Watched 'Jo Bole So Nihal' (translation: Blessed are those who call out God's name) to see what the political fuss in India was all about. My conclusion ? Overall a mediocre film, with occasional funny (albeit stereotypical) situations about Jats and sardars. Even the casteist subtitle to the movie - "No if's...no buts...sirf Jat!" portrays the low expectations this movie radiates from the outset. The key to being able to watch this film, without flinching at some of pointlessly embarrassing scenes, is to not view this as some kind of social commentary on the Sikh diaspora, but as an inane Bollywood flick where the interweaving of comedy within the themes of family village honour, terrorism, New York fast life and vulgar sexual innuendo results in a poorly concocted mixture which disappoint viewers at either end of the religious-secular spectrum.
Sunny Deol stars as 'Nihal' a Punjab village policeman (or Jat cop if you like) who through a combination of improbable circumstances, is transported to New York to chase down the notorious Romeo - a paid hitman who has a habit of killing priests after confessing about his murderous activities the previous week. Nihal makes it clear from the outset that his primary motivation for tracking Romeo is to restore his honour amongst his fellow villagers who mistakenly suspect he colluded with allowing Romeo to escape after an encounter in some fields. The message is clear - you can rob, steal or murder - but don't ever insult a Sardar Jat - the price is too heavy to even think about. The rest is all too predictable - apparently appealing to the gracious Waheguru (God) and shouting the Sikh war cry of 'Jo Bole So Nihal' every 2 minutes, allows one to defeat all and sundry and get out of the tightest of corners.
As expected from such a 'quality' production, the main female characters are there to provide little more than a fleshfest. I won't even bother mentioning who they were, as these days upcoming Bollywood starlets who are willing to strip are dime a dozen these days. Some might find the scene of Nihal finishing his session of fornicating with the culturally lost FBI Agent Suzanne (aka Satinder Kaur) a bit much, and which provides no added value to the storyline except to add further ridicule to the film.
After watching this film, I believe it should have been re-named something else. To evoke such a sacred mantra of words, and associate it with a commercial production which has no spiritual or uplifting content whatsoever, is to do grave injustice to a faith which shed much blood in it's history so as to have the right to say 'Jo Bole So Nihal'.
Film rating: 4/10.
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