Just wrapped up soaking in Jubilee show on Amazon Prime. And am still not out of it. I don't know what I will see next, cause I don't want to leave this zone yet.
Makes me crave for Dev Anand, Gurudutt and even some of the 60s-70s tragic ending Kannada dramas of Manjula & Aarthi.
Plotlines used the elements of folklore and scattered it around the stories. Even the starting point of each of the 5 main characters is nicked from many major players of Bombay showbiz initial years. But ofcourse the later years are not an authentic biography. And that's because those players refused to give the rights for biography on films. But there was a series long thread and each episode takes rest of the story forward for all 5 main characters.
They got the Brown sepia tone looks, location and set so very right. Stories had all elements of 50s even in the storyline, like focus on tragedy.
Actors were at their brilliant best. Lanky Jay Khanna with his sifty eyes & nervous energy. Aditi looking elegant, delicate with watery eyes & translucent skin.
Background music by Alokananda Dasgupta is so fantastic, I am going to say, the show would be totally different without it. Sets the right mood of dread and suspense - even when repeated every single episode.
Talking of dread, it was so evenly spread through so many episode. There is a point in the last or previous episode, when Das says and "aur woh hai ", then a pause, which I filled with "..." the right answer.
The songs by Amit Trivedi, were spaced out through the episodes. My first instinct was to cringe - trying to emulate 50s songs usually is for mockery. But nope, these work even outside the show. I have been playing Jubilee jukebox on YouTube.
The plot to reinsert Nilo into Jay's life after the scandal was totally unreal. Yeah ok it was the means to allow for an even, tragic ending for all the main characters.
Talking of the tragic ending, I don't not agree with the ending. Ashok Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Mukherjee studio owners, Himani Devi - everyone went on to live a full life with usual ups and down. Of course this was not a direct actual historical, so the ending does not have to match real life. Plus the whole bonus of being authentic to 50s cinema - where tragic ending made every audience poignant and tied to them for life.
Overall, the show gave some inside insight into Movie business of the the 30s-60s decade.
How Sindhi Punjabi folks got their hold in Bombay film industry and practically defined the rules of this trade. How certain people deals were made and the detailed power-play industry. Some hint on their friction with Maharashtra locals - story as old as time and wide as this world.
On technology side, showcased old sets, studio logistics, silent to cinemascope technology jump, old telephones. More specifically, this show displayed the different Audio equipment and even a slide show. Like mentioned here, its thanks to Motwane's family connection. I am happy this show showcased this like no one before. Some theatre reels, projector rooms and some wire-tapping equipment by Americans & Russians.
And this is one show I see Jalgaon mentioned and an event occurs in theatres there.
There are loads of ideas for Part 2 or Sequels. There is still a bulk of folklore about the 60s & 70s. Hindi movie Music industry is its own monolith. Golden era and the thousands of people who created it deserve their own stories.
#JubileeOnPrime More Reading:
Picture the Past - A new series by Vikramaditya Motwane celebrates all that has changed in Hindi cinema and all that hasn’t since the 1930s - Kaveree Bamzai | 07 Apr, 2023
Memoirs of Hindi Cinema - A series mirrors the early life and times of Bombay studios—and India Rachel Dwyer | 21 Apr, 2023
