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Jungle
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'Jungle' Wilderness unleashed!

By N K Deoshi
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

The long wait is finally over. It’s time for movie-buffs to make a beeline to the theatres as Ram Gopal Varma’s Jungle hits the silver screen.

Urmila Matondakar and Fardeen Khan – son of the 70s star Feroz Khan – pair for the first time in this romantic-action thriller. Fardeen is making his second coming after his debut Prem Aggan failed to give him a start which he as a newcomer needed. As for Urmila, we know that she is the permanent member of Ram Gopal Varma’s camp and appear in all of his films.

Jungle is about two young lovers, madly in love with each other and even willing to sacrifice their lives when their love is put to test.

Siddhu (Fardeen Khan) is a young, handsome and carefree guy who is usually at cross with his next-door neighbor Anu (Urmila Matondakar) over trifles. These minor disputes, however, bring both of them closer to each other and, ultimately, love sprouts between them. Anu’s father, however, dislikes Siddhu and doesn’t approve of him as Anu’s prospective groom. Siddhu is helpless in the face of such overt stubbornness on the part of Anu’s father.

Tragedy strikes their happy-going life when Anu goes out on a Safari to jungle and there, falls prey to the cruel bandit Durga Narayan Chaudhary (Sushant Kumar), who kidnaps her and takes her to the thick of jungle that has been his home for a long time.

In return, Durga, along with his group of fugitives, demand the release of one of their men held by the commander of ‘special task force’ – Shivraj (Sunil Shetty). Shivraj, however, refuses to listen to Durga’s demand and heads for the jungle with a mission to liquidate Durga and his men, and free Anu from their captivity.

For Anu, who has forever lived in the lap of luxury, life has become a living nightmare. But, inspite of being thrown into such inhospitable circumstances and being held as a captive by these wild men, she doesn’t resort to hysteria and faces her fate with equanimity. On the other hand, Siddhu, unarmed but determined, heads for the jungle to find his beloved.

This scrimmage between a lover, a bandit, a commander and, not to forget, wild and inhospitable forces of a jungle, forms the spine-chilling climax of the movie. Will love emerge victorious or will the bad guys have their day? These questions are better left unanswered for the viewer to see the movie and find out for himself.

The strong point of the movie is its cinematography, which literally transmits a viewer into the wilderness of a jungle. Equally good is the background music by Sandeep Chowta who has captured those subtle sounds and nuances, which create the ambience of a forest.

Jungle is a very crucial film for many people. Particularly for Ram Gopal Varma whose previous films Daud, Kaun and Mast came a cropper at the box-office. Even Urmila desperately needs a hit to get her career back into the stride, which had ensued after the success of Rangeela, Satya and Judaai.

In a nutshell, Jungle is a film much different in its content and treatment from the recent spate of mega releases from Bollywood. It does not have any song that was shot on exotic locales of Switzerland or Australia. In fact, the movie was shot on actual location – in forests.

Performances by actors are undoubtedly commendable. Particularly outstanding is actor Sushant Kumar – who seemed to have got under the skin of his character of a Bandit

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