No One Killed Jessica

No One Killed Jessica is a 2011 Indian biographical thriller film written and directed by Raj Kumar Gupta, produced by Ronnie Screwvala, and based on the murder case of Jessica Lal. The film stars Vidya Balan as Jessica's sister, Sabrina Ali, and Rani Mukerji as Meera Gaity, a character inspired by the TV news reporter following the case. It marks the acting debut of Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub who plays Manu Sharma, Jessica's murderer.

Amit Trivedi composed the score of the film which is distributed by UTV Motion Pictures. Produced on a budget of , the film released worldwide on 9 January 2011 and received generally positive reviews from critics and overall audience, who praised the direction of Gupta and performances of Balan, Mukerji & Ayyub. It was critically as well as commercially successful, grossing a total of  worldwide, thus emerging as the tenth highest-grossing Hindi film of 2011.

The following year, it was nominated for five Filmfare Awards including Best Director for Gupta, Best Actress for Balan, Best Debut (Male) for Ayyub and Best Film for Screwvala, winning Best Supporting Actress for Mukerji.

Plot
Tending bar at an elite event in Delhi, India, Jessica (Myra Karn) refuses to serve three men after the last call. One of the men, Manish (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub), who's the son of a big-time politician, shoots her in the head in response. There are dozens of eyewitnesses, but as Jessica's sister, Sabrina Lal (Vidya Balan), discovers, they are either conveniently forgetful or willing to sell their testimony to the highest bidder, leaving an open-and-shut case hostage to greed and political influence.

Manish is taken into custody by the police and investigations are begun. However, due to political pressure, all the witnesses turn hostile one by one, including Jessica's actor and model friend Vikram Jai Singh. Inspector N.K. (Rajesh Sharma) informs Sabrina that one of the two bullets that were sent for verification has been replaced. Sabrina's repeated attempts into getting the witnesses and evidence in order to prove Jessica's crime fail one by one. The court case runs until the year 2006. Due to the lack of evidence and witnesses, the court acquits the culprits. Sabrina's mother suffers a heart attack due to the trauma caused by the news and dies in the hospital. Hearing this, Sabrina's father also collapses in the hospital and is taken to the ICU.

Meanwhile, Meera Gaiti (Rani Mukerji), a reporter, finds out about the acquittal through the newspaper and gets shocked since she expected Jessica's case to be an open and shut case. Meera takes the matter in her hands and plans to get Justice for Jessica. With the approval of her editor, she performs various sting operations and exposes the recklessness of the law and order of the country while raising questions about the police and the authorities. N.K. Singh realizes his mistake and helps Meera by sending her the tape of Manish where he confesses his crime. Meera uses the clip to exploit the cases and starts to build up pressure on the system and the political party.

Soon, the public that has been following the case since so long on television decides to protest against the powerful clout and bring justice to Jessica. A number of phone calls, SMS, and voice messages are sent through the channel in support for Jessica. Meera uses this entire support from the public to reach out to the Government and even the President for their help. A Candlelight march is organized for Jessica by people of Delhi to stand for her and demand justice. Meanwhile, Sabrina, who has been through all the trauma while fighting for her sister in court, seems to have given up and moved on. Meera approaches Sabrina to stand up again for her sister and assures her that she would get justice this time as she has the support of the entire city.

Political pressure gets mounted on the family of Manish and his politician father resigns from his position. The High Court summons the police for the recklessness they showed in the case. The police appeal to the High Court to have the case re-opened and it gets accepted. The case goes on fast track. The case goes further into Supreme Court where Manish Bharadwaj is found guilty for the crime and is sent for life imprisonment. His allies Vishal Rastogi and Lucky Singh get punished with four years in jail.

In the end, it is known that Sabrina runs an advertising agency and does not have a boyfriend while her father is no more. Meera lives her life as she is.

Cast
Rani Mukerji – Meera Gaiti,
Vidya Balan – Sabrina Lal, Jessica's sister
Myra Karn – Jessica Lal
Neil Bhoopalam – Vikram Jai Singh
Manoj Bakshi – Layer
Rajesh Sharma – N. K. (police officer investigating the case)
Sunil Sonar – Pramod Bharadwaj
Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub – Manu Sharma
Ashu Sharma – Lucky Gill
Bubbles Sabharwal – Mallika Sehgal
Samara Chopra – Naina Sehgal
Yogendra Tikku – Sanjit Lal (Jessica's father)
Geeta Sudan – June Lal (Jessica's mother)
Satyadeep Mishra – Gaurav, Meera's boss
Anuj Tikku – The man in plane with Meera
Sushil Dahiya – R. D. Rastogi
Jagat Rawat - Dharam Saxena
Avijit Dutt - B. M. Pandit
Aayeinaa Sareen - News Announcer
Maanvi Gagroo - Aditi (journalist following the case)
 Abhishek Banerjee - Pickpocket

Production
The film, set in New Delhi, was inspired by the true story of the controversial Jessica Lal murder case. The director explained that the title was inspired by a 2006 headline of a news story that ran when the accused killer in an infamous murder case was acquitted by a trial court. The events and the subsequent media coverage sparked nationwide protests, resulting in an appeal and re-opening of the murder case and the subsequent sentencing of the killer.

Themes

No One Killed Jessica is based on the true story of Jessica Lal, a Delhi-based model and restaurant worker who was shot in 1999 at a New Delhi restaurant by Siddharth Vashisht, better known as Manu Sharma. The killer was the son of the wealthy, influential, and intimidating Haryana politician, Venod Sharma, a close aide of the chief minister of Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Jessica, along with actor and model Shayan Munshi, were closing the bar at the restaurant where they worked. They were approached by Manu and his two friends. Infuriated by Jessica's refusal to serve them drinks after the bar closed, Manu fatally shot Jessica. The subsequent investigation and trial were stymied by Manu's family, who did not hesitate to use their political, financial, and law enforcement connections to intimidate, coerce, and bribe the majority of the witnesses to the crime. The case then became an uneven battle between Jessica's family (especially her sister Sabrina) and Manu's high-powered family and their associates in the local government.

In February 2006, the court acquitted Manu and his friends, citing a lack of sufficient evidence. This set off a public outcry and widespread protests, which as depicted in the movie, were led by Prabhloch Singh, the founder of an organization called the "Middle Finger Protests" from Manu Sharma's hometown Chandigarh. The backlash forced the re-opening of the investigation, which was placed on a judicial fast track. In December 2006, Manu was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Release
The film was released on 7 January 2011. It received positive reviews from critics and was also well received by the viewing public. No One Killed Jessica recovered its cost even before release through associated satellite and music rights.

Critical response
No One Killed Jessica received mostly positive reviews from critics. Nikhat Kazmi of the Times of India gave it four out of five stars, saying that the film "unleashes a myriad emotions". Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama also gave four out of five stars, describing it as "a remarkable blend of facts and fiction inspired by a series of real-life episodes, which has thankfully not been presented as a tedious biography or in a mind-numbing docu-drama format." Anupama Chopra of NDTV gave the film three out of five stars, claiming that the film was "several notches ahead of the tripe we’ve been subjected to in theatres lately." Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave it two and a half out of five stars, calling it a "full-on melodrama that doesn't always ring true." Mayank Shekhar of the Hindustan Times gave it three out of five stars.

Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan described No One Killed Jessica as a "pertinent, media friendly and brave effort by the makers. The performances living up to the title and story of the film."

Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 71% rating based on 7 critic reviews.

Box office

The film went on to gross  worldwide.

Domestic

No One Killed Jessica earned  in India on its opening day. The first week collection of the film in India grossed . The overall Indian gross was  including a nett total of . It was declared a Super Hit by Box Office India.

Abroad

The film grossed an overall lifetime revenue of  from overseas markets.

Awards
Filmfare Awards
Best Supporting Actor (Female) - Rani Mukerji
BIG Star Entertainment Awards
Most Entertaining Social Film
Best Actress in a Social Role – Rani Mukerji
Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Awards
Outstanding Performance Award – Rani Mukerji
Anandalok Purushkar
Best Female Actor of Bollywood – Rani Mukerji
Apsara Awards
Best Editing

Soundtrack

The film's score was composed by Amit Trivedi, who also worked with Gupta on Aamir. The lyrics were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. The album received generally positive reviews from critics.

Track listing

Controversy
During the filming of scenes in Delhi, the building for the University School of Information Technology, one of the 12 on-campus schools of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, had its facade dressed up to look like the Patiala House District Court. In the middle of filming, the university's vice chancellor, Dilip Bandopadhyay, was prevented from entering his own campus. Bandopadhyay argued with bouncers, on guard outside the main gate, to let him enter while the cameras rolled, allegedly without his permission. As a result, the university terminated the contract of a faculty member accused of organising the film shoot on campus.

References

External links
 

Category:2011 films
Category:Indian films
Category:2010s Hindi-language films
Category:Indian films based on actual events
Category:Films set in Delhi
Category:Films about women in India
Category:UTV Motion Pictures films
Category:Films scored by Amit Trivedi
Category:Hindi-language films
Category:Indian biographical films
Category:Indian thriller films