‘Jolly LLB 3’: Not Jolly good, but gripping once again

We all loved Arshad Warsi as Jolly LLB. We were equally entertained by Akshay Kumar-starrer part two, but sorely missed the absence of OG Jolly Arshad. So when part three brings them both together, clearly, expectations are raised exponentially. The writer-director of all three instalments, Subhash Kapoor, once again manages to blend comic with gravitas, wit with righteousness. Third time may lose some of its inherent charm, but is not a lost cause either.

Indeed, like its prequels, ‘Jolly LLB 3’ has a huge conscience. The preface establishes the burning concern of farmers’ land acquisition and steeps the narrative in emotional gravity and dignity. Despite a serious start, it leapfrogs to the antics of the two endearing Jollys. Akshay is Advocate Jagdishwar ‘Jolly’ Mishra. Arshad is Advocate Jagdish ‘Jolly’ Tyagi.

Practising in the same court with the same sobriquet, Jolly, not only do their paths cross but they often stomp upon each other’s feet. Akshay’s Jolly steals his namesake’s clients. They spar inside and outside the court, providing comic relief. Only it would have been more frolicsome if the sparring duo would have stuck to the battle of wits. Alas, when the enmity becomes a physical contest, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Mirth time anyway can’t last forever in a film which, like its predecessors, also bites into a grave issue. Enter Gajraj Rao, the real estate shark Haribhai Khaitan, who wants to gobble up farmers’ lands in Bikaner for his ambitious project, Bikaner to Boston.

Seema Biswas is the indomitable farmer widow Janki at the receiving end of Khaitan and his company’s unscrupulous ways.

Lines are drawn not just between these two fine actors, but also between our two Jollys. One is on the right side, the other on the wrong… but can any one of the two heroes be a villain in perpetuity? In their now-rivals-now-allies combination, there is some frisson, chemistry, too, which again is not forever combustible but comes and goes.

The scene where they derail Khaitan’s Formula One track atop bullock carts, has symbolic import, but is too filmy to fit into legalese.

And this is not the only juncture where the legal drama takes unnecessary detours. It even takes creative liberties which are out of the legal syllabus. But this is a movie where more than law, what matters is the spirit and not the letter. In fact, one of the high points of the film is when Saurabh Shukla’s Judge Sunder Lal Tripathi reminds us of how often the spirit of law is forgotten in favour of the letter.

Reprising the part of Judge Tripathi, Saurabh is once again in top form and makes even the absurd click. Almost a masterclass in eccentricity, he is so human with all the foibles and quirks of his character intact. He brings more than a smile to your face in every single fleeting moment, like when he asks the camera to be shifted for he looks slimmer in his right profile.

Akshay, with his impeccable comic timing and infectious impishness, can’t go wrong and he doesn’t. Right at the onset, when he window-crashes into the courtroom, he is in his element. Arshad is rock solid, though at times you do feel he is getting short shrift. But the climax more than makes up for any step-Jolly treatment you think that Arshad is being given.

Actually, as with the franchise’s earlier outings, the film, which gets derailed in between, comes back on track in the final act with force and conviction. Ram Kapoor as the suave high-profile lawyer Vikram also makes an impression, though the final moment belongs to Arshad and the film’s cause celebre.

Development versus autonomy of choice, farmers’ rights versus progress… arguments are made and heard on both sides. But, writer-director Subhash, who was once a journalist, bats for our food-givers whose case he makes rather strongly. After all, if the dictum, “mera ghar meri marzi”, applies to the well-heeled, the automatic corollary is true for the less privileged too.

Not everything in this legal drama makes perfect sense or delights all through, but Jolly LLBs and Judge Tripathi manage to make the film land.