This is a late review, and as it happens, of a very unusual sequel.
Late because I was busy choosing the right Hindi film for the Oscars and had no time to catch up on normal releases (all the others simply came and vamoosed!). And unusual because writer-director Subhash Kapoor (Phas Gaya Re Obama, which was a 2010 delight that went nowhere commercially, Jolly LLB and Jolly LLB 2) has always had a penchant for making entertaining stories with a sharp, often scythe-like message.
Not only does this movie bring together the main cast of the Jolly franchise but it also brings the common point: Saurabh Shukla as judge Sunder Lal Tripathi. And so we have Jolly a.k.a. Jagdish Tyagi (Arshad Warsi) from the first movie and Jolly a.k.a. Jagdishwar Mishra from the second along with their wives Sandhya (Amrita Rao) and Pushpa (Huma Qureshi) respectively.
Individually, both have been nightmares for the judge, but together, they almost drive him round the bend. Initially, the two are fierce professional rivals, their tempers getting the better of their decorum as they compete for clients (neither is too well off) as they are a shade immature and not highly educated. They even dispatch poor clients to each other as they need money to run their households and cannot afford ‘charity’!
Sunder Lal has faced severe stress when they were individually in courts and, this time, he pleads with them not to let him undergo hassles. He is a widower, a fitness freak and is now looking for love on the ‘Love Tender’ App!
Things take a serious turn right in the beginning when a social worker refers 40 poor farmers to Tyagi, who pushes them to Mishra, who is unaware that they cannot pay his fees! Later, Sandhya refers an unfortunate and grieving widow named Janki Rajaram Solanki (Seema Biswas) of a farmer to her husband, but he plants her on Mishra and he tells her that only Tyagi is a noble soul who can help her.
This is the turning-point when the two Jolly’s wives (one of whom has a boutique that barely runs) come into their own and insist that the husbands at least lend an ear to the lady.
The case gets more and more serious and deals with an unscrupulous businessman, Haribhai Khaitan (Gajraj Rao) who will stop at nothing to get the land he wants—whether by coercing or cheating villagers or taking humongous loans from banks. This time, the wives insist that the two Jolly’s bury their differences and take a call to defeat the Khaitan clique, which includes ‘expert’ lawyer Vikram (Ram Kapoor).
A brilliant screenplay with superb dialogues and meticulous direction go to show that this is Subhash Kapoor’s best work yet, and the earthy production scale (cinematography, production design, make-up, costumes) all show the high caliber of the film. There is only one nitpick for me: the sequence where the Jollys con Tripathi in a restaurant does not work at all.
Akshay is a natural yet again, but Arshad Warsi, this time in an ardent, serious role, is that much better, especially in the climax after Mishra tells Tyagi to put forward the ‘closing argument’. The looks he gives Akshay here are also simply phenomenal. Saurabh Shukla is fantastic as the judge, and his romantic side is arraigned seamlessly with his professional intensity. Gajraj Rao is coldly effective, and Ram Kapoor as the suave Vikram is excellent. In a different role, Shrikant Sharma also makes a mark. But the show is stolen by Seema Biswas whose portrayal of Janki is spellbinding. The supporting cast also does very well.
This is a must-watch. Not many crucial message films are as entertaining while driving a message home.
Rating: ****
Star Studio18’s & Kangra Talkies’ Jolly LLB 3 Produced by: Alok Jain & Ajit Andhare Directed and written by: Subhash Kapoor Music: Aman Pant, Anurag Saikia & Vikram Montrose Starring: Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi, Amrita Rao, Huma Qureshi, Seema Biswas, Gajraj Rao, Shrikant Sharma Ram Kapoor, Sushil Pandey, Kharaj Mukherjee, Avijit Dutt, Pramod Pandey, Sarah Hashmi & others
