Review: 'The Jengaburu Curse' is an incredibly researched & finely executed tale of greed v/s survival

The Jengaburu Curse

SonyLIV's pursuit of storytelling has been one to look at as it continues to differentiate themselves from the other streaming giants and the rising competitors as well. Making sure that the 'originals' word in their presentation of a show stays true to the meaning, it arrives with yet another original, unique and incredibly intriguing series, The Jengaburu Curse.

Based on the backdrop of illegal mining and its connection with the indigenous Bondia tribe in Odisha, the age-old war of man v/s nature and greed v/s survival reaches its peak as we go through the hoops of the series through the lens of Priya (Faira Abdullah), a London-based financial analyst, who is forced to return to India to find her missing father, Professor Das. Nothing is obviously what it seems as we witness unprecedented situations. Having had the chance to see the entire series beforehand, here's me telling you the good and not-so-good aspects of the show that might help you watch it-

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The Premise & The Director

The trend that SonyLIV, as a streaming service has followed continues to be a constant with every show they present. The brief seems to be clear and crisp where the makers of a respective show are given absolute creative freedom while not holding back on the information and research that goes into making it. The Jengaburu Curse is yet another illustrious example of that. The sheer effort gone into world-building right from frame one to the final scene is so immaculate that even if for a reason or two, you miss the details while watching the show, you cannot help but wonder and marvel at the authenticity of it. The fictional town of Jengaburu in Odisha, the setting, location and atmosphere makes you feel you are sitting right there in that scene witnessing the occurrences.

A large portion of the credit for this should be given to the creator and director of the show, Nila Madhab Panda. For those who don't know him - the man is a National Award-winning producer and filmmaker who is specifically known and celebrated for his films and shorts on climate change, social issues and an array of environmental problems. Here, Panda has the core premise of the series wavering around a similar topic but it is presented under the garb of a monumental conspiracy that involves nuclear war, illegal mining, foreign forces and just plain old menacing humans. Panda creates a plot and a central character, Priya which almost becomes the lens of the viewer as she catapults from being a successful financial analyst in London to being forced to become a presumed Naxalite and more so, the saviour of an indigenous tribe, Bondia.

It does seem heavy in its ideation as we gradually venture into the third episode but with one revelation after another and the stakes getting bigger and bigger, it gets more and more intriguing.

The Music & Cinematography

Not seldom do we go on to talk about the technical departments at length except mentioning them in a line or so (which is unfair anyway) but if we don't praise the people involved in the various departments that were responsible to making The Jengaburu Curse, it would be a huge disservice. The makers have managed to assemble a scintillating behind-the-scenes team to create a world like no other. Paulo Perez and his team of cinematographers understand the assignment well as they take us through the scene and setting changes with shots ranging from aerial drone shots to the intimate moments of emotion, chase and tension. And of course, apart from Panda being the captain of the ship, equal credit should be given to Mayank Tewari and his team of writers who keep changing from one episode to another for the writing. 

We are primarily dealing with three languages here - Odiya, English and Hindi and staying true to the characters, each and every dialogue and sequence assisting those lines is expertly written crafted. The acting performances are as top notch as you can imagine them to be where veterans like Nasser, Makarand Deshpande and Pavitra Sarkar along with younger actors like Faria Abdullah, Sudev Nair, Deipak Sampat and R Badree are flawless in their execution of complex characters. The show also does something which is so rare and cast some fine white actors and hence the likes of Melanie Gray, Richard Klein and others deserve mention.

Alokananda Dasgupta

However, if there is one person and one department that deserves all the applause - it has to be the music and background score that is composed and presented by the absolutely brilliant Alokananda Dasgupta. Her talent with the tunes and instruments while understanding the story that she is composing for is so fabulous that each and every scene that she creates for, is mesmerising and breath-taking. For many, who aren't familiar with Dasgupta's genius, the recall for you should be Sacred Games, which was another winner in its music. Miss Dasgupta, you really need to compose more and I cannot wait for the soundtrack of The Jengaburu Curse to be released soon.

The Gaps

Information-dense shows always come with their share of concerns, especially when they are dealing with concepts that might not be as accessible or easily known to everyone as others are. And with The Jengauburu Curse, that stays true to an extent as well. There is an array of sequences that might get lost in translation purely owing to the jumping of scenes and not as much with the content. 

The pacing is spot on but on several instances, the choice of scenes that follow a particular one might leave you a tad confused. For instance, a riveting chase scene is followed by the greedy authorities and their plans of something big which is then followed by a scene involving the Bondria tribe talking in their local language - while effective, these jumps do leave you a bit scattered till another moment is brought upon that gets you right back in.

The Verdict

Nevertheless, The Jengaburu Curse succeeds with its intention of presenting a tale that is incredibly rooted yet relatable. Through climate fiction, a lesser-known concept but done in other ways earlier, the show amalgamates a fine tale of human emotions, and as mentioned above - selfish mankind v/s mother nature; greed of power and money v/s survival. It might take a while for things to unravel and fully have you hooked onto it but once it does, The Jengaburu Curse almost instantly leads you to have a rewatch and keep unravelling things that might have been missed in its first viewing.

Rating - ***1/2 (3.5/5)

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