When the first Julie came out in 2004 with Neha Dhupia in the lead, yours truly was under no obligation to suffer through it. But sadly there is no escaping this time. A job hazard which amounts to 132 minutes of pure excruciating pain must be endured.
It’s the type of film where the heroine wakes up in the morning, stretches suggestively, looks directly into the camera and says, “I am the best.”
Later, when an armed robbery takes place and the culprits are at large, our very own CID officer Abhijeet catches them all within 40 secs of swashbuckling swag. He then goes on to hit one of them and follows it up with a crackling line, "ye dhai kilo ka haath nahi dhai foot ka haath hai.” Also this is the type of film with lyrics like, "Chennai rasam and tandoor garam!”
Ouch!
Raai Laxmi plays the eponymous, Julie, moaning and pouting her way to disaster. Julie has an abusive childhood and is pushed to fend for herself at a young age.
She dreams of being an actress and the journey is anything but easy. Exploited and blackmailed multiple times, it is hard to keep up with her many shenanigans, given the way we lose our way in the crazy labyrinth of a screenplay.
At one point she gets herself baptized and embraces Jesus. Next, she is shooting for a film based on the story of a social worker who looks totally like her — It’s a coincidence, we are nonchalantly told!
Then, we find her gyrating to raunchy item songs in skimpy clothes. Sometimes, she says her talent will sustain her and at other times she readily agrees to "compromise" and use her physical charm to lure producers.
While the first half is relatively song-less, post interval our patience runs out, as characters are introduced and pulled out without rhyme or reason by writer-director Deepak Shivdasani.
Julie’s closest confidante, Annie aunty, is played by Rati Agnihotri with a perpetually perplexed expression, as if she herself can’t fathom why she ever agreed to be a part of this project. The same goes for the likes of Ravi Kisan, Nishikant Kamat, and the super-talented Pankaj Tripathi. What a terrible waste of resources and time!
Our beloved ex-CBFC Chief Mr Nihalani received the credit for "presenting " this adult sanskaari film to us . Where are the Censor Board's scissors when one needs them the most? For causing so much anguish to unsuspecting janta with this preposterously dim-witted film, someone must be held accountable.
0.5 out of 5 Quints!
Video editor: Abhishek Ranjan
Video Producer: Abhishek Ranjan
Script and performance: Stutee Ghosh
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