Judge Singh LLB ***
Dir: Atharv Baluja.
With: Ravinder Grewal, B.N. Sharma, Sardar Sohi, Anita Devgan. 137 mins. Cert:
12A
Legal minds are
forever seeking precedent, yet the Punjabi indie Judge Singh LLB may stand as the first socially conscious courtroom
drama to open on an image of two men noisily voiding their bowels into a ditch.
It’s a leftfield set-up, to say the least: in the hunt for something with which
to clean up, one of these lowly squatting souls uncovers the body of a woman
apparently slain in an honour killing by her brother, the son of a prominent
politician. From there, the situation develops quickly. The politico bribes
police to frame the deceased’s partner; isolated defecation gives way to a
broader constitutional mess. Soon enough, everyone’s got dirty hands.
Within these initial
movements, there are surely the makings of a Grishamish potboiler, and – as
early viewers have detected – the beginnings of a wry comment on Modi’s India.
Such robes, however, cloak a Capraesque slacker comedy; some career-minded
Western screenwriter might tidy it up to enable another Adam Sandler vehicle.
Our hero Judge (Ravinder Grewal) – and yes, that’s his given name – is only passing
as a legal eagle in order to impress the family of his bride-to-be. Naturally,
he has the misfortune to initiate this pretence as the aforementioned case
comes to trial; naturally, he winds up having to defend the patsy against the
pitiless machinations of the state.
Of course, this is
wildly implausible – so implausible, in fact, that writer-director Atharv
Baluja doesn’t trouble to explain how this case gets assigned to this rookie.
Corner-cutting prevails throughout the film: its handheld camerawork and
occasional continuity blips suggest a production shot on the hoof during
recesses in real-life chambers. Matters get especially frenetic around the
intermission, as Judge’s deception is exposed, and you wonder whether Baluja
can pull it back. Yet elsewhere the film proceeds with a wealth of enthusiasm
and spirit: this is the kind of scrappy underdog production that wins us over
early and – even through its muddle-headed stretches – keeps giving us reasons
to cheer for it.
Partly, it’s the
actors, who are skilfully cast and no chore whatsoever to watch. The gently
nerdy Grewal builds a genuinely sweet relationship with B.N. Sharma as Judge’s
father/landlord: the pride they take in one another’s achievements, even after
we learn that dad has been borrowing his son’s underpants, remains touching
indeed. And Sardar Sohi’s wily turn as state prosecutor T.S. Brar, whose
pre-trial routine includes combing three strands of hair across an otherwise
gleaming bonce in the Homer Simpson style, proves very effective in
demonstrating the merciless attack dog our dreamy hero must either become, or
overcome, if there is to be anything like a fair trial.
Editorially, Baluja’s
film still verges on the pipsqueak, as naïve in its belief that virtue will out
as any movie casting Jimmy Stewart as a plain-spoken public servant. Yet the
stakes are certainly raised, not least when Brar – and this really is a
precedent – urinates into our hero’s fridge. And one clever development
involving mobile toilets suggests what might be achieved should the right
resources be placed in conscientious hands: an end to all this public
excretion, if nothing else. Time will tell whether the Judge’s rousing
summation – delivered in a gleaming white turban – helps restore a measure of
justice within India. As entertainment, however, Judge Singh LLB overrules most of one’s objections.
Judge Singh LLB is now playing in selected cinemas.
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