Jetlee Movie Review

Satya & Ritesh Rana delivered two blockbusters earlier with the ‘Mathu Vadalara’ series in 2019 & 2024. Both films entertained the audience very well and went on to become huge box-office hits. After the success of both their earlier films together, ‘The Hero’ Satya and the director, Ritesh Rana, teamed up for Jetlee, an action comedy film. Miss Universe India, Rhea Singha, played the female lead role in the film. The production companies, Mythri Movie Makers & Clap Entertainment, which produced the Mathu Vadalara series films, bankrolled the project. The film was announced a few months ago, wrapped up shooting quickly, and after a good promotional campaign, the makers released it in theatres today. Did Satya and Ritesh Rana, deliver a hat-trick of successful films in their combination with Jetlee? Did Jetlee have the potential to pull in audiences in huge numbers to theatres this summer? How did Rhea Singha do in her Telugu debut as a female lead? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

Prajapathi(Ajay), the founder of Prajapathi Bank, files for bankruptcy after losing fifteen thousand crores during the crypto market crash. To escape from the legal proceedings and after a murder attempt on him by an assassin, he flew to Dubai from India against the orders of the authorities. Who was the assassin? Why did the assassin attempt to kill, Prajapathi? What is the real identity of Ved Vyas(Satya)? Is he a blind doctor? Or a secret agent? Or an extraction team member? Or a terrorist? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Who am I? A blind doctor? A secret agent? An extraction team member? A terrorist? Satya, in the role that questions his identity, performed well. He put his best effort to make the audience laugh, and he succeeded to some extent, but it was beyond his ability to pull off a not-so-written film. Rhea Singha looked good and danced well in a song. But, there is not much to talk about her performance. She may have to improve her acting skills if she’s serious about a career in acting.

Vennela Kishore and Harsha Chemudu, generated good laughs in a sequence each but apart from that, the rest of their portions tested patience, especially Vennela Kishore’s portions. Ajay in the role of an antagonist delivered an adequate performance. He has done quite a few similar roles in the past. So, there was not much for him to showcase his acting abilities. The actor who played the role of a co-pilot, managed to generate good laughs with his dialogue delivery. Srinivasa Reddy was wasted in a poorly written role and Kabir Duhan Singh was just ok.

Senior actor, Subhalekha Sudhakar, made his presence felt in a sequence. Remember yesteryear hero, Raj Kumar(a look-alike of Megastar Chiranjeevi)? He did a cameo role in the film. It was good to see him in a film after a long time.

Technicalities:

Kaala Bhairava came with two decent songs. The song in the pre-climax on people praying to God, had relatable lyrics and the tune was catchy as well. His background score is adequate. Cinematographer, Suresh Sarangam, and the production design team deserve appreciation for coming up with a good output. The majority of the film was shot on a flight set and it was made on a moderate budget but the cinematographer and production design team made sure the setup did not look monotonous and also gave the film a rich look.

Editing by Karthika Srinivas, could have been better, particularly in the second half. At only about two hours and ten minutes, the film appeared to have been dragged forever. A bit of trimming in the pre-climax and climax, could have made the film a bit better. Production values by Mythri Movie Makers & Clap Entertainment, were adequate. Let’s talk about the writer and the director, Ritesh Rana’s, work in detail in the analysis section.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠A Few Comedy Portions
2.⁠ ⁠Satya’s Comedy Timing

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Second Half
2.⁠ ⁠Bland Writing
3.⁠ ⁠Unexciting Narration
4.⁠ ⁠Excessive pop culture references

Analysis:

The director, Ritesh Rana’s films can be categorised into two types – Unapologetically quirky and unbearably quirky. While writing, if he’s in the zone of ‘Unapologetically quirky’, we get to see films like Mathu Vadalara and Mathu Vadalara 2. And, if he steps into the zone of ‘Unbearably Quirky’, we will see films like, Happy Birthday(2022). The sad news for Jetlee is that the maverick director seemed to be in an unbearably quirky zone while writing the film. There were moments in the film where we could see the brilliance of Ritesh Rana as a writer in generating fun but those moments are very few and far between in the film. We can see the writer, the director and the actors’ desperate attempt to make us laugh but unfortunately, a majority of those attempts failed.

One of the trademarks of Ritesh Rana is his ability to write and execute satirical comedy. In Jetlee as well we can see the glimpses of that trademark. The satire on the latest trend of using Lord Rama or Lord Hanuman references during the climax of films, the satire on the multi-part films trend, and the way he used a non-existent date as the release date of Jetlee’s sequel, bring a pleasant smile to your face. Just like Ritesh’s earlier films, we can see a lot of references to Megastar Chiranjeevi and his classic films, in Jetlee as well. And also, he used a lot of references to many blockbuster films and pop culture. A few of those references worked in generating laughs here and there.

Jetlee in a nutshell is a revenge drama with a twist. The storyline of the film has the potential to become a very good action thriller. But, the writer and the director, chose to make it as an action comedy film. Nothing wrong with the decision but in an attempt to generate comedy and also to show its lead character as ‘a Hero’, the film ended up becoming neither an action comedy nor an action thriller. Ritesh and his team tried everything but none of their attempts to make the audience laugh worked during the first forty to forty-five minutes. After a bumpy start, the film seemed to get back on track with a few good funny sequences and a decent end to the first half. The pre-interval sequence raises hopes for a much better second half but sadly, the film completely lost its track in the second half with hardly anything engaging.

Read this – Nuvvu Tea ela tagagalutunnav? – A character in the film asks another character. And, the response is ‘Ante coffee machine pani cheyyadam ledu… Anduke tea tagutunna’. How in the world does a writer expect the audiences to laugh at such outdated jokes in the year 2026? It’s sad to see a promising talent like Ritesh Rana use the terms ‘Then Go’, ‘Mountain red flower’, etc., to make the audience laugh. No sir, it is not funny. The lyrics used in the climax where the people in the flight pray to god to save their lives, have Ritesh Rana’s trademark all over. The lyrics and the song were good but it was too late by then for the audience to appreciate the song because of the horrid second half.

Overall, Jetlee is a disappointing film that promises so much when it was announced and delivers very little when it is eventually released. There were a few comedy portions that worked but the rest of the film, especially the second half, tests your patience. You may give it a try when it releases on an OTT platform but the film certainly doesn’t warrant a theatre visit. No hat-trick for the combination of Satya and Ritesh Rana.

Bottomline – Misfired Jet

Rating – 2/5