Ulajh: A Confusing Espionage Drama Failing to Engage

Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Roshan Mathew, Gulshan Devaiah, Adil Hussain, Meiyang Chang, Rajesh Tailang, Jitender Joshi, Yash Agnihotri, Rajendra Gupta

Direction: Sudhanshu Saria

Common sense departs all too soon. Sooner than artistic license arrives. The consequential narrative then fights hard to touch base. This espionage drama straight from the office of the Indian high commission in Britian is so, so weird that you end up most of the time connecting the wires rather than enjoying the film. Not that there is much to do.

Film-maker Sudhanshu Saria starts from the other end of the spectrum. It is obviously an interesting tale when the spouses bear allegiance to different nations, even more if the countries concerned are India and Pakistan. However, like with ‘Raazi’, here the spouse or friend is planted and therein flows the tale.

Suhana (Janhvi Kapoor) very early in her career in the foreign service is posted as the second-in-command at the Indian high commission in the UK. Her male colleagues, especially Jacob Tamang (Meiyang Chang) attribute it to nepotism as she hails from a family of diplomats. Her father Dhanraj Bhatia (Adil Hussain) is at the threshold of an important international assignment with the United Nations. She has just cracked a deal with France – some fanciful hydrogen-related project. After an important meet-up with Chef Nakul (Gulshan Devaiah) she lands up in a physical relationship with him, even before she could say Gulshan Devaiah. She has a quick shock when she becomes victim to his blackmail and is required to share national secrets. Her stalking chauffer Saleem Sayeed (Rajesh Talang) is among the many suspects in the list of anti-national conspirators. Considering that the film-maker is in the midst of a thriller tale, it is best to leave the details. Suffice to state that Suhana gets more and more sucked into enemy territory.

Blundering with astounding stupidity for a career diplomat, as she gets deeper into trouble, the audience get proportionally disinterested in her mishaps. It is obvious that when she left her homeland, she forgot to pack caution and common sense. She is now a tool in the hands of the enemy. RAW steps in with Prakash Kamat (Jitender Joshi) and chief (Yash Agnihotri) sent to the high commissioner’s office to plug the leak. There is then the minister Manohar Rawal (Rajendra Gupta) arrives. To this claustrophobic scenario enters the Pakistan prime minister (Rushad Rana) who is the target of a controversy and a coup d’etat.

The film-maker on his way to the climax gets tired, rushes it all up and hopes (with as much credibility as his protagonist!) to keep the viewers’ curiosity, if not interest. The latter is justifiably concentrating on the highly-priced snacks which, even if tasteless, are a better option to the on-screen happenings. Another Friday of yawnful 140 minutes and empty chairs. Poor casting does not help the cause either. Talents like Adil Hussain, Rajendra Gupta, and Meiyang Chang are wasted. The one person worth going for is Gulshan Devaiah. His sincerity shows. He overcomes the poorly-sketched character in contrast to Janhvi. An actor with more depth could have pushed the cause. Here it is pulled. She simply does not (read cannot, if you may!) translate the fear, the trauma, or the conflict. Half-baked Suhana Bhatia both in preparation and in execution.

‘Ulajh’ is confused and is poorly planned, executed, and delivered.