Driver Jamuna movie review: Aishwarya Rajesh’s film is slow yet engaging thriller; looks predictable, but isn’t

Aishwarya Rajesh has come a long way since her rise-to-fame role in the National Film Awards-winner Kaaka Muttai. Today, she’s at a stage in her career where she’s confidently headlining films that solely rest on her shoulders. Driver Jamuna is one such film which is a smart thriller that treads a familiar path, but only to deceive the audiences with a good twist. It’s a thriller, where the pay-off makes up for the otherwise predictable plot.

Aishwarya Rajesh plays Jamuna, who has decided to become a taxi driver after the death of her father, who also used to be a driver. The sudden death of Jamuna’s father has left her mother terminally ill. Jamuna decides to take up her father’s job, despite stiff opposition from her aunt, who feels men are more suitable as cab drivers. One day, Jamuna gets a long-distance ride to drop three passengers, who look very suspicious. At first, she refuses to take up the ride and requests one of the passengers to cancel the booking. However, they request her to take up the ride and she obliges, but it doesn’t take her much time to realise that they’re contract killers, who are on their way to kill a local minister. Will Jamuna be able to stop the attack and save herself? This forms the crux of the story.

Driver Jamuna is the kind of film that takes a lot of time to make sense. For a thriller, it reserves most of its thrills for the last 10 minutes and that’s a move that may not appeal to everybody. That doesn’t take away the fact that the narrative boasts of some smartness, especially in how everything is made to look predictable, but only to deceive with a solid twist. The action sequences shot inside the car are one of the highlights of the film. They’re realistically choreographed, and serve as some of the highs of the film. If only more thrills were infused the story throughout, this would’ve made for a riveting watch.

Aishwarya in the central character is good but the rest of the supporting cast doesn’t contribute much up with their performances. The film definitely needed better writing to make the initial one hour engaging.

Film: Driver Jamuna

Director: P Kinslin

Cast: Aishwarya Rajesh, Naren and Sriranjani