Rating: * * * 1/2

For me, it is a little mortifying and a little unsettling to judge a film based on somebody's personal tragedy but since the tragedy has found its way to the big screen, I believe that it will be wise to see how well the facts and events have been replicated to fit the 35mm. But apart from how honestly and earnestly the movie brings the Jessica Lal murder case to us, No One Killed Jessica, the film will make you think and want to get up and act.

The first half of the film drags. You feel a craving for pace and a little more action. I somewhere agree with Rani when she says that regardless of what a film is based on, it ought to have entertainment value. So we are a trifle restless to see some more activity in the first half that takes a tad long to build up the helplessness and grief of the Lal family. Sabrina's desperate silence gets deafening after a while. The second half however just more than makes up  for the slower first. The fiery media trial and public momentum that it gathered in order to get the guilty to the book is almost consuming.

The director allows himself his share of liberties where he portrays a single journalist as the fountainhead of the justice for Jessica movement whereas it was a sort of mass media awakening that thrust pressure on government machinery. Overall, No one Killed Jessica taps the facts with utmost precision. The research seems to be in place and actors certainly seemed to have understood their characters very well. It is like we are watching Bina Ramani and Shayan Munshi in precisely the way we had eight nine years ago when they turned hostile. The impenitent murderers sloshed with power and money too seem to have been brought in front us in their true colours. The movie has some great dialogues and great editing. We are shaken up in the scene where Sabrina Lal goes on national television to ask whether the value of a human being's life is less than a drink.

I am sure director Rajkumar Gupta was put up against as a mammoth challenge where he had to inform, educate and entertain all at the same time. And he manages to perform all the three roles with elan and precision. Now for the performances, as I have believed over all these years, Rani Mukherjee is one of the greatest actresses of our times and she doles out an ace performance at the feisty, fiery, foul-mouthed and valorous journalist Meera Gaity. Vidya performance speaks to us in her silence and she too is truly praiseworthy as Sabrina Lal. At a time when newspapers and channels are replete with scams and tales of distrust, No One Killed Jessica will not only redeem the media in some measure but also pave the way for a battle for justice of the people, for the people and by the people.