Patna Shuklla Movie Review: Raveena Tandon Shines in This Contrived Legal Drama (LatestLY Exclusive)

Patna Shuklla Movie Review: How does it feel like when you watch a film with all the trappings of a good legal drama, has decent performances, and has a strong political conviction, only to squander it all in the last forty minutes? Disappointed? Frustrated? Hair-Splittingly Annoying? Well, I felt a mix of all that after watching Vivek Budakoti's Patna Shuklla (what's with the extra 'l' here?), produced by Arbaaz Khan and starring Raveena Tandon in the lead. Patna Shuklla OTT Release: Here's When and Where to Watch Raveena Tandon's Courtroom Drama Online

Patna Shuklla centres around Tanvi Shukla (Raveena Tandon). She is a lawyer in Patna district court trying to fight small cases, while her work as a homemaker gets more attention and appreciation from her loved ones. That changes when Rinki Kumari (Anuska Kaushik) approaches her with a legal matter. Rinki alleges that her third-year marksheet has been tampered with; she gets failing grades even though she is confident that she should have gotten first class. Rinki wants the university to recheck her papers, but the university only recounts them and gives her the same score.

Watch the Trailer of Patna Shuklla:

Tanvi takes up her case, which turns out to be the biggest gamble of her career. It puts her directly on the warpath of a devious politician, Raghubir Singh (Jatin Goswami), and a hotshot lawyer, Neelkanth Mishra (Chandal Roy Sanyal). Her new enemies are not only trying to tamper with her reputation, but also make life hell for her family members.

The first hour or so of Patna Shuklla is quite engrossing. We get this peek into Tanvi's dual worlds and how she tries to balance both. We see her being this loving mother who can stop a school bus on her scooter in the middle of the highway (and break a couple of traffic rules in doing so) so that she can give her son his tiffin box and get a kiss from him. We see her being this caring wife to her government employee Siddharth (Manav Vij), but not submissive enough to not call him out when he degrades her job in front of others. We see her try to win cases involving compromised underwear material, a case that could have fit well into Netflix's Mamla Legal Hai.

Expectedly, Patna Shuklla gets more interesting once Tanvi starts handling Rinki's case and begins her courtroom battle against Mishra. There is a very Jolly LLB vibe to the proceedings—an unfortunate case of films following a successful formula (most evident in the climax banter between the judge and the lawyer) without actually doing something different with the genre.

Still, it's not a flaw big enough to dampen the mood, but there are times when Patna Shuklla takes creative liberties with some of the courtroom arguments that are a bit too much to digest. Like, when Mishra asks Rinki to reveal who she voted for in the last elections. I am no expert on constitutional matters, but shouldn't Tanvi or even the judge strike that down as a violation of Rinki's privacy? I mean, there is a reason why we do not show who we vote for at the polling booth.

That was the early sign that Patna Shuklla was going to take some very contrived stances ahead. That is further clarified by the entry of Raghubir Singh, who gets dragged to the court by Tanvi.  In some unconvincing attempts to create more drama for Tanvi, the film makes me question her credibility as a lawyer, like whether she even bothers to understand who her opposition is or what they are capable of doing or if she tries to vet her own witnesses. Or, let's say, go for the most obvious argument in hand. If an accused claims he got first class on his own in the exams, the first thing I would do as a prosecutor would be to question his academic skills to score those marks. So, it is strange that Tanvi never brought out this ploy. Though, when I look back at the film after a certain plot development happens in the movie's third act, Tanvi's disregard amusingly makes sense, albeit, I am sure, not how the makers intended.

After going through typical but expected scenes of Raghubir using bureaucracy to harass Tanvi (but surprisingly sparing Rinki of his anger), it felt galling to see how Patna Shuklla gives Tanvi her closing salvo. There is a final act twist that may have sounded earth-shattering on paper - how it makes the protagonist re-evaluate her own reality - but what vexed me is how the film uses the plot twist in the final courtroom arguments. In any other scenario, that would have been enough for any judge to dispose of the case and file proceedings against the lawyer. Instead, we get a compromised closure for the protagonist because this is a movie where forced sentiments win in the end, not writing acumen. Perhaps even more vexing is how Patna Shuklla randomly justifies its title by making the media use it as an epithet to describe Tanvi. Why? I have no clue. Neither does she. Karmma Calling Review: Raveena Tandon and Namrata Sheth's 'Revenge' Drama is a Hollow Soap Opera Masquerading as a Thriller.

Regarding performances, Raveena Tandon is fine as the strong-willing protagonist who is willing to take on the insurmountable odds against her. She holds well on her own, even when the script lets her down, especially in the final portions. I also liked Manav Vij's restrained performance and the subtle transformation of his character from a husband who doesn't recognise when he is acting as an a-hole to his wife to someone who stands by her even when he becomes collateral damage to her legal battle. See, Patna Shuklla has some nice moments, so it is a major disappointment that it doesn't capitalise on those.

Patna Shuklla marks one of Satish Kaushik's final performances, and though the film puts him in the same mould of character as Jolly LLB's Sourabh Shukla, the late actor is likeable in the role. Anushka Kaushik leaves an impressive mark as the defiant Rinki. Chandan Roy Sanyal and Raghubir Singh are serviceable in their roles.

Final Thoughts on Patna Shuklla

Patna Shuklla had all the ingredients to be a worthy counterpart to Jolly LLB but squanders its potential with its lackadaisical writing around courtroom sequences and some melodramatic turns in the third act. Surprisingly, for a film that is supposed to be a legal drama, it is mostly the moments outside the court-kacheri where the film shines more. Patna Shuklla is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 29, 2024 12:04 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).