The first shot of Kangana Ranaut as Bobby Garewal Batliwala in Judgementall Hai Kya shows her doing shirshasana―standing on her head, her back to a wall filled with pictures of her in different costumes (from Maleficent to a Hindu goddess). We are shown that Bobby sees things upside down, different from how others see the world.
That is how the entire movie plays out. Things are not what they seem and sometimes, to see it from the right perspective, one may have to look at the world upside down.
Kangana plays Bobby, a voice-over artist, who is anything but your average girl next door. Quirky doesn't begin to describe this eccentric, over-the-top character who prefers a three-month stint at an asylum because it's “comfortable” over paying a fine and walking away with her freedom.
Bobby has suffered childhood trauma. She has trust issues. She hears voices in her gut (not her head). She makes origami figures from newspaper clippings carrying reports of violent domestic abuse and death. And she is constantly in pursuit of a cockroach that seems to appear before something adverse happens. Enter Reema (Amyra Dastur) and her husband Keshav (Rajkummar Rao) who are Bobby's new tenants. Bobby finds Keshav intriguing at first, but starts objectifying and obsessing over him soon.
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A series of suspicious instances pits Bobby and Keshav against each other as the story moves to a whodunit and we are left wondering who is sane.
The first half of Judgementall Hai Kya is entertaining and engaging, albeit a bit confusing. Bobby keeps flitting between reality and fantasy as she listens to the voices from her gut. She is shown to embody the characters she dubs for. It is even mentioned that she has around 18 characters in her head. The confusion is deliberate as we, just like Bobby, try to understand if everything happening around her is just her imagination or if she is really struggling against an adversary that no one else seems to see. The second half is a bit toned down, with Bobby arriving in London, but unable to shake off the ghosts of her past. She personifies Sita as part of a theatre production of a modern take on the Ramayana, and is hell bent on exposing Keshav through her agnipariksha.
The thing about Judgementall Hai Kya is that it keeps you hooked because you know something is not right here and you want to get to the bottom of it. What is real? Who is in the wrong? Who is sane?
Kangana Ranaut brings this oddball character alive with her performance and has done a brilliant job. The only downside is there is a bit of a lull in between and a couple of plotholes. Both Ranaut and Rao, however, will keep the audience on the edge of their seat till the end.
Film: Judgementall Hai Kya
Director: Prakash Kovelamudi
Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Rajkummar Rao
Rating: 3.5/5
