“A reward of BDT 1 lakh will be given to anyone who can watch Jinn by themselves!”, Jaaz Multimedia announced via their social media accounts a little more than a month ago on the 8th of April, 2023. Over 68,000 people expressed interest in participating, far too many for the company to accommodate, so they decided to choose the entrants by conducting a lottery.

Unfortunately, I did not make the cut. Thus, I had to watch the movie the old-fashioned way and by the time I was done, I wish they would have paid me 1 lakh taka for sitting through it in general because it was a train wreck. Now that I sit to write a review on it for the Deshi Geek readers, it’s utterly baffling to me how I managed to watch this shit show!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSEp7lB5XgA

Jinn Treads Old Ground With Novel Mediocrity

Borrowing beats from Bhool Bhulaiya, our journey begins with the protagonist Rafsan, played by actor Abdun Noor Shajal returning to the silver screen for the first time after a hiatus of nearly a decade since Run Out in 2015, and his wife Monalisa, played by actress Puja Cherry Roy, visiting the former’s patriarchal home where the latter falls down a haunted well. Once rescued, she starts to act strange, hinting at the first signs of being possessed by the titular Jinn of the story – this is when they lose the plot, figuratively and literally.

Ironically, for a movie touted as the scariest horror film in Bangladeshi history, what it fails to do the most is scare anyone. Horror is its weakest link unless we are talking about the existential horror that must have been experienced by many a member of the audience realizing valuable hours of their lives as well as their money wasted to witness this fiasco named Jinn.

It has a passable first act exploring the romance between the two leads, peppered with embarrassingly ham-fisted efforts at providing comic relief. However, the narrative goes off the rails in a swift fashion following the interval, delving into the supernatural aspect of it.

The pacing in the second act is an utter slog. A friend comes in to fulfil the trope of the cynical skeptic who turns into a believer, verifying the paranormal occurrences are indeed legitimate despite his earlier insistence that they all have a scientific explanation. This is supposed to magnify the fear factor, but any whole number multiplied by zero is still zero.

The only effect the development serves to achieve is to evoke a sigh of relief that we shall finally be progressing into the third and concluding act. It is discovered that the Jinn is a hereditary menace going down Monalisa’s family lineage for several generations. An amulet is placed on her as a protective measure against the demonic threat, so the Jinn tries to get to her by possessing her mother. His target, ultimately, is to kill Rafsan and claim Monalisa for himself. The priest responsible for warding her with the amulet is then consulted to perform an exorcism which initiates the climax of the film.

Compelled to manifest as a result of the ritual, the Jinn assails our cast with a shapeshifting barrage, appearing in the form of a cockroach, a ball of fire, and a truck among a plethora of various specimens until revealing his true visage… that of a unicorn. A brawl ensues, the bout ending with Rafsan slaying the mythical beast and giving PETA and the World Wildlife Fund a collective aneurism. They celebrate the successful trophy hunt by jiving to a lively musical score.

Perfect Example Of Style Over Substance

Jinn is the textbook definition of all sizzle and no steak, drumming up hype through the application of a vigorous promotional campaign only to deliver a shoddy product lacking in nearly every other facet – the acting is weak, the composition is poor, the visuals and dialogue are engaged in a heated competition to see which can make viewers groan the most. Suffice it to say creatively, the title bears no merit; commercially, however, it might make for a valuable case study for students of marketing.

Opening during Eid alongside blockbusters like Leader: Amie Bangladesh, Shotru and Kill Him, it is unknown how much Jinn has accumulated in earnings since its release, but if the claims of the movie’s director Nader Chowdhury are to be believed, the response has been “overwhelming.” Although doubtful of how it would be received before the completion of the project, he states he was positively surprised by the eventual outcome which has inspired him to continue in his transition from performing in front of the camera to pulling the strings behind the scenes.

Shajal, the top-billed star, himself made headlines with bold remarks. “As people are unable to find tickets for Jinn, they are being forced to watch Evil Dead. This really means a lot,” he told a local media outlet. “Tickets for the next two days of Jinn screenings are already sold out. This is my biggest achievement!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDYGihC5_0g

My Closing Thoughts On Jinn

Nonetheless, from a personal standpoint, I found the movie perhaps ambitious as a concept at best and overrated by the machine sponsoring it at worst. The quality of the experience itself does not meet the expectations one would have if one were paying attention to the preceding fanfare. Rest assured whatever financial success – if any – it may garner does not outweigh its critical flaws. The industry as a whole has light years to go if this is the level of the bar we are aspiring to clear.

Fortunately, it is not. Superior titles have graced the market prior to Jinn and will hopefully continue to do so. We, meanwhile, will have to do our part in separating the wheat from the chaff, ignoring corporate puffery to support genuine art.

“Directing Jinn made me happy,” said Nader Chowdhury during a casual sit-down interview with The Daily Star and that is quite fair. Power to you, my dear sir. Unfortunately, for me, watching it did not elicit even a mere semblance of the same reaction. Of course, there was some fun to be had from the “it is so bad that it is good” charm of the movie in a scanty few handfuls of spots, but overall, in the immortal words of Benoit Blanc, “It’s just dumb!” 4/10.