Jolly LLB 2: Right Mix of Realistic & Commercial Cinema

“Jolly LLB” released in 2013, set a trend for court room drama genre. Based on the real life incident of hit and run, the movie was a commercial and critical success.

“Jolly LLB 2” is a sequel of the same, but with an absolutely new story of police fake encounters which are rampant nowadays. The story shifts to Lucknow for the sequel, and tells the story of yet another lawyer Jagdishwar Prasad Mishra a.k.a Jolly (Akshay Kumar) who though a LLB, but works as a Man Friday for the renowned lawyer Rizvi (Ram Gopal Bajaj), doing odd jobs for him. In course of things Jolly comes across Hina (Sayani Gupta) who is struggling to get a lawyer for her husband’s fake encounter case and she wants Rizvi to fight the same. Jolly gives false promises to convince Rizvi to fight her case and takes money from her. On knowing that she has been duped by Jolly, Hina commits suicide. All hell breaks loose on Jolly, whether he redeems himself as a lawyer and a human being is what the rest of the movie is all about.

Written by the director Subhash Kapoor himself, the story is engaging and the screenplay fast paced. Subhash definitely has studied the law practice very closely, as he gets the nuances of law and its practice absolutely bang on. One the biggest plus for the script are its well defined characters. Each character no matter how small it is has been included for a reason. Another plus is the pace of the movie; it does not have any dull moment and keeps you glued on till the end with twist and turns thrown in to pep up the narration. What Subhash gets absolutely right from his writing is the emotional quotient, it is neither too overpowering with melodrama, neither it is too subtle for a commercial movie; the balance is absolutely in right proportion. The script has the right mix of realistic and commercial cinema. Though I thought the movie could have been concluded with more finesse, as there are a few loose ends which are not addressed. Another dampener is the songs which slows the pace a bit. The dialogues also are apt as per the narration.

With a good script it is absolutely essential to compliment it with strong performances, and “Jolly LLB 2” does not disappoint, rather it fares with flying colours. Akshay Kumar who played Jagdishwar Prasad Mishra, gets his act bang on from the first frame, his dialect his body language suits the character to the T. Akshay Kumar yet again proves that as an actor he has grown tremendously and his endeavour for doing good impactful roles has paid off. Annu Kapoor as lawyer Sachin Kantilal Mathur, gives a crackling and memorable performance. I would request Annu Kapoor to do more movies so that we can see the glimpse of his brilliance. Saurabh Shukla reprises his role from the prequel as Justice Sunderlal Tripathi, and yet again gives an impactful performance justifying his National Award for the prequel. Another performance which stands out though being a small role is of Sayani Gupta’s portrayal of Hina Siddiqui, her portrayal consolidates the narration and her presence is felt even when her role is over. Kumud Mishra who plays the cunning and shrewd Inspector Suryaveer Singh, does justice to his character of an antagonist. Huma Qureshi as Pushpa, Jolly’s wife does well, though her character does not create any impact on the narration. Rest of the cast comprising of Vinod Nagpal, Vishwa Mohan Badola, Manav Kaul, Ram Gopal Bajaj, Sanjay Mishra, Gurpal Singh and Brijendra Kala do an excellent job.

Subhash Kapoor proves that the success of “Jolly LLB” was not a fluke and that content is the king. Subhash not does an exemplary job as a writer but also as a director for extracting some brilliant performances from the cast. Though “Jolly LLB 2” may not be a movie with technical finesse, but overall Subhash has a winner, which will impress the classes and the masses alike.

Music of “Jolly LLB 2” is nothing to write home about. Editing by Chandrashekhar Prajapati needs a special mention, as his razor sharp editing keeps the pace in check, though the songs could have been edited. Production design by Gautam Sen, keeps the aesthetics as realistic as possible, especially the court room set.

“Jolly LLB 2” pulls the right strings and eventually entertains as well as addresses some stark realities with ease… I will go with FOUR stars….

Movie Rating: (4 / 5)