![]() Barring one scene between Kumar and Kapoor in its final few minutes, the stakes in the film never feel high – definitely not high enough for us to care. Jolly LLB 2 is marred by a flaw far too common to mediocre Bollywood productions: It doesn’t sweat the small stuff and, as a result, keeps us at a distance. Kumar transforms into a hero by the third act, slapping a lawyer (Annu Kapoor) in court shutting him up by frequent retorts dodging the cops, with a convict in tow, with astonishing ease. More convenient plot points, some bordering on baffling, crop up, giving us little reason to stay with this film. Elsewhere, the film continues in a predictable vein. The various shades of his character – self-aware, cheerful, calm, strong-willed – make him endearing some of his lines, if stripped off their forced humour, are even heartfelt. Shukla though, after a few false notes (presumably an outcome of uninspired writing), is immensely entertaining and watchable. It’s as if you can imagine Kapoor snapping his fingers, pacing up and down in his office, thinking, “Okay, how can I make this film more funny?” Before another hearing, he’s fixing errors in his daughter’s wedding card (changing “goons” to “groom’s”, “wets” to “weds”). When a fight erupts in court, he hides under the table to protect himself. He places five gavels on the table, before one of the hearings, for “self defence”. ![]() He walks the court’s hallway, wearing earphones, dancing to a Bollywood number. The judge, Sunderlal Tripathi (Saurabh Shukla), for example, is first presented as a buffoon, his presence and antics often used for humour. This is, quite simply, lazy and shoddy writing, which takes the audience for granted, believing it will accept anything at face value.īesides, Jolly LLB 2 positions itself as a comedy, so enough attempts are made to mine its material for laughs. A small flashback shows the incident, but Jolly, without even conducting a basic investigation, couldn’t have known about its specifics. Jolly takes an important case, involving a senior cop and a terrorist, but gets convinced of his deceased defendant’s innocence just by flipping through his wedding photos. For instance, it’s tough to buy Jolly’s ultimate realisation, brought about by one dream sequence, one song, one heated exchange. Kapoor, who’s both written and directed Jolly LLB 2, frequently fails to make this film convincing and engaging. Jolly will win the case, restore our faith in the Indian judicial system and send us home.īut even the safe tropes of a Hindi mainstream film require some writing and directorial talent. Jolly’s fighting the case for justice, the rival lawyer for money. There’s not much scope for complexities here and that’s fine. The central conceit of the Jolly LLB films – of an ordinary corrupt man realising the inequities of society and fighting for justice – is fairly simple and idealistic, comprising elements that can make for an entertaining crowd-pleasing drama. It looks like he needs this film more than the film needs him. Kumar’s persona, however, often contradicts the character he’s playing. So Kapoor heightens the pitch he makes the new Jolly more witty, cunning and resourceful – qualities we associate with Kumar’s on-screen characters. He can’t romance heroines in picturesque locales or perform gravity-defying stunts (Shahrukh tried both in Raees and failed), but he still needs to command and drive his scenes. ![]() Like other Bollywood stars (Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan and Aamir Khan), Kumar is no longer a young man. And director Subhash Kapoor ensures that. ![]() ![]() But here’s the difference: Jolly is played by Kumar, a Bollywood star, who can’t not be a hero. Jolly, like numerous men struggling in their careers, is ordinary. He’s a servile assistant to a famous lawyer in the city, commutes to work on a scooter and doesn’t earn enough to gift his wife a “Gucci” dress. Set in Lucknow, Jolly LLB 2 features a leading man, the eponymous Jolly (Kumar), who, at least on the surface, has no hero-like qualities. The obvious difference between Jolly LLB and its ‘spiritual’ sequel Jolly LLB 2 is the inclusion of a star in the franchise, Akshay Kumar. ![]()
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