Jambulingam

Synopsis: A villager becomes a magician’s apprentice and travels to Japan, and accidentally rescues a little girl who has been kidnapped.

Review: Hari Shankar and Hareesh Narayan debuted with the experimental Orr Iravu, followed it up with the decent Ambuli and then gave us the amateurish horror anthology Aaaah. Jambulingam makes Aaaah look like a fine work of art and also makes us wonder if Ambuli was a fluke.

The plot revolves around Jumbulingam aka Jumbo (Ambuli Gokulnath) who is so awestruck after watching a magic show by Vittal (Yog Japee) that he asks the magician to take him on as his apprentice. They go to Japan, where Jumbo and Irene (Anjena Kriti), Vittal’s assistant, get lost in the countryside. As they try to make their way back, they come across Hamsika, a who has been kidnapped, but with the little girl unable to talk out of shock, will they be reunite her with parents?

Even on paper, the premise of Jambulingam feels thin, and on screen, it looks even worse. The film has been shot in 3D, but given how flat and unexciting the staging is, the 3D makes no difference; in fact, it only hurts the eyes. Scene after scene is cringe-worthy, characters behave in the most idiotic manner, and our only ‘relief’ are instantly forgettable songs that pop up now and then to give a break to the awfully written scenes. Some might argue that the film is targeted mainly at children, but don’t kids deserve better?

An initial segment involving Vittal showing off his tricks (one of which, a train coming out of the screen, seems like a tribute to the Lumiere Brothers) villagers is sort-of interesting and the physical comedy by Gokulnath is also somewhat amusing. But given that they don’t have good lead-ins, these scenes only feel like desperate attempts to keep us from leaving the theatre.