Jango Movie Review: A Time Loop Thriller That Just About Makes It To ‘Watchable’

Director: Mano Karthikeyan
Cast: Satheesh Kumar, Mirnalini Ravi, Karunakaran
Language: Tamil

Jango is directed by Mano Karthikeyan, starring Satish Kumar and Mirnalini Ravi. The first section of the film is pretty much a disaster. The hero, Gautham, is a top neurosurgeon and the heroine, Nisha, is a top investigative reporter. There are parts that include major heavy-duty relationship drama which are so badly written that everyone comes off like they have walked off a Santhanam movie set. The acting, the corny dialogue, etc. pretty much feels at that level.

The film uses the time loop concept where Gautham gets stuck in the same day again and again. He knows that he is stuck in October 2 and every day he wakes up he is still wondering why it's not October 3. Everyone around him thinks that it's October 2 and it is the first time they are entering the day. So, there is a major mismatch between what he knows and what others are doing around him.

Initially, I thought the time-loop concept would be used to focus on the relationship between Gautham and Nisha because they are on a rift and this would be a way for Gautham to introduce a new facet of his love to Nisha and win her back. However, the director suddenly changes his mind. The film takes an investigative thriller turn and someone is out to kill Nisha. Girls are going missing all over the place and someone is creating artificial hearts, which would not be a bad idea to give to the audience in case your natural heart is not pumping with adrenaline. I agree that wasn't the best of jokes but it is still better than the first few lines of this movie, I guarantee you that.

Post the interval, the decision to become an investigative thriller actually becomes a bit of a blessing as the pace of the film increases tremendously. It is interesting to see how Gautham is using his knowledge of the same day, same thing happening over and over again to put together clues in order to solve the mystery around who is out there to kill Nisha. The film becomes, not good, but at least not bad, because there is at least something we are invested in. 

Like in most Tamil sci-fi films, except the rare Netru Indru Naalai, I wish the writing had been so much better. For example, there seems to be this alien spaceship hovering around Chennai. When it is attacked, I don't know if there are any aliens inside. It just stands there like somebody painted a graphic on it and there is absolutely no resistance. What is the point of an advanced civilization coming to earth, it is fired at and nothing happens! 

My favourite bit of unintended humour involves the villain whose name I can't give away. Until a certain point he takes out his gun and he keeps shooting people mercilessly. He kills Gautham and Nisha but nothing happens because tomorrow is going to be October 2 again, they are all going to wake up alive. At least towards the end of the movie, it is expected that the time loop will end. That would mean, Gautham and Nisha will die at some point. For some reason, at that time, the villain abandons his gun and starts using his fists only for the hero to wake up and beat him up.

This is something that I love from the James Bond movies. The villain has to tie James Bond to a table in an extremely elaborate fashion and say – "I want you dead, Mr. Bond, but I will use this slow-moving laser that will slowly-slowly inch it's way past the wood that the table is built on and slowly cut you into pieces." I mean, if you want somebody dead, just shoot the guy! 

With Jango, we end up with a sci-fi movie that's not entirely bad. Is that a recommendation? You decide.