Director Subhash Kapoor’s Jolly LLB was one of the best Hindi films of 2013. It was that rare Bollywood venture that journeyed into an Indian courtroom with realistic storytelling rather than manufactured high-decibel dialoguebaazi, drawing humour and melodrama from true-to-life situations, through the medium of some of the industry’s finest actors led by the inimitable Arshad Warsi.
It goes without saying then that Kapoor has put his neck on the line with Jolly LLB 2, resurrecting a successful title and upping the stakes by casting a superstar as his protagonist. Three questions are crying out to be answered here: Is Part 2 as good as Part 1? Is Akshay Kumar as good as Warsi? Even when seen in isolation without the context of its predecessor, is this a good film? Patience, dear readers, patience!
Director Subhash Kapoor’s Jolly LLB was one of the best Hindi films of 2013. It was that rare Bollywood venture that journeyed into an Indian courtroom with realistic storytelling rather than manufactured high-decibel dialoguebaazi, drawing humour and melodrama from true-to-life situations, through the medium of some of the industry’s finest actors led by the inimitable Arshad Warsi.
It goes without saying then that Kapoor has put his neck on the line with Jolly LLB 2, resurrecting a successful title and upping the stakes by casting a superstar as his protagonist. Three questions are crying out to be answered here: Is Part 2 as good as Part 1? Is Akshay Kumar as good as Warsi? Even when seen in isolation without the context of its predecessor, is this a good film? Patience, dear readers, patience!
Kapoor — who is credited with the story, screenplay, dialogues and direction of Jolly LLB 2 — sets the film in Lucknow where Jagdishwar Mishra a.k.a. Jolly(Akshay Kumar) works as an assistant to the veteran lawyer Rizvi(Ram Gopal Bajaj). A tragic incident prompts Jolly to set aside his casual dishonesty and metamorphose into a formidable legal activist.
The case that has this transformative effect on him involves a pregnant widow seeking justice for her murdered husband, police corruption, judicial indifference, Kashmir politics and more. Individually, these are explosive ingredients. And significant portions of the film are credible as a result. It fails to come together in its entirety though because of the inconsistent writing.
Keep in mind that the hero of the first Jolly LLB was initially ignorant, often unprepared, lazy and consequently amusing, but he was not a fool. The Jolly of this new tale is well-intentioned, but the weakness of his arguments, the glaring lacunae in the evidence he presents in court throughout(even after he has seemingly matured as a lawyer) and the loopholes in the demands made by the opposing counsel seem invisible not just to him but to the writer too.