UT69 Movie Review: Raj Kundra's Prison Saga is a Self-Pitying Vanity Experiment (LatestLY Exclusive)

UT69 Movie Review: I'm not sure what to make of a film like UT69. Is it an experiment, a vanity project, or a testament to the audacity of thinking people would care about its central theme? Perhaps it's a movie that was only conceived because the lead actor believed his memoirs from prison wouldn't be as captivating as a book. Raj Kundra's acting debut is a unique creation solely for its existence, and that remains its only distinctive feature. Even Sanjay Dutt had to enlist Ranbir Kapoor to depict his prison experience, but Raj Kundra insists, "No one can tell my story but me," yet ensures the viewer still knows very little about him. UT69: Raj Kundra Gets Emotional As He Talks About His Life Inside the Jail in His Upcoming Biopic; Says, 'I Can’t Explain the Pain'.

A film that comes to mind, where real-life individuals portray themselves in their own stories, is Clint Eastwood's The 15:17 to Paris, which featured real-life heroes. However, UT-69 doesn't revolve around heroics; it's about a popular celebrity's brief prison stint due to his involvement in a porn racket and his experience as an under-trial inmate. Raj Kundra may believe his time in prison warrants a movie, but the million-dollar question is, do we need to witness it?

For those unfamiliar with his story, Raj Kundra was arrested in July 2021 on charges related to a pornography racket. He was accused of investing in the softcore streaming platform called Hotshots. The British-Indian businessman and husband of actress Shilpa Shetty spent a couple of months in Arthur Road Jail before being granted bail in September. UT69 (short for 'under-trial 69,' his prisoner ID) focuses solely on his experiences in jail, the breakdowns he faced, and the bonds he formed with fellow inmates while his bail requests were rejected.

Watch the Trailer of UT69:

UT69 is entirely presented from Raj Kundra's perspective. His real-life spouse appears only in voice cameos and glimpses from her songs and TV shows. The film offers some light-hearted commentary on prison life and the odd experiences he faces there, and even a touch of surrealism when Raj hallucinates conversations with his lawyer. However, Raj Kundra's 'unique' experience, which he wishes to share with the world, comes across as privileged person's sudden realisation of the harshness of prison life, wanting to convey this to the world. It might have been effective if Bollywood hadn't already explored the grittiness of prison life and inmates' hardships in (mostly better) films and series such as Jail, 3 Deewarein, "Qaidi Band, Sanju, Criminal Justice, and Scoop. And that's just a handful of many more such content. The movie doesn't even get its commentary right. In one scene, Raj blames over-population for the overstuffed prison barracks, but at no point, questions the languid working of the justice system that allows undertrials to languish in jails for years till they are charged guilty or get acquitted.

Nevertheless, despite having nothing new to share or break new grounds, UT69 could have succeeded had I felt any empathy for the protagonist and if it helped us learn more on him. Raj Kundra assumes the audience believes in his innocence going in the film, but apart from passing remarks, there's very less explanation for why he's in jail or whether he deserves to be there. It's challenging to sympathise with his plight when his guilt or innocence remains uncertain, and he's still shielded by privilege within the prison, while other inmates endure harsher treatment. In fact, I felt more empathy for a supporting character who ended up in prison due to self-defense. At least I know he's innocent enough to not deserve to be there.

There was an opportunity for UT69 to be a self-aware satire that it occasionally teases to be, but instead it wallows into a self-pitying exercise where Raj Kundra feels bad for himself, but leaves the viewer ignorant of what they should feel about him. So despite the 'quirkiness' of the film, UT69 becomes much of a drag, and when Raj Kundra finally gets bail and celebrates, I also celebrated for the relief that the film is over. Only for the film to go meta and troll me by adding five more minutes. UT69: Raj Kundra and His wife Shilpa Shetty Offer Prayers at Siddhivinayak Temple Ahead Of The Film's Release.

Surprisingly, Raj Kundra isn't a bad actor, even if his accent occasionally resembles Ranbir Kapoor's. There are moments, like the scene after his first phone conversation with Shilpa Shetty, where his performance surprised the hell out of me, and it continued to grow on me after that. The actors portraying the prison inmates and cops also deliver decent performances.

Final Thoughts

UT69 is a strange vanity experiment made unique more by its existence than its substance. While Raj Kundra's performance is noteworthy at times, the film struggles to evoke empathy for him when it leaves the viewer with unanswered questions about his guilt or innocence. Furthermore, UT-69 treads familiar grounds in portraying the challenges of prison life, bringing nothing extraordinary to a well-explored genre that has seen better films. Quite the 'Slow'shank Redemption, this one!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 03, 2023 10:45 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).