Satyameva Jayate 2 Movie Review: I never believed there would come a day where I would say this, but I am sorely missing Milap Milan Zaveri's first Satyameva Jayate movie. At least the first movie had Manoj  Bajpayee give one of his hammiest performances to date that raised unintended chuckles, and it had some semblance of a plot. The premise was something out of a Shankar movie - a vigilante who kills corrupt people and a cop out to catch him, but there was an excuse of a plot there. Satyameva Jayate 2 has, sigh, three John Abraham's competing with each other as to who can shout the loudest when it comes to shattering your eardrums. Ah damn you, Einstein and your Theory of Relativity! Satyameva Jayate Movie Review: John Abraham and Manoj Bajpayee's Thriller Ends Up Being an Unintentionally Hilarious No-Brainer.

The spectacled Satya Balram Aazad (John Abraham) is a Home Minister of Uttar Pradesh who is so bad at his job that not only can't he even curb the rising curbs in the state, but also neither can he convince his coalition party members nor his own wife (Divya Khosla Kumar) to support his anti-corruption bill. He has a twin brother in the shirtless Jay Balram Aazad (John Abraham II), an ACP whose brawns work more than his brains. Their late father, mustachioed Dadasaheb Balram Aazad (John Abraham III) used to a popular farmer's leader who once sought to table the Lokpal bill. The Vidhan sabha now adorns his bronze statue that enhances all the six glorious abs! Their mother (Gautami Kapoor) is in a coma for years, though we are pretty sure she is just waiting for that opportune moment to wake up when the masala is high. I didn't spoil it for you, the trailers have already done that.

There is also a supposedly fourth John Abraham who roams around in the night in hoodies, and kills the corrupt. Of course, he is one of the first two John's we meet, and the suspense as to who that could be gets revealed in the first half, if that even matters to you.

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There is hardly any doubt that Milap Zaveri is a huge fan of the pulpy movies that used to rule Bollywood in the past (and is slowly making a comeback again). Influences of films like Mr India, Deewar, Shahenshah and even Judwaa can be seen in SMJ2. His admirers call his movies an ode to the era of Manmohan Desai and Subhash Ghai. As someone who himself has grown up enjoying the cheesiness of those movies, I humbly disagree with that sentiment. If Satyameva Jayate 2 is an tribute to those films, I am scared to thinking what Zaveri's critique would be like!

Like Churuli that came out on SonyLIV last week, I really like to think of Satyameva Jayate 2 as a surreal, headscratching experience. Not of the mystifying kind of experience that Churuli was. But the one that attracts migraines and makes you tear your hair in frustration. Surreal, I say because the kind of screenplay that the film uses and the loud performances in it are beyond the realms of any reasoning. Where, and this applies to all movies in Milap Zaveri universe, every characters like to go pun-ny, and spout all kinds of terrible rhymes, as if they are competing for the last ranking in a slam poetry. This is cringe multiplied to the most infinite power.

To be fair to writer-director Milap Milan Zaveri, Satyameva Jayate 2 is a very 'balanced' film. It allows glorious moments for Hindu, Muslim and Sikh sentiments to revel in (if the other religions feel left out, we say lucky you!). The movie takes indirect potshots at nearly every party, be it in the present one or in the past ones, or the one attempting to go beyond the Delhi borders. It tries to tackle every burning issue that rules our headlines from corruption to farmers' concerns to sexual assaults to medical malpractices, but with the utmost sensitivity of a sledgehammer. Or rather, John's unworldly sinewy arms. Satyameva Jayate 2 Song Jann Gann Mann: John Abraham Brings You the Patriotic Anthem of the Year! (Watch Video).

Satyameva Jayate 2 tries to balance itself on all the boats that it doesn't care that all the boats are sinking in the water, in case of SMJ2, the water being lack of logic and common sense. The first half tries to attempt to have a plot even if it is merely a rehash of the plot of the first movie. The second half, after a very tiring flashback sequence, gives all hands up and just loses itself into all the silliness, the loudness and the hamminess of whatever is being conjured up here.

Even the performances are effing terrible, matching the mediocrity on the screen. John Abraham is a very genial star, but it is by now a foregone conclusion that he is not a very competent actor. Asking him to do three multiple roles in a single film, where the only difference between the faces is the props given (specs or moustache) to cover up the commonality of a singular lack of expression, is way too much. In Malayalam, there is a saying "thumbiye kondu kallu edupikkuka". That comes to my mind when I see poor John breaking all the veins on his face in trying to essay these three characters.

The rest of the cast was wasted in poorly written parts and loud acting, including the very graceful Gautami Kapoor. I though Divya's character would matter a bit to the plot, while wife to the Home Minister John, she also belongs to his opposition party. Alas, like the terrible remixes her music company brings out nearly every week, it matters nix!

Yay!

- Nora Fatehi's Belly Dancing is a Marvel on its Own!

Nay!

- This entire movie is a Nay! Satyavachan!

Final Thoughts

Satyameva Jayate 2 is a terrible, terrible film that feels an assault not just to your thinking and auditory senses, but to even that conscious heart that cares for the problems plaguing this country. The way it tries to tackle the social issues reeks of extreme irresponsibility, but then Satyameva Jayate 2 exists to eke out cheap applause from the frontbenchers (in case that doesn't happen, the movie includes its own cheers and claps for John). Forget global warming or asteroid strike, the bigger disaster would be the makers announcing the threequel to this movie! And going by everything wrong happening around you, I am pretty sure that will happen very soon!

Rating:1.0

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 25, 2021 01:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).