Directed by Subhash Kapoor, Jolly LLB 2 is a comedy-drama flick featuring Akshay Kumar as Jolly aka. Jagdishwar Mishra who is working as the 15th assistant of a big lawyer. He aims to become an independent lawyer and own his chamber. His lover, Pushpa Pandey (Huma Qureshi) is a whiskey lover and loves a lavish life. In the want of name and fame, Jolly takes a case of a pregnant widow but fails to work on it. Because of this, the woman hangs herself which makes Jollyguilty and he reopens the case to fight for justice. The film has many amazing scenes and the courtroom drama is a thumbs up in the movie. Every frame of the film is applaudible and we ensure you that, you won’t repent after going to watch the film. Akshay Kumar and Saurabh Shukla are the limelight and they will surely open the gates of laughter for you. All in all, a complete “Paisa Vasool” film which will make your weekend special.
Large chunks of the film remind the viewer of those legal satire shows where the judicial system looks like a big, dark joke. Mostly the joke is on Jolly, and sometimes it’s on us. We somehow know that there’s no escaping the wrath of poor judges and a broken system. This is where the screenplay decides to do away with the fantastic research done by the film’s team. It starts to appear like a mix of many films. Also, the movie appears confused between a satire and a thriller. The most effective scenes are cut short to pave way for action scenes. This way the pace is maintained, but the theme is ignored. It’s only in the second half that Jolly LLB 2 comes back to a prolonged courtroom battle and gives its actors a chance to rise and shine. Here, Annu Kapoor gives Akshay Kumar a solid run for his money. Overemphasis on melodrama also hampers a well though-out central idea. But all is well that ends well. And Akshay Kumar ensures that you keep laughing at regular intervals. He makes you remember Warsi, but also adds his touch to Jolly. Overlook some of the minor flaws and you have a 140-minute solid entertainer on your hands.
Jolly LLB 2 is the kind of film Hindi cinema used to make at a time when its primary activity was to tell a rousing tale, using star power to embellish it. Akshay Kumar's film is a pure win. It has a solid plot, a strong sense of time and place and rhythm, and a message that is delivered without sanctimony. Akshay Kumar is superb as Jolly LLB 2 as are his co-actors Saurabh Shukla and Annu Kapoor. In fact, without Shukla, it would have been a lesser film. Also, though we like that this film is not inherently scared of drama, and it fully embraces its dramatic bits — something else that’s gone missing from today’s Bollywood — it does fling in contrivances which take away from the core strength of the film. Especially towards the end, which gets stretched, and a trifle preachy about Hindu-Muslim ekta and bhaichara. Jolly LLB 2 is a cracking watch, despite its few squelchy parts. Aur yeh lock kiya jaaye, mi’lord.
Writer-director Subhash Kapoor who has studied India’s burgeoning legal system of `I-will-see-you-in-court’, definitely knows as much about the Indian Penal Code as most legal sharks because of his deep study of the subject. While the last instalment dealt with a hit-n-run case, this one deals with the case of mistaken identity of a J & K terrorist. The plot has enough laugh-out-loud situations and emotional outbursts to keep you invested especially in the razor-sharp first half. The film also provides the right dose of action inside and outside the courtroom. Post interval though, the film hits a pause button at times. The maker tries to pack in too much legal diatribe between Jolly and his adversary, the topnotch, Pramod Mathur(Annu Kapoor), in Judge Tripathy’s (Saurabh Shukla, delightful as always) Lucknow courtroom. Their weighty arguments do educate and entertain to some degree. But there are portions that seem contrived. Akshay changes shades from crooked to straight, like a chameleon. In top-form, he puts up a perfect display of a street-smart lawyer who hasn’t read legal tomes but who has instead picked up tips from courtroom corridors to become Jolly LLB. Huma and Annu are also compelling enough. It is the fine display of histrionics by all these refined actors, which makes the movie, worth seeing.