Jolly LLB

"Tarikh par tarikh, Tarikh par tarikh, Tarikh par tarikh.... 

par insaaf nahi mila milod, 

bas mili hai to sirf Tarikh"

                                                             

                                                                      -DAMINI (1993)

We all Indians agree with this dramatic and true dialogue of the Bollywood film "DAMINI", delivered by the actor Sunny Deol (not to be confused with Sunny Leone), who criticized the corrupted judicial system of India. The majority of the cases in India are pending, awaiting the dates of next hearing. It repeats on & on like a circle.

Before scrolling down, watch this creative output of the "GREEN PLYWOOD" ad below, that is entertaining for the Indians as well as audience abroad, an overview of the slowest & funny system of Indian court. One can commit crime in India & can survive by delaying trials for a lifetime.

"The first thing we do, let's all kill the lawyers." When Justice Rajendra Mal lodha quoted from Shakespeare's Measure for Measure on March 15 last year, a wave of mirth ran through courtroom 5 of the "Supreme Court". It was in response to a case seeking to stop a film, Jolly LLB, from being released.

Now coming to the national award winning feature film Jolly LLB, it's about a young lawyer Jagdish Tiyagi aka Jolly (actor Arshad Warsi) from Meerut, who wants to go to Delhi, the ultimate place of  Sab-Court-Ka-Baap "Supreme Court", to gain media popularity & make it big.

Jolly LLB

Here actor Boman Irani plays the role of Tejinder Rajpal (a highly influential & corrupted lawyer) who is defending a businessman, guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol & killing people sleeping on the street of Delhi (inspired by 1999 hit and run case of Sanjeev Nanda). Rajpal can win this case very easily and is capable of playing tricky games to change the truth into a different story. During the ongoing trial inside the court, Jolly becomes Rajpal's fan instantly and without thinking much files a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) against Rajpal's client and comes under the media attention.

Now starts the real game of politics, where lawyers use their intelligent skills to keep the corrupted system of India follow the same path without any diversion. The real battle begins between experienced Rajpal & newcomer Jolly. 

Boman Irani's performance  as a professional & corrupted lawyer will make the audience seated until the end of the movie.

At last, why experienced professionals like Rajpal in the movie are corrupted and newcomers like Jolly are confused to support corruption or fight for Justice? 

Whatever it may be, enjoy the movie where CORRUPTION here is one of the main ingredient of ENTERTAINMENT.  

অযান্ত্রিক (The Pathetic fallacy)

"Humari filmo ki tarah, humari zindagi mein bhi 

end tak sab kuch thik hi ho jaata hai... happy's ending"--

                                                                                                          -- OM SHANTI OM (2007)

This is one of the popular dialogue of the Bollywood blockbuster movie "OM SHANTI OM". Apart from happy endings, what else we can expect from the Bollywood movies?

Let's go back to the 50's era, when Bollywood was not so popular but romantic stories were always there with more drama. 

AJANTRIK(1958)

This Bengali film "AJANTRIK" is also about a love story. The protagonist character Bimal (actor Kali Banerjee) falls in love with Jagaddal. Yes, that's the name Bimal has given.

"Jagaddal" is a 1920's Chevrolet jalopy taxi, that Bimal drives everyday to earn his bread. He is driving this car for 15 years and he takes good care of it as any other living being. 

Director Ritwik Ghatak tried to portray a relationship between human being and machine, by creating a communication between them. There is one scene in the movie where Bimal feeds the car with a bottle of water as if it is thirsty after traveling some kilometers. The background sound of a human being drinking water, gives birth to a new life inside "Jagaddal". In fact, it is now a living character of the movie  with a name.

This film reminds us that we are all surrounded by objects. It can be a pen, paper, books, some gifts, etc. Every object tries to establish some kind of communication with us. As if they are alive & at the same time no. We are going through a period where we are in love with the machines without even realizing it. 

"AJANTRIK" is a classical example of modern society. The visuals of this movies are important to watch without closing one's eyes for a moment. Those who don't understand Bengali language, they can even connect with the film that it wants to portray, without looking at the subtitles. This is because of the beautiful way of story telling with less dialogues and a stunning performance by actor Kali Banerjee.

Love can be expressed in many ways but not necessarily with human invented words. It's a feeling to connect like the way things around us do.      

El próximo oriente

El amor no tiene idioma. Se puede sentir en cualquier lugar y en cualquier momento. El amor no tiene límites a no ser que intervengan el pasado o la cultura de la persona.

El próximo oriente

En este película, una imigrante de Bangladesh llamada Aisha (Nur Al Levi) que vive en Madrid, se queda embarazada de su vecino (Asier Etxeandia), quien no quiere hacerse responsable y la abandona. El padre de la chica tiene un restaurante donde no sirve alcohol por cuestiones religiosas, ya que es musulmán.

El director Fernando Colomo continúa la trama donde el hermano del chico, Caín (Javier Cifrián) empieza a ayudar a la chica de Bangladesh después de que ella intenta a suicidarse. Suena serio pero la historia se transforma en una comedia cuando Caín empeza a impresionar a la padre de la chica y terminar casándose con la chica, convirtiéndose a su religión por casualidad. Aunque él aclara a la chica que su matrimonio es solo para ayudarla a salir de su depresión y de su conflicto familiar, poco a poco la relación cómica y complicada que tienen se convierte en una relación romantica.

Siendo Bengali, me parece extraño ver a actores británicos haciendo los personajes de Bangladesh. No puedo identificarme con su manera de hablar Bengali y ni con su manera actuar, aunque imiten nuestro movimientos y nuestra lengua materna. Falta algo.

Esta película me ha recordado a una película americana, llamada "OUTSOURCED" donde la historia es diferente pero la intervención cultural de los países India y América se ve claramente en la película. Por otro lado, en "El próximo oriente" no se ha aprovechado la intervención cultural de España y Bangladesh, que es importante para el contexto de la historia. Más allá de la diferencia religiosa, la película no muestra mucho sobre la cultura de España y por lo tanto crea algunas preguntas entre los espectadores. 

La historia es entretenida. Los actores españoles han actuado de forma impresionante en la pantalla, lo que ha mejorado la historia. Pero para los espectadores asiáticos, a la película le falta el sabor porque la historia no incluye suficientemente  las culturas, los idiomas y la relación entre España y Bangladesh.

El próximo oriente (The Near East)

Love has no language. It can be felt anywhere & anytime. Love has no boundary unless there is any intervention from the person's cultural background or past.

El próximo oriente

In this film, a Bangladeshi expat Aisha (played by Spanish actress Nur Al Levi) in Madrid, gets pregnant & later ditched by a Spanish guy (played by Asier Etxeandia) living next door. Her father runs a Bangladeshi restaurant without liquor in the menu because of the religious issue.

Director Fernando Colomo takes the story to a different level where the brother Caín (played by Javier Cifrián) of the Spanish guy who ditched the Bangladeshi girl Aisha,  starts helping her after she tried to commit suicide. Though it sounds serious, things move on in a comical way when Caín starts impressing her father & agrees to marry her by sacrificing his own religion but casually. He makes it clear to Aisha, that this marriage is meant to help her out of depression and family conflict. Slowly this comical and complicated relationship converts into a romantic one.

Being Bengali, I find these British actors playing Bangladeshis very different. I can't relate their way of speaking Bengali language and acting with ours. Something is missing--"HACE FALTA" -- that's how we say in Spanish.

Comparing this film with an American film "OUTSOURCED", the story is different but the cultural intervention of both the countries- America and India,  makes it more or less clear to watch. where as on the other hand "El próximo oriente" missed out the cultural intervention of Spain & Bangladesh, which is important for this context of the story. Apart from showing religious differences, the film didn't show much about the culture of Spain and as a result it creates some questions among the audiences.

The story is good and funny to enjoy. The Spanish actors have delivered impressive performances on screen that hold the story altogether. But for the Asian audiences, the film misses out the spicy flavor because the script involves the culture, language and comical relationship between Spain and Bangladesh.