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Ulajh Review: Despite addressing nepotism and sexism, the thriller does not live up to its promise

Ulajh stars Janhvi Kapoor in the leading role and the actress does live up to the expectations

Published: Sat 3 Aug 2024, 11:37 AM

Updated: Sun 4 Aug 2024, 12:18 PM

  • By
  • Lekha Menon

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Directed by: Sudhanshu Saria

Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Gulshan Devaiah, Roshan Mathew

Rating: 2.5 stars

Ulajh starts off well. A rookie IFS officer Suhana Bhatia (Janhvi Kapoor) from an illustrious family gets posted as the Deputy High Commissioner in the UK. She is confident and smart yet in awe of her diplomat father (Adil Hussain). However, she is determined to prove her worth to him and also dispel the notion that nepotism and privilege fetched her the plum assignment.

The action then shifts to London where she encounters sexism and nasty comments from co-workers. While she is trying to make a space for herself, Suhana is also inexplicably drawn to a charming chef Nakul Sharma (Gulshan Devaiah), leading to a passionate affair. However, Nakul is not who he claims to be and soon the young envoy finds herself in a deep mess of blackmail, espionage, lies and a web of secrets that threaten to not just ruin her reputation and make her a traitor but also damage her country.

All these incidents happen in the first 30 minutes of the film and they are truly engrossing. The reason is also because this segment introduces some interesting characters played by a fantastic ensemble of actors. Adil Hussain, Gulshan Devaiah, Rajendra Gupta, Rajesh Tailang, Jitendra Joshi, Alyy Khan and Meiyang Chang set the tone for what you expect to be a nail-biting thriller. After all, isn’t that what you expect from a good political or spy movie --- shocking twists, turns, betrayals, double crossing agents and thrills?

Alas! Quite like a balloon that gets beautifully inflated only to burst with the slightest of pricks, so does the plot of Ulajh. Writers Parvez Sheikh, Sudhanshu Saria (also the director) and Atika Chohan pack in many elements but while some of them do spring a surprise, others can be seen from a mile. A lot of sequences that hold potential just fizzle out such as Chang, playing a RAW agent named Jacob Tamang, getting suspicious of Suhana’s behaviour and movements. Sometimes, the way Suhana walks in and out of office with state secrets makes you wonder if it’s really that easy or is it a screenplay of convenience. Even the way she falls for a questionable character – despite her intelligence – seems inorganic and weird.

Simply put, Ulajh fails to work the way it should have is because the screenplay loses grip on the core subject, focusing on many side tracks. The deshbhakti is there in oodles but they have also added some muddled India-Pakistan politics to the mix (more on that below). A completely unnecessary Nepal-India tension track is shown in the beginning that has no bearing on the plot later. While one would assume the film offers a deep dive into the challenges of diplomacy, these are handled rather superficially.

Perhaps this is the difference between a Bollywood and Hollywood thriller. In the West, they talk business – keeping it crisp and matter-of-fact. Think Argo, the Bourne series and so on. Here, they can’t do without some dialogue-baazi on nationalism, emotions, family and love. Heck, a brutal killer and spy even spouts philosophy in one scene, lecturing Suhana on the idea behind fighting for one’s country.

The result is that despite all the ingredients being right, the film fails to engage you beyond a point and even feels long drawn despite its relatively short run time. At times, the politics takes centrestage, at others, it’s Suhana’s personal and professional crisis that’s in the focus, the two not blending harmoniously.

The sexism/nepotism angle is another part that could have been smartly explored. But other than a few perfunctory mentions, Suhana’s difficulties in negotiating a male-dominated arena do not seem real.(This also brings a thought: was the whole nepotism angle a parallel to Janhvi’s own off-screen dilemmas of being branded the nepo kid? Also, her name is Suhana, mirroring Suhana Khan!)

Whatever be the case, the ‘N’ word does not hold water when it comes to Janhvi’s performance. The young actress has held herself remarkably well amid seasoned actors and that’s not an easy task. Suhana isn’t as well-written a role as say, Alia Bhatt’s Sehmat was in Raazi (another spy thriller that packed quite the punch) but nevertheless it’s a very good performance and Janhvi conveys her character’s vulnerability and fearaptly.

While the focus is on Janhvi, the rest of the cast is excellent as can be expected. Gulshan Devaiah is like a chameleon as her lover-turned-antagonist while Roshan Mathew is the scene-stealer as the irreverent RAW agent Sebin. Thankfully, the film acknowledges his roots and even gives him a few funny Malayalam dialogues to play with. Meiyang Chang should have got a better role and longer screen time. Together, they make the film quite watchable.

Finally, a word about the politics. It’s difficult to take Ulajh seriously because it’s quite wishy-washy about its politics. The writers clearly don’t want to go into the routine route of Pakistan-bashing that Bollywood has been gleefully taking over the last few years but can’t stay away from referencing the tensions either. So they take the simpler route – portraying India as the big brother who has to save Pakistan from its own doom by eliminating some rotten characters in both countries.

This also reminds me. It is the second or third time in the last two years that Bollywood’s India is saving Pakistani democracy. Salman Khan did it in Tiger 3 when he rescued Pakistan’s Prime Minister from the machinations of a rogue officer Emraan Hashmi. Now, we have Jahnvi and co. doing the same – saving the life of the Pakistani Prime Minister from the evil conspirators with their own establishment. Like, seriously?

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