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29 March 2024

Bollywood review: Arshad Warsi is jolly good in 'Jolly LLB'

A scene from the Bollywood move 'Jolly LLB'

Published
By Sneha May Francis

Armed with a bunch of incredibly talented actors, a significant storyline and a tight narrative, writer-director Subhash Kapoor sets out to expose the murky affairs of the Indian legal system that often remains locked away in the dusty court rooms.

He does it in his impeccably classic style, without ever indulging in over-the-top Bollywood court-drama clichés that we’ve grown used to.

There are no lengthy orations or dramatics in ‘Jolly LLB’, with the legal business mirroring reality.

Blatant references to cinematic exaggerations in Subash's lines drill home the point emphatically.

He sets his battle in India’s capital New Delhi, where the fate of a rich boy runs into a legal mess after he fatally runs over “six pedestrians” in a late-night drunken stupor.

An ambitious underdog is pitched against the most high-profile lawyer in town, whose inglorious high-handedness makes his victory uncontested.

What follows is a gripping cat-and- mouse chase that depicts the exploits of the powerful and the influential.

“The value of a poor man’s life is far less than the price of a rich man’s car,” Subhash stresses in his social satire.

In under 120 minutes of screen time, he exposes the underbelly of the Indian judicial system, which is often manipulated by its more powerful players.

Laced with ample doses of humour, this social satire gives an insight into the politics of the legal rat-race that has often gone unnoticed in Bollywood.

Boman Irani is top-notch as the self-indulgent, tight-lipped big-shot Rajpal, who doesn’t regret making illegal moves to win.  He’s arrogant and uncompromising, and doesn’t take rejection too lightly. “Nobody calls me greedy,” he proclaims after forcing his detractor to pay up for their mistakes.

Saurabh Shukla gives the rotund judge Tripathi a charming twist. Watching him chomp away in his chambers as he dishes legal advice to the riva lawyers, or when he hints at a property pay-off ahead of the trial is classic.

But it is Arshad Warsi who walks away with the top honours. He is understated and convincing as the struggling lawyer Jolly who is on the lookout for one legal case to spearhead him into fame.

With all his cases in his hometown turning into forgettable failures, he makes a desperate move to Delhi with the hope of making it big.

There’s little insight into his family ties, barring his grounded girlfriend Sandhya played by the dull Amrita Rao and a supportive brother-in-law. Amrita is unable to play the devil’s advocate convincingly.

If there’s any bone to pick, it’s their insipid love connection that shifts into marriage in swift frames and forgettable music tracks.

Jolly surely deserved more depth in his personal triumphs as well.

Despite the few songs that slows down the pace of the film, ‘Jolly LLB’ is an honest film that deserves to be applauded.