- Date of Release: 19 September 2025
- Genre: Comedy, Drama
- Language: Hindi
- Watch On: Theatres Only
Jolly LLB 3
Introduction
There was a scene in the Hindi film Andaz Apna Apna (1994) wherein the character of Amar states ‘Pehle Se Hi Ek Museebat Thi, Raveena Kaun….Karishma Kaun…Usme Yeh Nayi Museebat…Uncle Kaun’ (there already was a confusion between Raveena and Karishma, now there is a new problem – who is the real uncle). The new Hindi film Jolly LLB 3 uses the exact same theme with respect to the identity of Jolly (another film after Housefull 5 that uses the name here). In an early scene, you witness Jolly aka Jagadishwar Mishra (Akshay Kumar) fighting a fradulent case of gender identification for his client. And by the time the actual Jolly aka Jagadish Tyagi (Arshad Warsi) assigned to this case arrives at the courtroom, the bail is done and the verdict is sealed, much to the dismay of the latter. It is clear in this scene that the underlying theme of the film is Jolly Vs Jolly, something that was evident with the marketing campaign of the film too. On paper, it was a fascinating idea to bring the 2 Jollys together for the third installment of a franchise that has been successful in amalgamating comedy with relevant social issues pertaining to the cases picked up by these middle-class protagonists. But unfortunately, the results here aren’t always promising in a drama that utilizes the theme just for gimmicky effects.
Story & Screenplay
Written by Subhash Kapoor, the broader theme of Jolly LLB 3 is an Us Vs Them narrative that has been building our society for a while now. If the game of one-upmanship between the 2 Jollys was a clear indication of the same, the chief conflict from a social stand-point borrows its concept from a real-life 2011 case of Bhatta Paursal – something that deals with the illegal handover of the farmer’s lands to a wealthy industrialist. It is an Us versus Them narrative right here, pitting the farmers against a wealthy industrialist Khaitaan (Gajraj Rao) who lives on the principle of capitalism. As a part of its cold open, you witness a farmer committing suicide that immediately pulls you into the narrative. But there is a fundamental flaw in the narrative structure, this time around.
The twin outings in the Jolly LLB franchise are essentially known for the social issues that were presented as thrillers, making them powerful building blocks in the narrative. If in the first part, the case revolved around a hit and a run incident, the second part dealt with the death of an individual based on an encounter. Both these cases automatically had layers in the narrative given how each isolated incident had a grey matter tagged to it. It almost created a doubt in the minds of the viewers with regards to the incident, even as the layered arguments from both stakeholders would keep you hooked.
However, this isn’t true for the third installment given the binary gaze in play here. Right from the introduction of the capitalist, you just know that he is the antagonist, there are no sympathies or doubts that are created in order to create a clout around it. The same is true even in his opening argument on how ‘industrialists’ aren’t given enough credit for building a nation. It is a very specific issue with the structure that doesn’t allow the narrative to seep into the grey matter, while also giving the face of the antagonist to highlight the issue.
On the brighter side of the narrative, the game of one-upmanship between the two Jollys, lands beautifully. There are plenty of laugh out loud moments in the first hour, even as you see Jagadishwar Mishra go in a full-blown Akshay Kumar mode, while pulling the hair of a secondary character during his argument with Jagadish Tyagi. The central conflict lies in the identity of the real Jolly – a perfect meta-reference given how each Jolly has had a solo film of his own. In an alternate universe, this drama could have been named ‘Jaani Dushman’ but then I digress (you see what I did there?😀).
This game of one-upmanship also extends to their clients – while the opening act was with respect to Jagadishwar stealing a client from Jagadish, the reverse is true also – given how the latter begins to redirect the poorer clients towards the former. The common ground for the two protagonists remains to have a financial security for their individual families. If at all, this remains a tennis match of sorts with the tennis ball being equated to poor clients. The same holds true for Janki (Seema Biswas) who is often ‘referred’ to the other Jolly, until Jagadish takes up her case with respect to her husband (who was a farmer), committing suicide. And this marks another occasion of the two Jollys being pitted against each other – this time in a court of law, a theme that ultimately is less explored while being used as a gimmick.
The central theme of the film ought to have pitted the two Jollys in a courtroom all along, as opposed to giving them a chance to team up, as early as the interval block. What that did was, create an imbalance between the two characters – with one Jolly having to make way for the other. The same is true in a series of inexplicable events that highlight the politics of the drama on the surface level, while taking some valuable screen time away from one of the Jollys. It is a specific way of diluting the drama that needed the fizz to keep it going! Imagine drinking a cold beer without a fizz, and how bland that would taste!
I also need to be critical towards the inconsistent tone of the drama, which wasn’t so much of a problem in the first two films of the franchise, but a major one here. This has got to be one of the most ridiculous interval blocks that I have ever seen in a film this year, wherein an F1 racing track is hijacked by camel on wheels. It was tonally off and something that instantly broke the momentum of the narrative. That is not all – even the affable character of Sundar Lal Tripathi (Saurabh Shukla) is reduced to a caricature, only faintly bringing his righteousness to the fore in one scene wherein he speaks about his ‘biasness’ towards the protagonists. His love-angle with a police officer (Shilpa Shukla) was utterly unnecessary, while deflecting the focus of the narrative that ought to have been a fierce courtroom drama.
The issue of the binary gaze comes back to haunt the narrative in the final leg of the film. There is only a brief passage in play wherein the arguments presented by Vikram (Ram Kapoor), only to be later challenged by Jagadishwar, makes for an applause-worthy moment. But ideally, I wanted more of it – more of the arguments and counter-arguments, and less of the drama outside the court (and how convenient was the investigation too, something that magically appeared as opposed to the characters unraveling it). But when that didn’t happen, I felt cheated given how the premise itself was promising, but the payoff was bleak and dismissive!
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues score particularly in smaller moments of comedy, like for an instance wherein Jagadishwar quips about a ‘paratha’ to his wife. The politics essayed through the lines isn’t bad either but because the lines are demarcated between right and wrong, and more pronounced in this case – it dilutes the overall impact of the drama. The music and the BGM is a letdown too, doing nothing really to elevate the impact of the drama or enhance the emotional core of the characters. But the sound design does its part well, particularly towards the end when you see the character of Janki howling with tears in a courtroom. The cinematography comprises of frames that are adequate, wherein the thinking remains to keep things simple without quite employing different techniques – something that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The editing pattern is a sloppy, a trait that is particularly felt in a one-dimensional and convenient second hour that doesn’t always allow the drama to be cohersive. And because the drama is choppy, the inconsistent tonalities stick out all the more. Director Subhash Kapoor does a decent job here with respect to the staging of the drama, but his characterization remains utterly one-dimensional. There is a convenience in the staging, almost surrendering to the massy broader strokes in the narrative as opposed to a nuanced take that was a driving force in the first two films. Yes, the comedy does land here but the case in general doesn’t, thereby limiting his directorial outing to just being decent.
Performances
The performances are pretty good by the members of the cast although most characters here remain one-dimensional. The likes of Sushil Pandey as Bhardwaj, Vinod Suryavanshi, Sarah Hashmi, Brijendra Kala, Robin Das, Shilpa Shukla, Avijit Dutt, Sukumar Tudu as DSP Madan and even Shrikant Yadav as Srivastava are essentially reduced to the background, and if you have watched the previous two films of this franchise, then you do know how important all of such characters are to add texture and elevate the impact of the drama. Ram Kapoor as Vikram is excellent and shines despite a limited screen time, and despite the fact that his character was served a single face-off moment with Jolly.
I liked the creative decision of continuing with the two female leads from the previous films, a rare trait in otherwise money spin-offs that retain their male counterparts while replacing the female ones with younger actors. But both Amrita Rao as Sandhya and Huma Qureshi as Pushpa have nothing to do in the narrative, so much so that both these characters seem to be integrated as an after-thought. What that does is make them secondary characters with no relevance in the narrative.
Gajraj Rao as the egoistic Khaitaan is intimidating but there are no layers to his character. It is a simple one-dimensional character with shades of grey that never rises above the written material. The same criticism is for Seema Biswas as Janki who is good but the written material doesn’t always allow her emotional core to blossom (the finale being a rarity). Saurabh Shukla is such a terrific actor and despite him being served a caricaturish version of Sundar Lal Tripathi, he still manages to find some sincerity in between. As per me, his character was anyway affable and did not additionally need a love-angle gimmick to make it work. But having said that, I couldn’t fault his performance here which was still good.
Arshad Warsi as Jolly aka Jagadish Mishra is pretty solid here, although he is hard done by a character that remains inferior to the other Jolly as far as the screen time is concerned. That does make Arshad’s character a cardboard cutout of sorts that always is inferior despite a token finish at the end. Akshay Kumar as Jolly (his 2nd character in the same here) aka Jagadishwar Mishra is outstanding once again, particularly in scenes of comedy. There is something about his seamless comic timing that always clicks in a comedy setup, even with his extempore antics that will invariably put a smile on your face. And to be fair, Akshay scores in dramatic moments too, nailing that one scene at the end and to a rapturous applause all over. Sadly, I expected more such moments that would have sealed the fate of this drama for the better.
Conclusion
Jolly LLB 3 is a middling courtroom drama in a film that remains the weakest of this franchise yet. To be fair, the events are watchable, but it misses the highs and the moments of brilliance that were synonymous with its earlier films of the franchise, making the drama a swing and a miss! Available in a theatre near you.
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