Jhimma

One of the most delightful slice-of-life films I’ve seen in recent times.

Jhimma is a kind of dance women in Maharashtra perform during mangalagaur (a celebration during Shravan). The dance carries on throughout the night. It only stops once the first rays of the sun signal the beginning of a new day.

In a similar fashion, the film represents the celebration of life, letting the past go and welcoming new beginnings with a joyous dance.

In Jhimma, seven women from different walks of life head to England for a trip.

Like any typical travel film, Jhimma lets you in on a journey the characters take and how the trip changes their lives in one way or another.

Jhimma doesn’t change much for all its characters, but it does quite a bit for each of them in its own way.

Jhimma turns this trip into an opportunity for the women to heal their wounds, fight their fears, be themselves and leave the past behind.

Jhimma makes some good arguments, tackles emotions and issues head-on throughout the film. But it doesn’t forget to have fun.

The film’s achievement lies in balancing all these issues and themes while still having a ball.

Actors like Nirmeeti Sawant and Suhas Joshi bring their absolute best to the scenes and the rest of the cast members like Suchitra Bandekar, Sonalee Kulkarni, and Kshitee Jog play along beautifully.

We get a good look into the lives of Indu, Vaishali, Maithili, and Mita.

But, some subplots like Krutika’s or Rama’s are left unexplored. The film doesn’t intend to dive deeper into their backstories. That plays well with the flow of the film.

It’s like going on a trip with a group of people. You get to know some of them well, and not get to know the other fellow travelers at all.

The film covers different emotions, themes, and backstories at once. But the writing or the characters do not struggle to balance it all in the film’s runtime. It flows naturally and that’s the fun part about Jhimma.

An interesting element in Jhimma is that all introspections, confrontations, and revelations happen on a bridge or near a waterbody.

In the climax sequence, the film brings all the characters together at a beach where they finally throw away their inhibitions and anxieties in the sea and wash their hands off of the things that have been holding them back.