Arbaaz Khan Productions Pvt. Ltd.’s Patna Shuklla is the story of a gutsy woman lawyer’s fight for justice. Tanvi Shukla (Raveena Tandon) is a lawyer in Patna, who is trying very hard to make a name for herself in her profession. One day, a college student, Rinki Kumari (Anushka Kaushik) comes to her to file a case against the Patna University as she feels, there is a mistake in the assessment of her papers. Tanvi fights her case but has to face many obstacles during her legal battle. When she is unsuccessful in proving that the University has been indulging in unfair practices over the years, she probes further and is shocked to know a truth about her own degree.
Vivek Budakoti, Sameer Arora and Farid Khan’s story-line may be interesting but the gravity of the big issue (of a student taking on the University) is not felt because of the weak screenplay. Further, the trio’s screenplay is so slow-paced that the drama often dips. There are portions in which the audience actually feel bored, mainly because of the slow pace. The screenplay also often moves on the predictable path. The weakest part of the screenplay is that the viewers don’t root for the student or the lawyer. In other words, the audience’s empathy is missing. This is further aggravated because the student herself is not entirely above board. In fact, most of the characters appear to have benefitted from the corrupt education and other systems. The trio’s dialogues are ordinary.
Raveena Tandon’s character of Tanvi Shukla, also known as Patna Shukla, lacks fire. Her performance is fair. Anushka Kaushik is ordinary as student Rinki Kumari. Satish Kaushik is natural as judge Arun Kumar Jha. Manav Vij performs ably as Tanvi’s husband, Siddharth Shukla. Chandan Roy Sanyal makes his presence beautifully felt as Neelkanth Mishra. Jatin Goswami has his moments as Raghubir Singh. Raju Kher is okay as J.P. Sharma. Rio Kapadia lends fair support as V.C. Sinha. Ambrish Kumar Shukla is alright as Rinki Kumari’s father, Matadin. Sushmita Mukherjee leaves a mark as Lata Jha, wife of the judge. Rajshree Thakkar (as Mahua), Arijeet Kaurav (as Sonu), Alok Chatterjee (as Danveer Singh), Dayashankar Pandey (as Surendra Mohan), Balendra Singh (as Srivastav), Sangeeta Tiwari (as Alka), Dipti Joshi (as Mrs. Srivastav) and the others do as required.
Vivek Budakoti’s direction is weak. His narration is unable to evoke sympathy in the viewers’ minds for the characters of the drama. Music (Samuel Shetty and Akanksha Nandrekar) is quite alright. Lyrics are okay. Karan Kulkarni’s background music passes muster. Neha Parti Matiyani’s cinematography is appropriate. Rinku Bachan Singh’s action and stunt scenes are functional. Amrish Patange and Dayanidhi Patturajan’s production designing, and Ankita Satish Lad’s art direction are proper. Vini N. Raj’s editing should’ve been sharper.
On the whole, Patna Shuklla is a dull fare.
Released on 29-3-’24 on Disney+ Hotstar.