Janaki v/s State of Kerala Review by Kausalya Rachavelpula
JSK: Janaki v/s State of Kerala tries to connect too many laws for a single case. It felt like an overload of information. But in reality, that could be how it works when proving a case, especially with no eyewitnesses—which often happens in sexual crime cases.
Technically, the concept is good. But there’s too much legal education packed in. Whether all of it is necessary for the movie or not is a question mark. Still, it couldn’t reach the level of Jana Gana Mana or even Neru.
Maybe because they arrived at the actual, meaningful points too late. Those worthy points went off track, and though they came together in the end, it felt either too late or completely beside the point. It seemed like they were too scared to arrive at the core issue, so they kept stalling.
Every scene starts somewhere and ends somewhere else. That structure could work for a thriller—but this movie is not a thriller.
The film is woven in such a way that they had to include Suresh Gopi’s heroism by hook or by crook. While it was fine to an extent, after a point it became unnecessary and tiresome.
Coming to the concept, there are actually multiple threads. They talk about fake rape cases. They touch upon religious-sexual crimes—like a priest being involved in abuse. They address political and religious institutional corruption. And finally, they show Janaki’s case—a woman trying to end a pregnancy caused by rape.
When the point is about Article 21—the right to live with dignity and the right of autonomy of their own body—then why didn’t they approach it from the beginning of the pregnancy itself? Were they afraid of backlash from anti-abortion groups? If they were scared of that, then why bring it up at all?
The court verdict shown in the movie is very naive. If something like that happened in real life, what would be the fate of both the mother and the child?
This movie cannot be watched, discussed, and moved on from like any regular film. They brought up a very serious issue—rape-induced pregnancy—and dealt with it carelessly.
If you’re taking a stand, especially in a film that’s trying to be noble, then make your points strong enough to support that stand. Instead, going all over the place and ending with a diplomatic conclusion feels more like cowardice. It would be better not to touch such a serious topic at all if you’re not confident in handling it properly.
The acting of Suresh Gopi and Anupama Parameshwaran, along with the supporting cast, was fine. All are experienced actors, and we can see that. Ghibran and Gireesh Narayanan’s music was good and enhanced the scenes.
Rating: 2/5
