Jolly LLB 2 (2017) - Movie Review

Jolly LLB 2  (2017) – rating (4/5)

Cast : Akshay Kumar, Saurabh Shukla, Annu Kapoor, Kumud Mishra, Huma Qureshi, Sayani Gupta, Sanjay Mishra, Rajiv Gupta

Director : Subhash Kapoor

Review by Zulfiqar

On the heels of the well handled out court procedural in last year’s ‘Pink’, comes ‘Jolly LLB 2’, which has just the right theme and narrative power of the court and its judicial undergoings, albeit a little bit on the lighter note. But at the end carves out a larger picture of a serious issue.

Indian cinema after the advent of Anurag Kashyap and Vishal Bharadwaj had gone the right way in adhering to the everyday scenarios of people with the beautiful backdrop of real life, both in atmospheric and aesthetic sense. ‘Jolly LLB 2’ gains a lot in staying true to the nativity of ‘pan-chewing’ Lakhnawi milieu with cluttered traffic and middle class sensibilities of cordial neighbors and hearty give-and-takes of friends. Director Subhash Kapoor, who has a string of comic dramas under his name, goes big time with Akshay Kumar and stays true to his inherent directorial skills, which consist of infusing human warmth with a very legible and engaging plot.

The story briefly has a Jolly (Akshay Kumar), a small time pleader, who is trying to make it big under the clout of a very famous advocate, Mr Rizvi. He has brains for sure when he uses unusual means to give justice to his clients rather than win the courtroom tussle, which in the end is all matters. Poetically this type of loss seals the win. Jolly, however, in furthering his career, makes false promises to a widow-client, which leads into a guilt-quagmire when she commits suicide as she understands that justice will never be done to her and her deceased husband. He takes up the case to satiate this guilt and shoulders a citizen’s moral responsibility to restore of the name of a besmirched weakling. This leads him to lock in horns with the city’s best advocate, Pramod Mathur (Annu Kapoor). Both of them fight it out between the eerily managed court-room by judge Sunderlal Tripathi (Saurabh Shukla).

As with every good movie, Jolly LLB-2’s plot is the hero, which has a very intelligent playing outs by both the advocates. Even the case they take up has a very poignant cause. It has the theme of a sacrificial goat. This sacrificial goat is sacrificed not for a purpose, but because of the ineptness of a mistaken identity by a high level cop, played by Kumud Mishra . Kumud Mishra is an artisan, who fits the bill for almost any role. We had seen him as a terrorist in filmistan, as a dangal-ustad in ‘sultan’, govt employee in ‘airlift’ and many other diverse roles. Here he plays a corrupt cop and manages to give a cruel outlook to his character, but then again he is underplayed only because of some well-written and executed performances of the other cast.

Akshay Kumar’s choice for the title character is one of the best he has done in his career. Lately, his choices of films have been more selective, which not only are of substance but of a gripping issue. His association with Neeraj Pandey has been fruitful with movies like ‘Baby’ and ‘special 26’. ‘Airlift’ is another feather in his cap.  In the role of Jolly, he gives a very intriguing performance of a native man of UP with his roots firmly placed in his heart and showcased in every facet of life starting from his behavior and onto his professional one. He doesn’t hesitate to rebuke a high positioned man in the courtroom in his indigenous style, making the audience derive a kick out of it.

The sketching of ‘Jolly’ in itself is a nice touché by director Subhash Kapoor. He describes the character’s name of being jovial at all times and doesn’t hesitate in being a sycophant for his boss. He is a live wire, in his pursuit to the ladder of success, while taking some shortcuts to achieve it. But Subhash Kapoor gives the character a nice touch in explaining the relationship of jolly and his wife, Pushpa. Huma Qureshi plays a nonchalant gal-wife, who inspite of being a mother, likes being pampered by her husband, as he cooks for her and providing the booze, and exults while doing so.

But it is the veterans Annu Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla, who steal the show. Annu Kapoor has been a pleasant voice both on small screen and radio. His radio show currently being aired at some frequency has nice tidbits of yesteryear stars and his heartwarming interactions with audience, who call him up. Being a literary doyen and knowledgeable in Hindi literature, his very voice and talk is music to the ears. His singing talent is another legend. But then again, in ‘LLB 2’, he is smashing and emphatic as the advocate at the other end. His diction and sing-song voice makes it easy for the viewer to invest in his character, which is a legendary, but costly lawyer on the judicial scene. Saurabh Shukla reprising the judge’s role from the first part, breathes a sort of funny madness into the role. I haven’t seen a comic character of recent times in Hindi cinema, which is as drastic, as new and as pleasurable as Justice Sunderlal Tripathi. He is quirky, rotund, haphazard, but at the same time is stoically judicial and persistently discerning. He does a marvelous job in conducting the courtroom proceedings with haphazard table (misplaced gavel) amidst a side-dish of myopia, family issues, legal lessons and headmaster-ly rebukes.

The plot’s core issue is a trial for a man’s involvement in terrorism. Amidst the storm of a general consensus regarding a person’s innocence, it is the heroes, who stand up to strive for justice. Thereby, they uphold not a life, but the law of the land, which is but the biggest deed. Jolly’s honorable quest is for that.