It is amazing how Arshad warsi, fills in the jolliness and simplicity in order to display the complexities of the system and being a small town lawyer. It is sheer joy to watch him perform and he is no doubt one of the finest performers out there. It is his part that puts in the extra punch in this Subhash kapoor directed film.
Boman Irani (Tejinder Rajpal) , playing a shrewd lawyer who has a stature and power of the system in his pocket, which makes him manipulate anything to suit his taste buds.
Amruta rao (Sandhya), playing Jolly’s love interest and support in the movie, has a short role where she is a school teacher.
The plot involves a hit-and-run case of a rich dad’s kid, and how with influence and a lawyer like Rajpal (Boman irani), he gets away. The story takes a turn, when Jagdish tyagi (Arshad warsi) decides to file a PIL to open the case again, purely on the basis of media reports and zeal to be famous. But his idea actually gets remote controlled by the terrible law and order system. With a little hurdle where he is faced to choose between what’s right for him and what is actually right, he finally decides to fight for the cause of justice and prove that “justice milta nahi hai, ladna padta hai”. The story takes a hilarious yet introspective look at the judicial system of the country and how influence, power and money is used to change or completely kick it out.
Saurabh shukla stands out with his performance as a judge. The scene where he loses his cool is both hilarious as well as impactful. He presents with him, the character without holding back anything. Be it the dialogue delivery or the little miniature showdowns then and now.
Songs are okayish, but the movie didn’t need them at all. Rather could have benefitted better of leaving them out. Songs push in themselves between scenes, one song, “ajnabi” starts off when our lawyer Jolly is manaoing his lady love, whom he calls Sandhu (prem se) inside the school where she teaches. Now the precursor to the song involves a lot of nakhre from our heroine which takes place when she happens to be inside the school!! Imagine a teacher doing all that, in our school??!! But then, it’s a movie right??
One very important thing that was missing from this film was the shelf value of the characters. All of them did worked on to give you a decent movie, yet the idea of each character being there in your mind like Munna bhai’s parsi doctor, that sweeper in the hospital getting a jadoo ki jhappi from Munna or the patient Anand or be it the milimetre from 3idiots. These small characters are the backbone of a movielike this. and that’s what makes it fall short of a masterpiece. For instance, a notable actor like Sanjay mishra, who is seen playing a head constable conducting an auction involving lacks of rupees for senior inspector’s promotion!!!! There seemed to be something missing in terms of collaborative input and hence that is visible in the output. Although, with performances of Saurabh shukla as the judge and Manoj pahwa as Arshad’s onscreen brother in law adds value.
The best part of the movie lies between three characters. The judge, the prosecution and the opposition, played by Saurabh shukla, Arshad warsi and Boman irani respectively. The movie could have benefitted by developing other characters a little more to highlight the system’s inadequacy and plaguing nature. Yet, there is a silver lining in everything, and glimpses of good, even in places where it cannot be are shown every now and then in the movie.
I’ll give a “3 out of 5” for Subhash kapoor’s Jolly LLB and recommend you to take time out and watch a hilariously insightful film.