Judgementall Hai Kya - Movie Review

There are some movies where it is easier to form an opinion, while there are some where the audience needs time to process what they have seen. Director Prakash Kovelamudi’s ‘Judgemental Hai Kya’ falls in the latter category and leaves its shaken audiences to ponder over the last two hours they spent amidst quirks, chills and thrills.

The movie opens in the twisted, wild world of Bobby Balliwala Grewal (Kangana Ranaut), an eccentric dubbing artist with a dark childhood, who is just released from a mental asylum. She dresses herself in quirky outfits, has a fetish for clicking herself in the avtars of the horror characters she dubs for and lives surrounded by paper puppets that she makes. Just like the colourfully tinted glasses on her windows, her life isn’t plain and two-toned. She suffers from a mental illness, which makes her hallucinate and imagine things which are not always real. The writer Kanika Dhillon brilliantly adds quirks and thrills by showing us the world through Bobby’s mind, blurring the lines between reality and hallucinations, keeping us constantly unsure. This works well for the movie since the audience can never really predict who is the culprit in the scheme of things.

There are mysterious deaths that happen around Bobby, who has a knack for intuitively sensing anomalies around her. Her suspicion always points towards her tenant, Keshav (Rajkummar Rao), whom she constantly accuses of murders. But it’s never easy to prove – she also seems to harbour feelings for Keshav, snoops into her tenant’s house and joins him and his partner on their Lonavala holiday, uninvited. As I said, it takes time to process this movie because your perspective changes when you think in the hindsight. Was it really her lust for Keshav that made Bobby track him? Not really. She was probably investigating her suspicion. It is such nitty-gritties that make this movie an edgy experience. The second half is replete with bizarre things – adding further to the audience’s confusion of what is real and what isn’t. Interestingly, the writer links the whodunit to Ramayana, with Sita looking for Ravan. To be talking anymore about the plot would lead to spoilers but I would just say the second half could have been tighter. The movie slumps post interval. Again, in the hindsight, may be the writer drops the pace to let the audience experience angst and restlessness, just as Bobby experiences these on-screen. If that really was the writer’s intention, then she succeeds in making me shift in my seat uncomfortably. Yet, I would have preferred if she got to the point faster.

Before talking about the performances, a huge shout-out to the edgy camerawork by Pankaj Kumar, who makes sure his camera captures Kangana in all her quirks. The art design and costumes deserve a mention for creating an outlandish world and dressing the characters appropriately, especially Kangana – giving her a bizarre, ‘mental’ look. The background score by Daniel George adds to the suspense and thrills. But, such a difficult movie belongs to its writer-director/wife-husband duo, Kanika Dhillon and Prakash Kovelamudi. Choosing such a difficult narrative to tell a story through the lens of a mentally ill protagonist is commendable. But adding both humour and elements of a thriller to such a twisted tale deserves a bigger applause. Certain parts of it also felt inspired by Shriram Raghavan’s style of dark humour (probably that is why he gets a mention in the opening credits).

Apart from strong writing and direction, the movie also has a great cast to its advantage. Satish Kaushik and Brijendra Kala as the cops add a fun element to the murder investigation and bring to the table their great comic timing. Writer-actor Hussain Dalal as Bobby’s manager/probable boyfriend is a treat to watch – his banter with Kangana is especially funny. Rajkummar Rao is a great actor and does not disappoint this time either. While he plays a sane yet mysterious Keshav, unlike the eccentric Bobby, he shines in his scenes with Kangana. But, alas, the movie belongs to Kangana Ranaut. She is spectacular as the eccentric Bobby and gets to display her strong acting skills. She switches from sad to scared to happy to helpless – everything in a jiffy! Even her unfunny jokes have a tinge of unintended humour, which displays her impeccable comic timing. Just like her accusations on all and sundry in real life, Bobby passes accusations at the drop of the hat, mostly without any proof. It’s a very difficult character to play and Kangana floors us with her performance.

Judgemental Hai Kya is an exciting thriller and works for most parts of it. Whether I liked it? Yes. Would I recommend it? Most certainly. But would it appeal all kinds of audience? Not really. It is dark, it is edgy and it is unsettling. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Watch it for great performances and a whacky, weird and disturbing story-telling. If you are looking for a light-hearted movie, stay away from this.

My Rating – 3/5