Cast: Arshad Warsi, Amrita Rao, Boman Irani, Saurabh Shukla

Director: Subhash Kapoor

Genre: Drama, Satire, Comedy

Rating: 3.5/5

Movie Reviewed At: Inox, Udaipur

Courtroom dramas are always interesting with lot of twists and turns and witty advocacies, but how many times do we see genuine satire and situational comedy as a part of story focusing on a serious issue? Jolly LLB has exactly that. It successfully entertains and engages with a nice story, excellent performances and of course satisfying Bollywood style happy ending.

As the promos suggest, it is a story of a ‘wannabe star’ lawyer Jagdish Tyagi ‘Jolly’ (Arshad Warsi) from Meerut who struggles to find clients and money. Situations make him stand up and fight against one of the most famous and toughest of lawyers Rajpal (Boman Irani).

Director Subhash Kapoor must be appreciated for his story-telling skills. First half prepares the platform for a strong second half; and the second half grips till the end. Many dialogues and characters in the film are an outright satire on the working and efficiency of Indian Judicial system and there are quite a few situations which tickle the funny bone.

Besides the amazing performances by Arshad and Boman, the other stand out performance was the effective portrayal of a typical Judge by Saurabh Shukla. Amrita Rao appeared in her thinnest of avatars and had nothing much to do. Vibha Chhibar as Judge, Sanjay Mishra (remember “Dhondu Just Chill”?) as constable, Brijendra Kala as advocate and Manoj Pahwa as Jijaji contributed well in their very small tailor-made roles.

Movie ends with Jolly’s substantial “speech”, though not as striking as legendary “Tareekh Pe Tareekh” by Sunny paaji, but was prominent enough to convey the message and deliver a good ending.

The only uninteresting part about the movie was the forceful inclusion of songs. But those can be tolerated considering that there are only two of them.

Overall, the movie is a thoughtful entertainer and worth a watch.