Neo-noir movies are a rarity in Bollywood. Last year, Sriram Raghvan’s Andhadhun pushed the envelope and bagged critical acclaim along with commercial success. Judgementall Hai Kya, directed by Prakash Kovelamudi, is a similar effort and, though it lacks the ingenuity and narrative heft of Andhadhun, it is a fairly quirky and enjoyable ride.
Bobby Grewal, portrayed by Kangana Ranaut, is an oddball smarting from a traumatic childhood. She has many idiosyncrasies and a spitfire temper, due to which she often spends time in a psychiatric facility. Keshav (Rajkumar Rao), a seemingly dubious guy, is Bobby’s tenant. She begins to suspect that Keshav is conspiring to kill his wife. What follows next is a chain of erratic, outlandishly zany events.
The screenplay by Kanika Dhillon is engaging for the most part. The dialogues are crisp and the principal characters are meticulously fleshed out. The subtext pertaining to domestic violence and tribulations of a psychotic mind adds sinews to the story. The treatment of the protagonist, suffering from acute psychosis, doesn’t get insensitive at any point. The editing is razor-sharp and the movie doesn’t wobble.
However, the allegory to Ramayana doesn’t work and seem designed for shock value. The ‘Sita episode’ is slipshod, and only serves to baffle and distract the audience. Plus, the portion where Bobby is hallucinating isn’t impactful. At this point, the film tries to venture into David Lynch’s zone of wild fantasies but the unbridled, spellbinding madness is sorely missing. Also, the sequence of events, especially in the second half, is uneven and unconvincing.
The character artists aren’t optimally utilized; their characterisation isn’t full-bodied. The background music is a bit of a let-down and the cinematography could have been better. Despite Kovelamudi’s attempts to assemble a gamut of elements and tropes, there are a few glaring loopholes in stitching them together. For instance, why the cops are lackadaisical and averse to investigate the matter thoroughly despite the skulduggery is inexplicable. Kovelamudi has nevertheless managed to extract superlative performances from his actors and has done justice to the subject matter at hand.
Of the cast, Kangana sinks her teeth into the character and whips out a sterling performance. It’s hard to miss the references to her real-life antics and persona. In the climax, Bobby proclaims, “When people can’t understand you, they start calling you mental.” This appears to be a jibe at a section of the media, up in arms against Kangana’s whimsical and often derisive behaviour.
Rajkumar Rao is subtle and earnest. He handles the transition of his character with consummate ease. Jimmy Sheirgill and Satish Kaushik deliver the goods despite their small parts. On the whole, Judgementall Hai Kya works because of the performances of the principal cast and some clever writing, but it is a tad too desultory to be a taut whodunit.
