How will you define ‘normal’ human behavior? Writer Kanika Dhillon and director Prakash Kovelamudi bring to us ‘Judgementall Hai Kya’ that tackles mental health issues, but unlike other Bollywood films, this flick falls under an unconventional zone with a murder occurring in the narrative. So does this film manages to entertain and thrill the audience?
Kangana Ranaut plays Bobby, a young woman with unresolved childhood trauma, who has been diagnosed with acute psychosis. She is prone to bouts of paranoia and hysterical outbursts, hears voices in her head and displays erratic behavior.Bobby works as a dubbing artist for South Indian movies, immerses herself into the characters she voices, dreams about scenarios and photoshops her face into film stills. Soon her fantasies seem more real, when Keshav (Rajkummar Rao) becomes her neighbor with his wife. Before you know it, Bobby is spying on the couple and a murder happens for which Keshav and Bobby are framed as the suspects.
The film is a black comedy, a trippy mind-bender and an original. Bobby is the unreliable narrator with a generous serving humour been used to raise questions about women’s sanity. The story is unconventional, quite promising and entertaining. The dialogues suit the film, especially the ones mouthed by Kangana.
Kangana does not disappoint us with her acting, in fact this is one of her best performances with a strong screen presence. While Rajkummar keeps you guessing about what his character will do next, he keeps up the thrill and portrays his emotions really well with his facial expressions. Satish Kaushik as a ‘bhujia-chomping’ inspector and Brijendra Kala as his sidekick bring plenty laughs, so does Hussain Dalal in the role of Bobby’s frustrated boyfriend.
Kanika’s screenplay is interesting but in some parts, she falters. This is particularly seen in the second half, where the film goes into another zone and it isn’t convincing. However, she raises a few interesting points on the idea of ‘normal’ according to the society and draws parallel with Ramayana.
Prakash’s direction makes the narration very modern, which goes with its theme and title. In a few scenes, he shows his brilliance but there are some scenes which are difficult to digest. However as a whole, his work is appropriate with technical knowledge used well.
Overall, we would give this movie a rating of 3.5 out of 5!
