Jerax (Kannada)
Srinidhi Bengaluru announced himself in 2024 with Blink, a film that deliciously combined pulp sci-fi elements with a heartfelt emotional journey. The writer-director is now back with a similar science-fiction expedition, a six-episode mini-series titled Jerax, wherein a Xerox or a photocopy machine in the town of Rayadurga can clone not just pieces of paper, but humans as well. All that the owner of the modest shop, Prakasha (Nagabhushana), needs to do is procure the photograph of a person of interest (dead or alive), and voila, the nearly-broken machine shall merrily bring people to life.
Yet, as Prakasha learns, there are rules to this game. Without divulging much, what Jerax does with the central idea is it hands all the control to its protagonist and lets him navigate his newfound “superpowers” in his own amateurish ways. From the town’s budding minister to his love interest, and everyone in between, Prakasha manages to make duplicates or copies of many people for varied reasons, but where’s the fun if he doesn’t make some serious blunders along the way? Jerax is essentially an underdog tale that begins with the right intentions, only to get out of hand sooner than later.
While Blink assumed a dark and serious tone, tackling a few complex themes, Jerax feels a lot more loosened up with its much lighter, satirical approach. The story unfolds in a fictional town where two warring politicians–Ramanna (Vijaya Prasad) and Deepu (Thukali Santhosh)--are in the thick of election campaigning. Each has their share of supporters and detractors, and cops and media too are in their pockets as per convenience, but none of this is important to Prakasha, who struggles to make a living with his deadbeat photocopy machine.
His uncle (Om Prakash Rao), who raised him after both his parents passed away, won’t stop bullying him, and his girlfriend Sujatha aka Sooji (Payal Chengappa) always seems itching to find a better partner for herself. Nothing seems to work in his favour until the planets Jupiter and Saturn–quite literally–align themselves for an occurrence that apparently happens once in twenty years. Prakasha has an amulet, or thayatha, around his neck that could perhaps come to his rescue then?
Aside from the intriguing premise, what works in Jerax’s favour is the idiosyncratic setting. The textures of the place that the story belongs to are visible in the specific dialect that people speak in, as well as the equations they share with god, power and politics.
Characters like Jinchak, Viral Venky, Renu, et al, imbue the storytelling with authenticity, with Srinidhi Bengaluru’s writing maintaining a pleasant rhythm throughout. Payal Chengappa scores a memorable character for herself, and her on-screen camaraderie with popular content creator Yashwanth Shetty (as Revanth) generates some of the best sequences in the series. Manju Pavagada, too, puts on a good show in the role of a policeman. It is Nagabhushana’s Prakasha, surprisingly, that gets underdeveloped in the pursuit, and despite the actor’s well-known comedic chops, his personality barely registers here.
It could be because the writing gets a bit too lost in the perfunctory political angle (which doesn’t really offer a fresh satirical perspective), or that it doesn’t make the protagonist’s plight its fulcrum.
Jerax does reasonably well in highlighting the troubles that Prakasha faces in dealing with powers entrusted to him (as well as their moral implications), but the series could have still afforded more time to explore the different depths and quirks of its core concept.
It shouldn’t perhaps have been so easy for Prakasha to figure out what his machine is capable of. The complications arising from his reproductions, as it were, too, should have been more severe on the story. And in general, Jerax should have tried to have a lot more fun with its premise than it eventually manages.
Nevertheless, Srinidhi Bengaluru manages to put together an entertainer that keeps giving, despite the slip-ups.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.