Jacobintey Swargarajyam Malayalam Movie Review

When you are down and out, you look to someone close to inspire and motivate to overcome the hurdles that you are facing. This will give you a boost up and makes you think positively and provide the much needed confidence. Jacobintey Swargarajyam has many moments in it that will give positivity and motivation. Directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan his fourth directorial venture, JSR is a simple family film for everyone.
Its the story of a successful businessman Jacob based in Dubai. The film capture the happy family he has built, the business empire he owns, the ups and downs of the family and the hardships they face on the backdrop of American recession that had a telling effect in the Gulf.
Based on a true story, JSR is not the regular entertainer that Nivin has been part of with Vineeth. One can find fault by saying there is too much preaching in the overall storyline. But for me it was a different experience and JSR gave lot of positives and takeaways when life is not running to our plans.
Screenplay has infused lot of goodness and emphasise the importance of relationships in a family. Jacob the central protagonist gives lot of prominence for his family members just like every ordinary man. The film establish what our close family members can do for us when the going gets tough.
There are also some finer moments that will touch our hearts. When Jacob tells his son that never in his life he has made his better half cry is one such moment in the film that will leave you emotionally touched. Same way how Dinesh Prabhakar explain the role played by Jacob for his success to Jerry is a well pictured scene that explains the strength and depth of the screenplay.
Vineeth Sreenivasan is directing his fourth film, his third with Nivin Pauly and to me JSR is a movie that he can very well be proud of for the way it is narrated and executed. He has himself written the screenplay which has a running time of two hours and twenty five minutes. Certain things on how the problem is overcome in second half can be questioned but being a true incident, I feel that should have been the way how it was dealt with in real life.
An engaging and lively first half is followed by a more serious second half that slightly gets some lag at times. Its because of the nature of the story that a slight lagness is felt in the post intermission session. But all is well that ends well as JSR gives you ray of light and hope through each and every frame to lift your confidence level.
Nivin Pauly plays the character of Jerry who is the eldest son of Jacob with ease. It was a controlled act from the actor who has only a limited role initially but gradually gets more prominence as the movie progress. Sreenadh Bhasi as Abin and Aima Sebastian as Ammu are the other siblings in the Jacob family and both were good in their respective roles. The youngest of the lot was also nice. Sai Kumar, T G Ravi and Dinesh Prabhakar had few scenes but all three had meaty scenes to showcase their acting credentials.
The star of the show was definitely Renji Paniker appearing as the title protagonist Jacob. He has evolved as a good actor as each film passes by and Jacob in JSR is yet another role that he will cherish. Lakshmy Ramakrishnan as Shery as the better half of Jacob was a surprise package here. An impressive performance indeed from her.
Ninety nine percent of the film is shot in the Middle East and Jomon T John who is behind the camera has as always captured each and every scene with his trademark shot. Edits by Renjan Abraham was apt without compromising on the flow of the film. Shaan Rahman who is behind the music scene has done a neat job both with the BGM and songs.
There is less or no amount of jokes and humour in the film. So don't expect such stuffs in JSR as the subject which is shown doesn't demand such things as it discuss a serious thing here. With lot of thought provoking and message conveying things looming large over the entire running time, Jacobintey Swargarajyam gave me a positive energy and at the same time good experience at the movie hall. I go with three and a half out of five as my personal rating.
Rating - 3.5 / 5