Rating: 3.5/5
The excitement around Janhvi Kapoor-led Ulajh has been at its peak and rightly so. As a young IFS officer from a prominent family, Janhvi Kapoor’s Suhana gets caught up in a conspiracy while in London. Everything that follows is what makes for an interesting watch.
Directed by Sudhanshu Saria, the film also features Gulshan Devaiah, Roshan Mathew, Rajesh Tailang, Adil Hussain, Meiyang Chang, Rajendra Gupta and Jitendra Joshi. I watched the movie at a screening on Wednesday, and here’s my honest review.
‘Ulajh’ takes its time to settle in
The movie makes sure to create a sense of intrigue from the very first short, and you know there’s something that’s going to horribly go down in the minutes to come. The first half of Ulajh rightly justifies the film’s name because things just keep getting tangled and you have no idea what’s going to happen.
However, it is the little moments that help you get hold of what this movie is going to be about, and then, it’s now. The first few minutes into the movie, there’s a scene where Janhvi is in the office and she’s asked to simply let a male someone take the lead while a colleague finds it okay to shut her down with a tap on her knee when she’s about to speak. It is this feeling of Suhana’s that eventually shows how she can do it all, and beyond.
Credits: Junglee Pictures
The movie takes its interval at one of the most intriguing moments and well, you just know that things are about to start going down further. Not to say, there are some predictable choices, but everything that happens in the climax, covers up for it. Without giving you any spoilers, there’s a man who is jealous of her because she got the position she did and there’s another who was originally supposed to get the position, and there’s a third, who creates all the trouble for her — and every single plot twist that comes along is worth it.
Janhvi Kapoor gives a career-defining performance
In one of her interviews, Janhvi recently said how she finds it confusing when people tell her that ‘they’re surprised’ looking at her performance in every new film that releases, but the fact is that she has given us some good films now, and her performance isn’t up for debate (for most part).
With Ulajh, Janhvi Kapoorhas successfully established herself as a performer and continues to further cement that title with every film. Her performance in the climax, in particular, makes you feel things straight through the screens and she has definitely done a great job.
Gulshan Devaiah as Nakul Bhatia gives a good performance, so much that you want to hit Gulshan straight in the face because he gets on your nerves and makes your blood boil. Well, when you manage to make the audience hate you for a role you played, they say it is a job well done. And honestly, there’s no doubting his skills, for sure!
Roshan Mathew gets more space in the second half of the movie, and as you’d have expected, he adapts to his character like it is made for him. I haven’t seen much of him, but the little I have, it’s been as impressive as ever, and he has continued that streak here too. Interestingly, both Gulshan and Roshan’s chemistry with Janhvi (in their own ways) has been quite impressive, and you’d be surprised to see how they just fit right.
Everyone else, including Rajesh, Adil, Jitendra, and Adil have done a great job in their roles. Every time Rajesh Tailang plays a father, he somehow stands apart. There’s this little gesture his character does where he kisses his fingers and pats Janhvi’s head and it is a small thing, but it is the sweetest. So yeah, everyone comes through with their performances!
You are not ready for the climax
Janhvi has this dialogue where she says – “Gaddari ki keemat sirf jaan se chukayi jaa sakti hai – jaan leke ya jaan deke.” Now, this should give you a rundown of just how dramatically heavy the climax is going to be, but then, there’s also a lot that you don’t see coming and then there’s some, that is predictable.
Janhvi and Roshan take centre stage in the climax, along with Gulshan, of course, but you love to see what the former two are upto and where things are headed. And when I say you are not ready for the climax, trust me, you are not!
Our verdict
I heard some people talk about how Hindi cinema doesn’t have too many good films about IFS officers and more, but I think that this one’s quite an interesting film we’ve got here and Ulajh could easily make for many people’s top films of the year.
Along with Sudhanshu, due credits to co-writer Parveez Shaikh because I think that if a movie manages to make you leave the theatres thinking that there’s a nice movie the team has got here, it is a hit. The film is now in theatres, so go give it a watch!
Lead and social image credits: Junglee Pictures
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