Patna Shuklla Movie Review: An uninventive courtroom drama

Patna Shuklla, starring Raveena Tandon in the lead role, is a courtroom drama with very little novelty. Raveena plays Tanvi Shukla, an attorney from Patna who practises law in the district court. She is often taunted by people and told that her place belongs in the kitchen, even by the judge Mr. Jha, played by the late Satish Kaushik. She takes up bizarre cases and helps her rather unimportant clients get justice. At home, she is a loving wife and mother, introduced as someone who takes care of her household duties alone, with her husband not taking her job as seriously. Then, she comes across an important case that would change her life as she takes it upon herself to get justice for a girl, Rinki Kumari (Anushka Kaushik), who feels that she wrongly failed in her final year exams. All of this sounds like “the” character graph of any other courtroom drama. It is an arc similar to Arshad Warsi’s Jolly LLB (2013) and it seldom deflects from the run-of-the-mill narrative. The judges in Patna Shuklla and Jolly LLB are almost identical, and even the back-and-forth between the lawyers and judges in both films are similar. The concluding judgement given by Jha in Patna Shuklla, where he slams the defending lawyer, reminded me of the powerful exchange between judge Saurabh Shukla and lawyer Boman Irani in the 2013 film. It is identical, yet not as powerful and part of it is due to the film’s unwillingness to look further than pre-established templates.

Director: Vivek Budakoti

Cast: Raveena Tandon, Satish Kaushik, Manav Vij, Anushka Kaushik, Jatin Goswami, Raju Kher and Chandan Roy Sanyal

Streamer: Disney+ Hotstar

There is a certain light-heartedness that is spread throughout its runtime with moments of calculated comic relief; however, it feels more methodical than authentic. For instance, Judge Jha is given a trait where he seeks balance in everything. He refuses to pick up a laddoo from a box just because it would ruin the pattern of three it is set to. He argues with his wife at the vegetable market when she orders a vendor to take 750 grams of a vegetable and he wants either 500 grams or 1 kilo. Further, he comes to the courtroom some minutes earlier so that he could set things in his own way at the desk. His obsession with balance becomes caricatured and doesn’t find much reflection either in the plot or his journey through the film. The writers, while giving an interesting twist to the character, fail to take it to the next level, and it often becomes repetitive.

There are some other inventive moments that the writers find along the course, such as the developing relationship between Tanvi and her son, for instance. At one point, he draws a picture of an ant holding an elephant and has a rather magical explanation when Tanvi asks him about the possibility of it. The drawn picture reflects her ongoing fight against powerful politicians and other malicious people from the university that supposedly messed up the exam results. There is another scene where Tanvi’s husband, played by Manav Vij, invites his friends and their wives for dinner. Tanvi’s cooking skills are brought up again, and when she tells the guests that she is also a lawyer, there is a sudden shift in the behaviour of the wives. The dynamics between a housewife and working woman who handles household chores are only hinted at here and not explored as much as one would like. The scene could have had hard-hitting reflections if it was observed more closely.

In the presence of the subservient writing then, the performances have to do the heavy lifting. Raveena Tandon plays Tanvi with an innocent appeal, pulling away her complex emotions when the need arises. She has a pleasing presence on-screen, as also discussed by two male lawyers in the film who feel that she lightens up the courtroom. Satish Kaushik is lovable as he finds the truth of his character with ease and so does Manav Vij, who brings in a sensitive gaze to the husband who grows to respect his wife’s profession. Anushka Kaushik shows a promising sign of the good performer she is even when the writing doesn’t do her much justice.

There are some things to like in Patna Shuklla but not many to love. By traveling in safe and known terrains, the film falls into similar emotions and scenarios while aiming to talk about the exam scam. A timely twist towards the end turns things upside down but by then it's too late. Right now, it just remains a rehash of the bits shredded away from light-hearted courtroom dramas made over the years.