Legal minds are forever seeking precedent, yet this Punjabi indie may stand as the first socially conscious courtroom drama to open with an image of two men noisily voiding their bowels into a ditch. It’s a left-field set-up, to say the least: in the hunt for something with which to clean up, one of these lowly squatting souls uncovers the body of a woman apparently slain in an honour killing by her brother, the son of a prominent politician. From there, the situation develops quickly. The politico bribes police to frame the deceased’s partner; isolated defecation gives way to a broader constitutional mess. Soon enough, everyone’s got dirty hands.
Within these initial movements, there are surely the makings of a Grisham-like potboiler and, as early viewers have detected, the beginnings of a wry comment on Narendra Modi’s India. Such robes, however, cloak a Capra-esque slacker comedy; some career-minded screenwriter from the west might tidy it up to enable another Adam Sandler vehicle. Our hero Judge (Ravinder Grewal) – and yes, that’s his given name – is only passing as a legal eagle in order to impress the family of his bride to be. Naturally, he has the misfortune to initiate this pretence as the case comes to trial. He winds up having to defend the patsy against the machinations of the state.
This is wildly implausible – so implausible, in fact, that writer-director Atharv Baluja doesn’t bother to explain how the case gets assigned to this rookie. Corner-cutting prevails: its handheld camerawork and occasional continuity blips suggest a production shot on the hoof during recesses in real-life chambers. Matters get especially frenetic around the intermission, as Judge’s deception is exposed, and you wonder if Baluja can pull it back. Elsewhere, however, the film proceeds with enthusiasm and spirit: it’s the kind of scrappy underdog production that wins us over early and – even through its muddle-headed stretches – keeps giving us reasons to cheer for it.
That’s partly thanks to the actors, who are skilfully cast and easy to watch. Gently nerdy Grewal builds a genuinely sweet relationship with BN Sharma as Judge’s father and landlord. The pride they take in one another’s achievements – even after we learn that dad has been borrowing his son’s underpants – is touching. And Sardar Sohi’s wily turn as state prosecutor TS Brar – whose pre-trial routine includes combing three strands of hair across an otherwise gleaming bonce in the Homer Simpson style – proves very effective in demonstrating the merciless attack dog our dreamy hero must either become, or overcome, if there is to be anything like a fair trial.
Baluja’s film still verges on the pipsqueak, as naive in its belief that virtue will win out as any movie starring Jimmy Stewart as a plainspoken public servant. Yet the stakes are certainly raised, not least when Brar – and this really is a precedent – urinates into our hero’s fridge. And one clever development involving mobile toilets suggests what might be achieved should the right resources be placed in conscientious hands: an end to all this public excretion, if nothing else. Time will tell whether the Judge’s rousing summation – delivered in a gleaming white turban – helps restore a measure of justice within India. As entertainment, however, Judge Singh LLB overrules most of one’s objections.
