A new 10-part, fictional period drama set in the Bombay film industry of the 1940s. is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Jubilee is about the mystical world of films and the associated ambitions. Yeh un dinon ki kahani hai jab koi ek bade studio ki pakkad puri film industry par hua karti thi…. Here, the story starts with Srikant Roy [Prosenjit Chatterjee] & Sumitra Kumari [Aditi Rao Hydri], and their studio Roy Talkies.
The series opens with a talent hunt by Roy talkies to find their next superstar who would be called – Madan Kumar. The story takes many twists and turns from there, with the two main characters being Binod Das [Apar Shakti Khurana] and Jay Khanna, played by and Sidhant Gupta. The show also features a fascinating character named Nilufer, a courtesan from Lucknow who has now moved to Mumbai after the partition, portrayed excellently by Wamiqa Gabbi.
Creator Vikram Aditya Motwane & Soumik Sen has developed a truly thrilling yet poetic world where his characters have blind ambitions, there are ruthless situations and dry emotions. There, have been many films based on the mystique of the big world of Bollywood but Juibilee, is cleverly written!
The writing seems to draw inspiration from popular stories of Mumbai’s film industry, highlighting the impact of a successful or unsuccessful movie. The characters of Srikant Roy and Sumitra Kumari appear to be inspired by the founders of Bombay Talkies, Himanshu Roy and Devika Rani.
For those who love filmy facts like me, let me share with you a trivia! It is believed that actress Devika Rani wanted to elope with Himanshu Roy’s new talent Nijbul Hassan, but she was brought back by Roy’s trusted aide Sashdhar Mukherjee, who later founded the Filmistan Studio in Mumbai. Hassan was replaced with Mukherjee’s nephew Kumud Lal Ganguly, who was given the new identity of Ashok Kumar. This is how the superstar Ashok Kumar was born. In the series, we see the rise of Binod Das as Madan Kumar. It is believed that in real life, Ashok Kumar mentored his younger brother Kishore Kumar’s acting career, even though Kishore actually wanted to be a singer. Similarly, Madan’s character has a younger brother who aspires to be a singer instead of an actor.
I must mention that Jubilee is one of those cinematic marvel or we may say OTT marvel where everything runs in perfect tandem with each other. From casting to costumes, to background music to the look of the series. It just transports you completely in the bygone era of 1950’s. However, the narrative does feel sluggish many time. The pace of the story could have been faster to make it even more engaging.
And now the special mention of this new born star – Jay Khanna played by Sidhant Gupta . His stooped back & his high waist baggy pants makes him look like Deva Anand – his cap would remind you of Raj Kapoor. And his passion for his actress Nilufer seems to be inspired by Raj Kapoor and Nargis popular love story. Do take note of the scene where Jay meets his actress love interest, Nilufer, with flour in her hair, which is reminiscent of a popular real-life instance between Raj Kapoor and Nargis.
Today all episodes are on air ! Go Binge watch and thank me later.
Do tell me in comments which actors are being portrayed by which character in the series?