Are courtroom dramas getting their due in Bollywood?

The genre seems to be coming into its own

Courtroom dramas are upon us - be it on the front of global TV series or Hollywood movies. Now, Bollywood is underscoring the trend with The State vs Jolly LL.B 2 (a sequel to Jolly LL.B), in which the more marketable Akshay Kumar replaces the puckish Arshad Warsi in the role of a down-at-heel lawyer waiting to win that one bonanza case of a lifetime. Like the first adventure of Jolly, which snagged a bunch of National Awards three years ago, the follow-up has been written and directed by Subhash Kapoor with sufficient humour and savoir faire about the workings of the legal system, where justice delayed far too frequently leads to justice denied.
In addition, there are those far-too-familiar instances of twisting the law beyond recognition, upscale advocates charging prohibitive fees and bizarre cases like an old man striving to prove that he is still alive and kicking simply because the authorities have certified he's as dead as a dodo.
To tackle such issues - besides incorporating the elements of police corruption and the scourge of terrorism - would appear to be heavy-duty stuff for a box office-friendly Bollywood entertainer. Fortuitously, the gambit has worked, as it did for Rajkumar Hirani with the Munnabhai series, in which an underdog outwitted the system, so to speak.
Whether Jolly LL.B will also spin into a franchise isn't certain, though. The second installment has fared well commercially, yes, but after a slow start on the opening day. It didn't quite smash ticket sale records. Reviewed glowingly by the majority of reviewers, the positive word-of-mouth buzz boosted the interest of the public, which is far more inclined to rush to the new release of Salman Khan (in particular), never mind its quality quotient.
Undoubtedly, Akshay Kumar has a sizeable fan following. Yet, curiously, even those films of his which have been above the cut (the most obvious case in point being Airlift) have connected with the audience at a slow tempo. Still, at the age of 49, the actor, who was once essentially associated with no-brainers like Singh is Bliing, Rowdy Rathore and the Housefull mind-benders, has elected to try out roles of some heft and substance.
Alongside, there has been a more-than-welcome change in the depiction of courtroom proceedings. At least, there's a semblance of authenticity in the recreation of a court of law; a comatose-looking judge, most often enacted lifelessly, no longer yells out, "Order! Order!" whenever a hubbub breaks out within the four walls. Hindi movies of the 1950s and early '60s were often filmed in a studio where a courtroom set was kept intact to be hired out at a piffling cost. Consequently, comedy of the unintentional kind would explode whenever opposing lawyers came up with explosive statements. A horde of expressionless junior artistes, sitting on the same old creaking chairs and benches, would make the appropriate hissing sounds and gasps.
Despite the artificial ambience, some courtroom thrillers of yore did leave a lasting impact. Of them, Raj Kapoor's Awara (1951), BR Chopra's Kanoon (1960), Shankar Mukherjee's Baat Ek Raat Ki (1962) and Yash Chopra's Waqt (1965) continue to retain their timeless appeal. Subsequently, BR Chopra's Insaf Ka Tarazu (1980) prioritised sensationalism over any semblance of sobriety. It was a blatant rip-off of Hollywood's Lipstick, with Zeenat Aman and Padmini Kolhapure reprising the roles played by Margaux and Mariel Hemingway.
Over time, Basu Chatterjee's Ek Ruka Hua Faisla (1986), a take on 12 Angry Men, Rajkumar Santoshi's Damini (1993), in which an alcoholic lawyer (portrayed forcefully by Sunny Deol) must redeem himself, and Samar Khan's Shaurya (2008), cadged from A Few Good Men, feature among the most valued films in the genre of courtroom dramas. As for the top crowd-pullers - packed with heightened, exaggerated showdowns between the men in black robes - the vote goes to T. Rama Rao's Andhaa Kanoon (1983) and Subhash Ghai's Meri Jung (1985).
A walloping realistic edge has been so far achieved in a rare few films - notably Saeed Akhtar Mirza's Mohan Joshi Haazir Ho (1984), Raj Kumar Gupta's No One Killed Jessica (2011), Hansal Mehta's Shahid (2013) and Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury's Pink (2016).
So where does Jolly LL.B 2 fit into the grid? No, it doesn't pretend to be realistic at all, and follows the commercial format, complete with mandatory song-and-dance interludes as well as dispensable sub-plots.
Yet, even within the la la land of formula filmmaking, it successfully criticises the establishment and serves some food for thought to chew on, long after the show's over. Mr Jolly and Co, see you in court again maybe?
wknd@khaleejtimes.com