Well, that was a surprise. After watching two films written by eight-year-olds including Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, I didn’t think I was going to have to use my brain at all today. Gosh, what a revelation. Now if only this film weren’t so over-the top.
Bobby (Kangana Ranaut) has issues. She doesn’t lack for them. Her career as a voice dubber for movies is marred by the fact that she doesn’t play well with others. After attacking a producer (who had it coming, btw), Bobby is given the choice of paying a fine or visiting a mental hospital for a few months. She chooses confinement. You would rather be in a mental hospital than pay a fine … what are you, crazy ?!
Upon returning, Bobby realizes she’s a landlord. How exactly do you make that discovery without knowing it’s coming? Her soon-to-be-wed tenants, Keshav (Rajkummar Rao) and Reema (Amyra Dastur), are pretty so we can’t fault the woman for being a little curious. Minutes later, however, we do wonder if Bobby’s spying has become an obsession. And now some of the backstory makes sense – her habit of taking a photo of every character she dubs for isn’t just a hobby; she empathizes so deeply with the subject that she becomes her fictional alter ego. Well. This is just a Bobby hobby lobby sobby story waiting to happen, now isn’t it?
And for the sake of shivvin’ Shiva, if Bobby is going to identify that deeply, stop showing this woman horror films.
In the mean time, what’s with Keshav playing along? Uh oh. I sense trouble. Paranoid schizophrenics are rarely helped out by strange noises and mysterious 3 a.m. agendas. Just what’s going on here?
The strength of Judgementall Hai Kya lies in the interplay between Bobby and Keshav. I was quite hoping this was a Bollywood film; I think a woman with personality disorder leading a chorus line would be kind of fun. Couldn’t you see her thriving with backup and then dismissing them entirely with a scream because she’s no longer interested in singing “Happy” as she’s moved on to “Helter Skelter?”
The title here translates (I’m told) to “Judgmental Much?” a fairly trite description for a film that begins with an orphanage burning down. In retrospect, I enjoyed that film today finally talked to me like I’m an adult, but it’s hard to see the world in which Bobby is left unsupervised after shit goes down. I liked the drama of the story while fully acknowledging the mystery could have been a tad sharper – or at least thrown in an extra suspect or two like Jagged Edge. Judgementall Hai Kya was just intriguing enough to capture my attention for the runtime, but an extra ten minutes would have lost me.
Alter egos is a gambit movies try
Often lacking for telling us why
But you better start ‘splainin’
Sans reality strainin’
Or you’ll lose all of me, myself, and I
Not Rated, 121 Minutes
Director: Prakash Kovelamudi
Writer: Kanika Dhillon
Genre: Crazy is as crazy does
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Psychology junkies
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who don’t like to guess
