A spy thriller, Ulajh focuses on the glorious achievements of a IFS lady officer who is entangled in a crafted conspiracy that could end up finishing her career, her father’s elevation to the topmost foreign diplomat and a face-saving embarrassment for India.
Going by the past films produced by Junglee Pictures, they had produced the flawless spy thriller Raazi and the crime thriller Talwar, while their highly anticipated their new film Ulajh falls below expectations with several loose ends, flaws and the illogical super-smartness of an Indian IFS officer over foreign ambassadors and bureaucrats.
In her first posting out of India to Nepal, Suhana Bhatia (Janhvi Kapoor), the grand daughter of a patriot and daughter of a very senior bureaucrat Dhanraj Bhatia (Adil Hussain) is successful in blackmailing the ambassador of that country. While back in India, Suhana is too focused in her career that she isn’t interested in reviving her friendship with her ex-boyfriend. Then she is immediately posted as the Deputy High Commissioner in the UK.
Just in three months after her appointment as the second most important post in the Indian High Commission in the United Kingdom, this sharp, focussed professional errs in romanticising with a no-one in one of the embassy’s party and has a one night out with him (Gulshan Devaiah). This is difficult to understand that she is now portrayed as a dumb woman. So are several other action moments in the latter part where she is supported by the most unexpected person Sebin Josephkutty (Roshan Mathew) in the UK embassy who is the prime suspect of Indian Intelligence and RAW officers for the a string of very important leakages from the Indian Embassy.
The subject of Ulajh has so many twisted plots that could have been made into a slick thriller, but is wasted by a mention about nepotism, unfair treatment towards women in power at a workplace and the pivotal character’s amateurish diplomacy in handling inter-country conflicts.
Could anyone imagine Pakistani PM to skip his own country’s Independence Day celebrations to attend India’s Independence Day (that is just a day ahead)?
The story line has so many missing loose ends that it makes our RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) and our Intelligence officials look so stupid and incompetent.
Gulshan Devaiah is surprisingly brilliant at Nakul Bhatia the blackmailer who keeps on increasing his demands from our Deputy High Commissioner to trade the country’s secrets and vital information. Other bright performances come up by Roshan Mathew as Kutty (the officer in Indian embassy in UK).
– Paresh B. Mehta
Cast of Ulajh –
Janhvi Kapoor as Suhana Bhatia
Adil Hussain as Dhanraj Bhatia (Suhana’s father)
Roshan Mathew as Sebin Josephkutty
Gulshan Devaiah as Nakul/ Humayun
Meiyang Chang as Jacob Tamang
Rajesh Tailang as Salim Sayeed (Embassy driver)
Rajendra Gupta as Manohar Rawal
Jitendra Joshi as Prakash Kamat
Arun Mallik as Khurana Indian Ambassador in the UK
Rushad Rana as Pakistan PM Shahzad Alam
Vivek Madan as Pakistan Defence Minister
Credits of Ulajh-
Production company – Junglee Pictures
Directed by Sudhanshu Saria
Written by Parveez Shaikh, Sudhanshu Saria
Dialogues by Atika Chohan
Produced by Vineet Jain
Cinematography by Shreya Dev Dube
Edited by Nitin Baid
Music by Shashwat Sachdev