Judaai (1997)

the audience applauded

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

I mean, come on - a woman sells her husband? And on top of that, the husband has no objection? Which woman would sell her husband? Which woman would want to buy a man? Which man would be ready to display himself for sale? It's a big joke. The film does have something that partially works, maybe it's the naivety of the mainstream, escapist, and not-always-realistic Hindi cinema. But it falls short soon. The main idea and the entire story make it look pathetic. Anil Kapoor is ordinary. Sridevi, despite delivering a generally good performance with a nice mixture of comedy and drama, is annoying and unbearable at times. I mean, you need not be a complete idiot to make a convincing poor and rural housewife. It's not her fault, it's the director's insistence to make her a court jester. Urmila is perhaps the best of the lot, and she plays the simple rich girl endearingly. Well, Judaai is not that bad for a one-time watch, and I believe some would enjoy it. My say - watch it if you are ready to go through moments of sheer stupidity.

'Judaai' falls under the category of weird Bollywood cinema. Well, weird in the sense that the story is unconventional, ironic and sort of a dramedy. I'll start with the negative points. To make the plot more concise the film could have done with a lot of editing. The comedy involving Kader Khan, Johny Lever and Paresh Rawal should have been deleted as both are mind-numbingly irritating. Though Kader Khan does (and is the only one to) make you laugh. The repetitive background music (especially the one derived from the title song) gets irritating at points. The songs, though very pleasant to the ears, appear out of place and slightly slow down the pace. Besides what's the point of shooting songs in Europe or America if the whole story is set in India? On top of that the choreography is terrible! Both Sridevi and Urmila (being Bollywood's example of sheer talent) are also known for their graceful dancing abilities and this is wasted with poor choreography. Cinematography could be better. It appears very flat. Direction is brilliant at some places but amateurish at others.Performance wise, Anil's performance is the usual. The actor has nothing new to offer but he performs okay. Actually, it would have been more interesting to see Sanjay Dutt (apparently Anil had asked him to do the film) to play the part. Supporting cast by Poonam Dhillon and Farida Jalal are strictly OK. Now what makes this movie worth watching is Sridevi and Urmila Matondkar. Sridevi plays a character that's never been played by an actress in cinema. The character is full of layers, one that we both laugh at and pity and Miss Sridevi just makes acting look easy. Urmila Matondkar is probably the only actress to have worked with Sridevi and deliver a memorable performance (unlike others like Jaya Prada, Padmini Kolhapure...who's performances have vanished into oblivion). Rumour had it that both actresses were taking a serious risk that would put their career in the drain. But then, it is their risk taking that has contributed to the fact that they are willing to experiment and this only shows the true actress they are. These were two of the best performances of the year but not surprisingly, they got ignored by the awards.So, is 'Judaai' worth watching? Yes. Keep your remote close by to fast-forward the comedy track as I can assure that you won't be missing much or just watch the first Johnny Lever sequence to see if he's funny at all. I for one, find him extremely irritating and unfunny.

Kajal is married to Raj thinking him to be very rich. But Raj who is an Engineer by profession is not so. He is from a middle class family. But Kajal is not ready for a middle class lifestyle. He tries to convince Raj to take bribes and make a lot of money. Raj is not ready to sacrifice his honesty for money. They live for several years, have two children but Kajal still lives in her fantasy world of Cars, Bungalows. Jahnavi played by Urmila is the daughter of Raj's boss. She reaches India and falls in love with Raj. She offers a lot of money to Kajal in exchange of Raj. Kajal readily agrees. Little did she realize that this small happiness will change her life for ever. All three lead characters played by Anil Kapoor, Sri devi and Urmila have justified their role.

As much as I would like to, I cannot recommend Judaai to my friends unless they did not mind fast forwarding whenever Johnny Lever shows up. The story line to Judaai is fascinating, production values are top notch, songs are good, and, as always, Sridevi, Anil, and Urmila are at the top of their form. All other serious supporting roles are good. Then there is the comedy if that is what you want to call it. It frequently brought the plot to a screeching halt and, after the first hour of the film, I almost gave up but decided on fast forwarding the rest of the comedy sections which I should have done earlier. I enjoyed the comedy in Dil Chahta Hai and Awara Paagal Deewana and even like the Johnny Lever characters in Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya and Sirf Tum, but cringed every time Johnny Lever et. al showed up in this film. I gave the film a 6 only because the comedy sequences were so irritating and lengthy. Had the film just focused on the drama and inserted comedy about Sridevi's new found wealth, I would have given it a 9.