'Jackpot' Film Review: Anandaraj, Jo and Revathi shine in this inconsistent entertainer

The film is directed by Kalyaan of Gulebakavali fame. The 144-minute film opens with a scene that dates back to 1918. A milkman finds a treasure in his compound, which turns out to be the mythological Akshaya Paathra. Yes, we could predict the climax in the first scene. Later, the vessel is robbed, and ends up getting thrown into a river during a fight between the robbers and the villagers. The story then fast forwards to the current-day scenario where Akshaya (Jyotika) and Masha (Revathi) con people to make a living. They pick up a fight with a police inspector and spend a day in jail. There they are told about the vessel by one of the inmates who says it is buried in the house of a local politician named Maanasthan (Anandaraj). How they manage to steal the vessel from his house is what the rest of the film is all about. Jackpot could be rightly called a sequel to Kalyaan’s Gulebakavali.

Though we are introduced to several characters like Rajendran, Yogi Babu and Mansoor Ali Khan, none of them manage to impress us. Jyotika and Revathi try their best to make the lazily-written comedy work. It is their stunt scenes and dance moves that provide us with some relief. Jo and Revathi, despite having limited scope to perform still have enhanced the film with their out-of-the box performances.

Their connect in the story is revealed to us in the climax, but fails to create any sort of impact. It is Anandaraj with his comedy that makes this film a laugh riot. His canny dialogue deliveries and expressions lift the film. Without him the film would have been a tedious watch. Vishal Chandrasekhar’s music is mediocre. Background scoring for Jyotika’s mass sequences reminds us of Rajinikanth and Vijay’s films. Overall, Jackpot is a laugh riot, that could have been better made.