Jaggi follows the story of a young boy suffering from an impotency who is misconstrued as being ‘gay’ before being bullied and assaulted by folks around him. And in many ways, Jaggi does make for an uncomfortable watch, often pushing the envelope in scenes of trauma instead of giving it an artistic overview. The writing is raw and deliberately so, to allow the viewers space to not only empathize with the protagonist but also peek into his psyche wherein he also plays a victim of not quite being aware of its sexual wellness. And this duel-edged sword is what Jaggi thrives on, over the course of its screenplay of a shade under 2 hours which is extremely hard and uncomfortable to sit through, yet equally important from a storytelling point of view. 

The long opening sequence does give a clear picture on the sufferings of the protagonist almost as a part, post his initial trauma which is revealed in the subsequent sequences. So as a part of the extended flashback, you are introduced to the surroundings of Jaggi, featuring his dysfunctional family comprising of his father who is in the police force but an alcoholic, while his mother is secretly having an affair with her brother-in-law. But the impressionable age that Jaggi finds himself in, is more to do with his surroundings and company at school wherein he resorts to masturbation almost provocatively, almost under peer pressure. And while he violently tries to carry out this activity, the lack of awareness about his sexual wellbeing(you must do it only when you are aroused) leads to his downfall in ways, even as an innocent exchange of his problem with his friend, spreads like wild fire in the vicinity. 

The proceedings are incredibly difficult to sit through, particularly the one involving a couple of guys raping the protagonist mercilessly while previously promising him medicine for his ‘problem’. The camera refuses to cut even as the boys take turns on Jaggi, an incident which would scar the protagonist for the rest of his life. This incident was an epitome of the repressed sexual energy floating in the veins of youth, in a society that still considers discussing about intercourse a taboo. As a result, the lack of knowledge and empathy does show on the part of the perpretators, but also the victim who slowly begins to blame his situation at home for the state he finds himself in. And this includes his mother who he does keep a close tab on, even as she adds sleep tablets in their food before tip-toeing to meet her lover, while her husband and Jaggi’s father remains helpless and oblivious. 

The third act of the film is the most layered considering how Jaggi slowly resonates to Raman, his new found love almost in the form of escapism similar to what was showcased in the Pakistani film Joyland. Apart from this brief part of the day, he continues to worry on how his relationship with Raman might be subjected to the violence for the latter too, something that he has been enduring all throughout thereby mirroring situation at his current home, featuring his parents whom he does secretly blame for him inheriting the issues that he did face physicality(read : impotency). The drama briefly flirts with a social issue of patriarchy and hierarchy too wherein the protagonist doesn’t blame the perpretators who are more powerful than him, rather his stature and his parents, both of whom are indirectly responsible for his ‘state’. And this duality is what leads to a rather disturbing concluding act that left me pondering about what the outcome would have been, had there been folks around Jaggi to help him(remember this is based on true events). The screenplay here is a writing masterclass on the repurcussions of sexual repression and toxic masculinity, things that are passed off casually in the modern day world that we live in.