Ulajh (2024) – Dull and Uneven
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Genre – Spy + Conspiracy thriller
Time: 2 Hours, 8 minutes
Platform: NetFlix
Director: Sudhanshu Saria
Cast: Janhvi Kapoor. Roshan Mathew. Gulshan Devaiah.
Many spy thrillers commonly talk of honey trapping which is sexually entrapping a male and blackmailing him to obtain secrets. The opposite of that is the Romeo Spy – using a male to entrap a female. The former East German foreign intelligence Agency HVA sent almost hundred plus male agents to entrap lone single women working in West German defense and government ministries. These “Romeo” spies were highly successful as their “wives”/ girlfriends willingly stole secrets and handed it over to the Romeo spy – for love. After German unification in 1990, the East German HVA spy head Markus Wolf, said that it was the most successful HUMAN -Human intelligence – operation run by the HVA. For more on Romeo spies, refer this link.
The Pakistani ISI seems to have absorbed this lesson as their Romeo spy entrapped an Indian diplomat in Islamabad.
If we keep these references, then the core plot of Ulajh makes sense. Somewhat.
Before the film starts there is a tribute to the IFS for taking care of India’s diplomacy and even preventing wars! Duh!
Suhana Bhatia is a third generation IFS officer and is appointed as Deputy High Commissioner at the Indian Embassy in London, at a very young age. There is talk of nepotism . She feels she has achieved it on her own merit. She has an affair with a man Nakul who turns out to be a blackmailer who wants details of some business deals. She complies reluctantly and confides in her chauffeur Saleem that she may be in trouble. He promised to help her. Nakul then demands the name of the Indian agents in Islamabad. Things go steadily downhill for Suhana.
The premise is not all that bad. A Romeo spy who wants things done as per his way. Only he is nasty and she feels the pressure from him all the time as his demands keep increasing. A classic blackmail situation.
When a film released in August 2024, is on OTT within a month, you naturally think – is it so bad ? or so good that the producers want everyone to enjoy it and not diss it ? We soon see why it ended up so quickly on OTT. It ends up like a hundred conspiracy thrillers where an innocent man on the run has to prevent a terrorist event – a bombing or an assassination. The only twist is that here it is an innocent woman.
The media have praised Janhvi Kapoor for accepting a risky role that does not demand singing and dancing but has to act. And the risk doesn’t pay off. Her WOODEN ACTING and monotone grates and doesn’t help the otherwise interesting script. More attention is paid to her wardrobe than her performance. Which is probably where the fault lies. Gulshan Deviah as Nakul is competent while Roshan Mathew as the Malayali RAW officer, Sebin Kutty, delivers a decent performance as a hothead who reverts to his mother tongue in times of extreme stress. Adil Hussain as Suhana’s father is always in fine form even if he is there in only couple of scenes. Watch out for Meiyang Chang as Jacob, the RAW officer in London who suspects Suhana. Even in a tiny role, he shines. If only his role had been enlarged !
The film had huge potential but is let down by the wooden acting of the lead performer.
The director also could have done with a tighter script that could have easily knocked off half an hour and made the film tighter and could have been an excellent thriller. Watch it if you have nothing else to do and wonder what could have been possible with a decent performance from some other actress.
Lead performers – 1 out of 5
Script – 3 out of 5
Story – 3 out of 5
Direction – 3 out of 5
Photography – 4 out of 5
Total – 2.8 out of 5
Hi Rammesh,
Thanks for this review. Based on it, I think I will pass on Ulajh. Love the mordant sense of humor in your reviews, when merited.
Janhvi Kapoor – I’m still holding out her getting a proper role where hopefully her genetic acting talents come to the fore, she gains in confidence, and advances in her chosen career. Somehow she seems to be tentative in her dialog delivery and overall emoting. (a subjective opinion)
Perhaps, Alia Bhatt could have been a natural for this film, given her role in ‘Raazi’ ?
You awarded the film four out of five points for photography. Please comment on this rating? That itself might encourage me to go watch the film.
Thanks,
Robin
Robin
I have a feeling that this is the best Janhvi can do . She did more or less the same in Kargil Girl too = a confused expression, mumbling mumbling and so on. At the end of the day the public are brutal in their likes and dislikes as many a star son and daughter have found out in the 1980s and 1990s.
As for the photography it has a suitably moody look in the scenes where the chap is blackmailing her or they are meeting secretly or in the final interrogation scenes. It becomes bright in the scenes where she is seeking information or in the final climactic scenes.
This could have been a unique film based on a “Romeo spy” theme – check out the link which I had sent on Romeo spies and the Madhuri GUpta case in Islamabad where she was Romeo trapped by one “Rana”.
KVR
Hi Rammesh,
Okay, I fell for it.. watched the film last night. The AI-generated meanings of the word ‘Ulajh’ also characterize the film itself and its captive audience? 🙂
Bogged down: Prevents progress or the completion of a task
Catch: To become trapped by something
Confuse: To mix up two things, so that one is thought to be the other
Entangle: To be caught in something very firmly
Since the film was released several weeks ago, these points are hopefully not spoilers:
1
I must have missed the scene where the consular officers come to the apartment but do not notice the gaping cracks in the window? I mean, Suhana could not have had the window replaced that quickly!
2
A Pakistani assassin is able to get into India that easily, and just as easily able to procure a nasty-looking long gun? Perhaps with the help of just the household help?
3
At the venue, all of Delhi’s intelligence and police agencies are not able to secure in advance the one perfect vantage point from which to kill a VVIP visiting dignitary?
4
The ending – oh, poor boy !! So victimized in childhood.. that’s why he turned out to be a nasty fellow! (that made me laugh, sorry)
5
Lastly, through all these escapades. The formidable Metropolitan Police/Scotland Yard in the most wired city in the world are nowhere to be found? The assassin getting on to a roof… the secret meeting where papers are exchanged… the exploding house… a dead body left behind in an apartment….. etc…
(“As of July 2023, there are an estimated 942,562 surveillance cameras in London. This equates to 1,552.82 cameras per square mile”)
—
Agreed with your point – the film could have been condensed to a taut 90 minutes instead of the 2-hour meandering attempt at keeping the audience on edge.
And yes agreed – the dull opposite of her set-the-screen-on-fire, infectious mother, Janhvi may well go the way of Twinkle Khanna, Esha Deol and many other such names, at least in Hindi films.
Cheers… Robin
Robin
ROTFL
Well said.
To me it remains a rare lost opportunity of showing a Romeo Spy.
I always laugh at Western movies too that show a sniper nestled on some rooftop in broad daylight and no one calls the police; so that’s something that even Hollywood gets wrong. So many of them – even the Bourne series has couple of scenes like that.
KVR