'Jugnuma – The Fable' Movie Review: Raam Reddy's World Of Magical Realism Is Enchanting and Enigmatic

Jugnuma (The Fable) begins with a startling unbroken shot in which a seemingly ordinary morning turns extraordinary. Within a few minutes, writer and director Raam Reddy establishes the contours of this world and primes us to expect enchantment and mystery.

The story is set in the spring of 1989 on a vast estate in the Himalayas. Men tend to beautiful, bountiful fruit orchards which spread over three mountains. But underneath the mundane – the owner Dev (played by Manoj Bajpayee) and his family, his manager Mohan (played by Deepak Dobriyal), the workers spraying pesticides to make the yield better – is a beguiling and wondrous world of fireflies, nomads who don’t speak but who exert some sort of benign power and a fable about fairies who live on earth because they don’t realise that this isn’t really their home.

This sort of magical realism requires extreme delicacy and a light touch because reality and fantasy have to be threaded together seamlessly. Raam mostly finds this difficult balance. A voice-over provides context without puncturing the mystique. Early in the film, the narrator says: sukoon wali jagah thi teen pahad, bachpan jitni masoom aur chanchal. The dialogue has been written by Varun Grover. Raam sets up this sukoon expertly. We see the easy and loving relationship between Dev, his wife (played by Priyanka Bose) and their two children – in one scene, they are holding hands and gazing at the stars. The mountains around them stand like sentinels and the relationship between Dev and his workers suggests years of co-dependence set within a rigid hierarchy. Dev might be benevolent but he is, every inch, the boss who can, in a heartbeat, fire anyone.

This fragile peace is built on a history of exploitation – the estate was given to Dev’s grandfather by the British for his services to the Empire. The locals who toil every day on the orchards don’t own any of it. The elders in the surrounding villages are opposed to pesticides. There is a corrupt official who deliberately creates discord between villagers so that he can make money. There’s also Vanya (played by debutant Hiral Sidhu), Dev’s teenage daughter who becomes irresistibly attracted to one of the silent, staring nomads. And mysterious fires that scorch the orchard. These fires push the fault lines to centerstage. Slowly, suspicion seeps in and paradise is lost. One worker says: yeh baagh hamara jeevan hai but he becomes the prime suspect.

Even as the story becomes thorny and political, Raam doesn’t let go of the enigmatic, gossamer textures. Jugnuma has been shot on 16mm celluloid. DOP Sunil Borkar creates beauty playing with shadows and darkness. And it’s a pleasure to see Manoj Bajpayee do so much with Dev’s silence. The frame is filled with seasoned players who deliver without strain – this film is a reminder that Deepak Dobriyal continues to be criminally underutilised by the industry. Priyanka is strong as Dev’s wife and there’s also Tillotama Shome, always lovely, who anchors the story with a few scenes.

Jugnuma is nothing like Raam’s debut feature film Thithi. The director veers into uncharted territory both for him and for Hindi cinema and delivers. The film is being presented by Anurag Kashyap and Guneet Monga Kapoor. It premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in the Encounters Competition, one of the main competitions at the Festival – something only one other film has achieved in the last 30 years. Jugnuma also won best film honours at the Leeds Film Festival and won the special jury prize at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Do find it in theatres because it’s a very special film which moves you with its quiet magic.