Jarann Movie Review: A Marathi Dive into Psychological Horror?

On one hand, Akshay Kumar’s fans are upset with him for taking the Housefull franchise to such a state that there’s neither any comedy left nor the family essence intact. On the other hand, people are angry with Kartik Aaryan for snatching the Bhool Bhulaiyaa franchise away from Akshay Kumar and changing everything after the original film. But the person who made Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 has now come up with a film that will make you forget the anger towards both Kartik and Akshay after watching it. Personally, my favourite cinema category is psychological thriller meaning films where the real story starts in the mind of the audience after the words ‘The End’ appear on screen. And whenever a touch of horror is added to this genre, the entire game changes. Anees Bazmee has made just such an attempt, and the result is absolutely thrilling.

This film is based on black magic, and while it might scare you a bit, you won’t be able to stop yourself from thinking deeply from start to finish, though you might struggle to reach the ending. Before Ajay Devgn’s remake lays its eyes on this and it becomes part of the ‘Shaitaan Universe’ duplicate films, let me introduce you to the original. It tells the story of a small village famous for one particular house. On the upper floor lived a tenant whom the villagers did not consider human. Everyone believed she was a witch, a sorceress who would slowly destroy the entire village with her black magic, even making their bodies disappear. Their fear became real when the whole village tried to forcibly drive this woman out of the house. But she did something so terrifying that people used to have nightmares about it. The youngest child of that house where the witch lived was called inside, and on her head, the witch performed magic and cursed the village, promising only bad things for this girl and the village.

The story then jumps a few years ahead to when that little girl has become a mother to a small child. Just as the witch said, terrible things start happening in her life, a dangerous car accident that shattered her family forever. Since then, she has needed a psychiatrist to survive. The biggest problem is that whenever she is alone at home, she begins to feel and see things that no normal person should see. But things spiral out of control when all this starts affecting her daughter, connected to a dangerous toy that once belonged to the same witch during her childhood. One last thing that will shock you: in that car accident, the woman lost her husband, but tonight, her husband stands at her doorstep, insisting on taking their daughter away with him. Forget everything else, the lead actress Amruta Subhash carries the entire film with her expressions alone.

The real fear of the film doesn’t lie in the story but is hidden in her acting. And the evil character, oh my goodness! Whenever this character smiles, it feels like the life drains out of you. The person who designed that toy must have a very twisted mind! The fear I described is just the surface of the story’s introduction. Once you watch the film, you’ll realise nothing is quite as it seems at first sight. As I said in the beginning, this is not a horror thriller but a psychological thriller, meaning this film will play with your mind just as much as it does with the lead actress. The most shocking part is the ending, which will take you some time to fully grasp. There are 10 to 15 terrifying twists together that no one would have expected.

Jaran is a Marathi film, and watching it makes one feel proud. While Bollywood spends hundreds of crores making films, regional cinema is bringing such mind-changing stories. I haven’t seen such a brilliantly intelligent and cleverly twisted suspense film with an ending like this in a long time. Thank you, Marathi industry, for restoring faith in Indian cinema. I hope Anees Bazmee tries something similar in the next Bhool Bhulaiyaa or Housefull film as well. Just please don’t copy and remake this film, trust the audience; they will seek out the original. Jarann deserves four out of five stars. Intelligent storytelling, creative black magic theme, mind-blowing climax, and powerful performances make it stand out. On the downside, they could have added a few special effects and explored the childhood story a bit more, which might have made it a classic. Without wasting any more time, just Google Jarann, you won’t be able to stay away from this film once you do.