Team FC
Bengali cinema’s Peter Pan plays the godfather of Hindi cinema Srikant Roy. Roy is the co-owner of Roy Talkies, a leading film studio, and one of the pillars of the film industry. He’s a ladies’ man, commands awe and loyalty from all those around him, and his love for cinema is unmatched.
Among the first things we find out about Sumitra Kumari is that she’s one of the biggest stars of Hindi cinema and also the business head of Roy Talkies, which she founded with her husband Srikant.
From taking reels to the cinema to delivering threats, Binod Das does it all. He’s the worker bee of Roy Talkies who gazes upon Srikant Roy as his hero while nursing ambitions of becoming a star actor himself. One of the many interesting details ofJubilee is the way some of the casting seems to mirror reality.
He plays Jay Khanna, a struggler who dreams of directing a film and is repeatedly sidelined by his circumstances. Partition forces Jay and his family to leave their home in Karachi and make new beginnings as refugees in Bombay.
Of the supporting roles, the film financier and bootlegger Walia is perhaps the most memorable, thanks in large part to Ram Kapoor who wholeheartedly embraces the rough edges of this character. Walia is foul-mouthed, blunt, sleazy and the opposite of sophisticated.
When riots tear through Lucknow in August 1947, Niloufer leaves her life as a much-courted courtesan and comes to Bombay. This is no city of dreams for a single young woman, but Niloufer is a survivor and in the first five episodes of Jubilee, we see her navigate the vagaries of Bombay with grit and grace.
When Srikant Roy casts the net to find the actor who can become Roy Talkies’ new star Madan Kumar, the prize catch is Jamshed Khan. Jamshed is a well-respected theatre actor and he’s not particularly enamoured by the film industry — until he meets Sumitra Kumari.
Among the smooth-talking elites, it’s businessman Nanak Jotwani (played by Aarya Bhatta) who plays one of the oilier operators who slithers around trying to profit from existing rivalries. Counterbalancing him is Raghu Jhalani (Alok Arora) who, despite being a thug, shows unexpected glints of kindness and humanity.