Jhund movie review: Amitabh Bachchan-starrer is an overlong meander

The inspirational real-life story of the Nagpur-based Vijay Barse who founded Slum Soccer, an NGO doing stellar work with slum kids, is the basis of writer-director Nagraj Popatrao Manjule’s new film, ‘Jhund’. You’d think that there would be no one better than Manjule to ace this kind of film, because of his own background which he uses so authentically in his work. He has given us ‘Fandry’ and ‘Sairat’, two of the most profoundly impactful films on rigid caste divides and inhuman social mores. In ‘Jhund’, the Jai Bhim slogans and the Babasaheb Ambedkar posters which proliferate in a vigorous dance sequence set to Ajay-Atul’s beats, are clear indicators of the Dalit component amongst the slum dwellers. Manjule is also the casting director, so the faces are organic, unlike so many movies in which Bollywood actors go brownface to match their environs.