Judgementall Hai Kya? is bit of a jack of all trades kinda movie. It is a whodunit and a thriller and it loves to show off its psychedelic inspired takes on mental health. Unfortunately director Prakash Kovelmudi is unable to pull off most of what he set out to do, even though the two protagonists played by Kangana Ranaut and Rajkumar Rao do put in credible performances.
The legend of Sita, in a modern interpretation of the Ramayan is used in the second half of this movie to staggering visual effect, as extravagantly costumed creatures from the myth walk around the streets of London. A surfeit of rainbow-hued graffiti in eye popping colours serves as a backdrop, making for a psychedelic effect and the word that springs to mind is "unhinged". Bobby's (the protagonist played by Kangana Ranaut) lucidity, already straining thin, now comes undone, in a grotesque culmination.
These threads used to illustrate the "insanity" of the protagonist are good enough by themselves.
Right at the outset Bobby is set up as a narrator who cannot be relied upon. Indeed the red herrings strewn all over the storyline are obvious to an adept thriller watcher, and Bobby's unrelaibility is put to good use here. Manipulation most fine.
What is "normal" and who do we we accept as "people like us"? How far are we willing to go to accept differences are questions raised by this movie. In India and in Bollywood, there has been talk of how mental illness has become more acceptable, with Deepika Padukone, the biggest woman actor of her generation having disclosed her struggles with depression. In the west, and the US a motley crew of therapists on instagram have gone mainstream. Whilst the culture of awareness grows, real acceptance still seems way beyond the horizon.
The protagonist does end up being a "hero", but her idiosyncrasies are such that it's difficult to imagine transferring this acceptance to the everyday for us, the viewers.
Perhaps you would say that this is only art or that it is not the job of commercial cinema to educate. That conversation is for another day, yet we would all agree that representation matters. Intersectionality is all about giving a voice and a face to the under represented. And as the acceptance of mental illness expands to an extent, we are also faced with the question, what is reality, and what is normal? Even when we know we ought to seek help, our fear of being judged keeps us from it. As in life so at the movies.
The alert viewer and the whodunit connoisseur would be aware of the use of mental illness as a prop. It is evident where the script and even the screen play have been totally "inspired" by British crime dramas and of course Hollywood, which continues to "inspire" our cinema.
Some of the twists are totally inexplicable. How does Bobby suddenly turn up at her cousin's place in London and how does she fund the trip? How is a dubbing artist suddenly get accepted by a theatre company and lands a plum role?
That said, Kangana Rant is in her element. Her performance shines through in most of the scenes. Her hysteria feels credible, though the diagnosis and its manifestations seemed too glib.
The childhood trauma that Bobby suffers has an indelible impression on her. The theatrical, almost unreal enactment of the scene of the trauma felt jarring. It seemed to minimize the horror of the assault. I imagine it is a deliberate ploy, to make it all look unreal, to depict her craziness as merely fanciful.
Imperceptible erasure of reality and the gas lighting is something women are so used to experiencing. We are told again and again, we are "too sensitive" that we "can't take a joke" when the joke is at our expense. When we try to talk about abusive husbands, partners, we are told 'but he's a good guy' as if our own lived experiences don't matter. The adage add women and stir is not a recipe for bringing gender sensitivity to a script, is well illustrated by this movie. Script writer Kanika Dhillon chooses to undermine the narrative of a woman with such a trauma, so that fair representation remains remote. concession, mercy
Any woman's rights activist will tell you that far more women die at the hands of their husbands and partners, yet Bobby's fascination with domestic violence is depicted as almost quirky. She is shown making origami with scraps cut out of newspapers, all of them reports of violent attacks by men.
The relative tenderness of the narration towards Bobby is just about balanced by the mystery of Raghav, played by Rajkumar Rao.
On the one hand the narrative seeks to undermine Bobby the narrator, yet it is also indulgent. But as the narrative turns out why isn't the trauma the other characters honored similarly?
(Tumhara trauma trauma hai, mera trauma gaya tel lene)
Disjointed and patchy, and overly too long even at its short running time of just about 2 hours, I would still recommend Judgementall Hai Kya as a one time watch. While we make do with what we have, we keep demanding for better.
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