In 2013, writer-director Subhash Kapoor released part one of State vs. Jolly LLB — a film that delivers his criticisms of the legal system applied in India’s courts.

The satirical film was based on a true hit and run story of Sanjeeve Nanda. The movie was a box office hit.

Four years later, in February this year, Kapoor bring us the next installment in his exposure of the irregularities of the Indian legal system in his movie State vs Jolly LLB 2 starring Akshay Kumar.

The story of part two, like its prequel, revolves around a lawyer named Jagdishwar Mishra alias Jolly (Akshay Kumar) who works as a second-generation assistant for the most well-known lawyer in Lucknow, Rizvi Sahab.

Jolly’s father, Munish, worked for the company for 30 years, and his job was passed down to Jolly, who was often mocked by his colleagues for being relegated to menial jobs.

Jolly is a highly educated personal office butler for Rizvi Sahab while his father Munish always dreamed that Jolly would practice law.

Since both father and son hail from Kanpur, Jolly needs his own chamber to be able to practice, but in order to own one, he needs to come up with another 200,000 rupees. He has already made a down payment of 800,000 rupees.

Desperate for money, Jolly accepts a case offered to him by his friend, which relates to a poor old man who was pronounced dead by his family so they could own his land.

A judge doesn’t accept the case, as the old man’s documents prove that he was dead. But through a smart move, the old man is revived and given his personal documents by the judge.

A pregnant woman named Hina Sidiqqui (played by Sayani Gupta) approaches Jolly to take on her case. Her husband Iqbal Qasim (Manav Kaul) was deliberately accused of being a terrorist and shot to death by Inspector Suryaveer Singh (Kumud Mishra) so he could acquire a promotion.

Hina requests that Jolly convince his boss, Rizvi, to take on the case but Jolly, who is in badly need of more money, lies and tells her his boss has agreed to take on her case.

When he is finally inaugurated for the chamber, with his family and a few guests present, Hina, upon finding out that she has been duped by Jolly, scandalizes him in front of everyone.

Upset with the fraud, and thinking she will not get justice, Hina commits suicide.

Feeling very guilty about Hina’s death, Jolly meets his boss Rizvi at the office with his father to apologize for lying to Hina. Rizvi reprimands both father and son. Jolly’s father gets angry with him and disowns him out of shame.

Jolly goes home and decides to reopen the case of Igbal Qasim vs Inspector Suryaveer Singh. The latter hires one of the best lawyers in Lucknow named Pramod Mathur (played by Annu Kapoor).

With enough evidence from Jolly, Judge Sunderlal Tripathi (Saurabh Shukla) allows the case to be reopened.

In the process of acquiring more evidence, Jolly gets shot by goons and has to halt his investigations temporarily, forcing him to sell his chamber’s license at a low price and pays for more evidence.

He manages to find the son of a policeman, Ram Kumar Bhadouriya (Sushil Pandey), who was shot in the same place and on the same date as Iqbal.

Pramod appeals for a narcotics test for Ram Kumar, which is granted, but manages to have the test tampered with to prove Jolly is wrong. Judge Sunderlal revokes Jolly’s license to practice temporarily.

Jolly LLB 2 continues with Jolly’s witty defense and seeking of justice for Iqbal Qasim’s death and the reacquisition of his license. The last court scene is thrilling — as one wonders how Jolly will get the better of Pramod and his cunning ways.

In the sequel, director Subhash Kapoor excellently and subtly makes his critique of India’s legal system with a good mixture of drama and comedy.

Akshay Kumar gives full justice to the character acting as a henpecked husband at home, a bullied assistant in the office, then as a witty lawyer.

Casting Saurabh Shukla again as the judge was a good decision. He exquisitely fills the role, making the court scenes alive and realistic. Saurabh was awarded by the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in State vs. Jolly LLB.

Sayani Gupta’s performance is also impressive, even if he is only playing a minor role.

Some parts of the movie are unbelievable though, especially the part in which Jolly finds another witness in Pakistan, who was being guarded by the police but manages to slip him out of the country.

Another memorable moment is the scene in which Judge Sunderlal, expressing overt patience, sits down on the floor of the courtroom for hours with Pramod, who wants to protest.

It is Subhash Kapoor’s social messages, which make the film stand out. Many of his scenes send subtle social messages, such as advocating a wife’s right to play more than one role and criticism of the corruption within the police hierarchy and the judicial system.

Through the film, he reminds viewers of the importance of money and wit in a courtroom. The dialogue is also superbly witty.

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State Vs Jolly LLB 2

(Fox Studios, 137 minutes)

Directed by: Subhash Kapoor

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Huma Qureshi, Saurabh Shukla, Annu Kapoor, Manav Kaul, Kumud Mishra, Sayani Gupta

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