Junglee Pictures’ Ulajh (UA) is a thriller. Suhana Bhatia (Janhvi Kapoor) is an IFS (Indian Foreign Service) officer who gets a prestigious posting in London. Once there, she befriends Nakul (Gulshan Devaiah) who turns out to be an opportunist. She soon realises that Nakul has used her and is now blackmailing her. It soon turns out that he is a Pakistani agent and his real name is Humayun. Suhana finds herself helpless and has to give in to Nakul’s demands. Soon, more disturbing things start happening, forcing RAW’s Prakash Kamat (Jitendra Joshi) and RAW chief Sanjeev Bajpai (Jaimini Pathak) to reach London. What happens thereafter? Does Suhana fight back? Is she aided by anyone else? What is Nakul/Humayun’s mission? Who are hand-in-glove with Nakul/Humayun?
Parvez Shaikh and Sudhanshu Saria have written a story which is so confusing that most of the viewers would give up pretty fast and stop racking their brains to comprehend what’s unfolding on the screen. Even the confusion could’ve been fun and may have involved the audience in a guessing game had the audience felt invested in the drama. Oftentimes, a thriller leaves the viewers guessing, something which they may even enjoy, but that presupposes that the viewers feel inclined to play along and hazard guesses. In this screenplay, also penned by the duo, the question of the audience feeling involved in the drama doesn’t arise because of the style in which the drama has been written. It could be unintentional but what emerges is that the writers confuse the viewers on some point, then clarify matters, then confuse them over again, then clarify matters further, and so on and so forth. At times, there could be double or triple confusions running concurrently, and the clarifications being made later. And at the end of it all, what comes to the fore is the India-Pakistan enmity, of which, in any case, the audience seems to have already had too much. Another minus point is that there are too many characters in the drama. To add to the viewers’ tale of woes, the dialogues at several places are so unclear that they are either lost on them or the viewers have to strain their ears throughout for fear of not being able to understand them. Atika Chohan’s dialogues are quite alright.
Janhvi Kapoor does a fine job as IFS officer Suhana Bhatia. However, after impressing the audience in the initial reels, Janhvi becomes repetitive later. Gulshan Devaiah is outstanding in the role of Nakul/Humayun. His easy-going style of villainy is delightful to watch. Roshan Mathew is another actor who delivers a wonderful performance. As Sebin Josephkutty, he is simply remarkable. Rajesh Tailang leaves a fine mark as Salim Sayyed. Adil Hussain gives a dignified account of himself as Suhana’s father. Rajendra Gupta impresses as minister Manohar Rawal. Jitendra Joshi shines as Prakash Kamat. Meiyang Chang makes his presence felt as Jacob Tamang. Rushad Rana is average as Pakistan’s prime minister Shahzad Alam. Jaimini Pathak lends fair support as RAW chief Sanjeev Bajpai. Vivek Madan is okay as Pakistan’s defence minister. Aly Khan has his moments as Ambassador Kazi. Sakshi Tanwar makes her presence amply felt in a special appearance as Roshni Sengupta. Arun Malik (as Ambassador Khurana), Amit Tiwari Anand (as deputy counsel Solanki), Himanshu Gokhani (as minister Chetri), Himanshu Malik (as Yaseen Mirza), Bhavna Singh (as Yaseen Mirza’s wife), Natasha Rastogi (as Suhana’s mother), Swastika Chakraborty (as Suhana’s bua), Rajeev Hubert (as Hamid Saab), Priyanka Pal (as the scarred woman), Alison Beneza (as Elena), Ben Gardner (as the French Ambassador), Katherine Mount (as the French interpreter), and the others provide ordinary support.
Sudhanshu Saria’s direction is round and about. Instead of coming to the point, he takes the route of confusing before informing, making the audience often lose their patience. Shashwat Sachdev’s music is melodious but lacks popular appeal. Lyrics (by Kumaar, Jasmine Sandlas and Sudhanshu Saria) are appealing. Vijay A. Ganguly’s choreography is functional. Background music (Shashwat Sachdev) is fairly nice. Shreya Dev Dube’s cinematography is fine. Action scenes have been choreographed (by Nick Powell and Amritpal Singh) effectively. Mansi Dhruv Mehta’s production designing is of a fine standard. Nitin Baid’s editing is fairly sharp but could’ve been crisper.
On the whole, Ulajh is too confusing and class-appealing to appeal to the average cinema goer. It may hold interest for a select audience but that just won’t be enough.
Released on 2-8-’24 at Inox (daily 4 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PEN Marudhar Cine Entertainment. Publicity: so-so. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak everywhere.