Humour’s legal moment
The Arshad Warsi-Boman Irani starrer Jolly LLB salutes the struggles of the lawyers
Courtrooms are funny places or so says filmmaker Subhash Kapoor, who will be releasing his film Jolly LLB on March 15. The film satirically dissects the realities of Indian judiciary. After his remarkable 2010 release, Phas Gaye Re Obama that dealt with recession in the underworld, the Arshad Warsi-Boman Irani starrer Jolly LLB will be Kapoor’s third.
“It was during my journalism days when I visited courtrooms while researching for my stories that I discovered the real courts of India. They were starkly different from what we had always seen in Bollywood films. In fact they were entertaining. I explored courts in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and other states to get the real flavour when I decided to make this film,” he says.
Kapoor started his career as a political journalist in the 90s with satellite news channels (Home TV, Business India TV, Star etc). But few years later he realised he needed to do something else, something different and exciting. So he decided to explore new things. He made award-winning documentaries like Ramlila, Urdu Hai Jiska Naam before directing his debut film Say Salaam India in 2007. The film tanked at the BO.
“Say Salaam India was a film about cricket. It’s release time was horribly wrong as just four days before the release India got out of the World Cup. People were angry. It sunk without a trace. But this film remains close to my heart,” he says.
Subhash had wanted to make Jolly LLB before any of his films but he didn’t find any producer. It was only after Phas Gaye Re Obama became a sleeper hit that his phone started ringing and producers showed interest in his scripts. “The movie received an overwhelming response in multiplexes. It was astonishing. I knew people would like the idea and I had confidence in my film but I hadn’t expected it to be a hit. I was not prepared for its BO success and all the appreciation that I got,” he reveals.
Wit and satire form the most important ingredients of all his films. So the audience will be treated with truckloads of intelligent humour in Jolly LLB. Although a section of lawyers seem to be miffed with the way lawyers have been portrayed in the film, Kapoor has full faith in his product. He believes that the same people will thank him after watching the film. “Jolly doesn’t make fun of them. It salutes the struggles of the lawyers,” he says.
The film is already riding high on word-of-mouth publicity and Kapoor’s idea of filmmaking has impressed Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who has offered him to direct the third installment of the Munnabhai films.
“I got a call from Mr Chopra. He saw Obama and liked it a lot. After a couple of meetings, he offered me Munnabhai. I didn’t jump at it. I took a couple of weeks to decide whether I have a story to tell. Munna and Circuit are two very complex characters. I didn’t know if I would be able to develop a story around these two characters. The day I felt I could do it, I said yes to him,” sums up Kapoor.
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