‘Jai Ho Democracy’ which was supposed to be a political satire was rather silly and disappointing. Coming from director Ranjit Kapoor, the movie was riding high on expectations but turned out to be a big downer! Neither the script nor the screenplay seemed to be impressive. Avoid if you can!

In Jai Ho! Democracy all the sting seems to have gone from the tale. What we are left with is a pale, frail and stale tale propped up by a bunch of actors who know how to control their characters in spite of the thick accents that the script insists on making them wear like disguises at a costume ball. In Jai Ho! Democracy the enormously accomplished actors struggle against the tedium of repetitive jokes about the banality of parliamentarian exchanges. Ranjit Kapoor is a brilliant writer, no doubt. As a filmmaker, he is not too successful in extracting that stagey quality from the material which most of us refer to see as the rang-manch of life.

Jai Ho! Democracy is more silly than satirical! The film is a hasty uptake of news channels and papers drawn into a skit that's too short on subtext to be a realised satire and too silly to be taken seriously.

Satire needs nuance: ‘Jai Ho Democracy’ drowns in obviousness. This, coming from Ranjit Kapoor, is a disappointment. The intention is fine, but the treatment is far from. And it criminally wastes an array of good actors: Kapoor, Puri, Hussain, Biswas, Bashir raise their decibel with zero impact. There’s a Mayawati-like character who is made fun of, and we smile, but she’s gone too soon. As is the point of this film.

With a talented cast at its disposal (Annu Kapoor in particular is outstanding) and even a decent plot, it's a shame that the film fails to capitalise on either. The script loses steam eventually, making the director resort to bizarre slapstick comedy and a farfetched climax.