a long time on the outer orbit before rushing in that direction when it senses an opportunity. Since there was obviously a rush, perhaps a more methodical approach to the core idea might have been more effective.
It is said that the ore being taken from the mountain can power a system that is more powerful and untamed than quantum computing and artificial intelligence. But the way it’s explained to us is so shoddy that you just see it as another brand of crackers for your Diwali celebration. This part should have been highlighted more in the web series. But most of the scenes were full of Priya running to save her life.
In conclusion
Nobody knew exactly what was in the mines until the final episode. But after the show was over, I couldn’t stop thinking about how powerless the poor are. Incredibly, the entire indigenous tribe was sacrificed in order to make money. The Jengaburu Curse accomplishes its goal of telling a deeply entrenched yet relatable story despite this.
The show combines a beautiful tale of human emotions and, as indicated above, pits selfish mankind against mother nature—hunger for power and money vs. survival—through climate fiction, a lesser-known subject that has been done in different ways earlier. It may take some time for everything to make sense and captivate you, but once it does, The Jengaburu Curse almost immediately compels you to continue to piece together details that you might have missed the first time you watched it. It is definitely worth watching.
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