Ulajh Review: Infernal Affairs Or Internal Affairs? Couldn't Differentiate

Ulajh Review: Sudhanshu Saria brings a new spy thriller to Bollywood—new because it belongs to a new sub-genre; otherwise, we have had several spy thrillers in Bollywood. Ulajh is Bollywood's first film based on foreign services, which makes it "new," but sadly, the formulas it uses are too "old." Let's see what those formulas are: scapegoat, rat in your own house, honey trap, and fugitive. It's been decades—I mean, too many decades—since old Hollywood made spy thrillers on the same, which later got glamorous with James Bond and so on. The recent classic and the best one has to be Infernal Affairs (2002), which was remade in Hollywood as The Departed (2006) and won 4 Oscars too. Ulajh could have been that (for India), and it seemed so, at least from the trailer. However, the final output is nowhere close to that classic, and moreover, we don't even get a decent film. That's so disappointing.

Since there can't be any spoilers, let me be brief. Suhana Bhatia (Janhvi Kapoor) is appointed as the deputy high commissioner of India in Britain at a young age, and many call it a power of nepotism. She meets Nakul (Gulshan Devaiah), and soon they get intimate, as both are lonely in this new country and in need of a partner—a friend, to be more precise. Suhana's just cuddling happiness, and it turns into a nightmare when she realizes that she has been used as a scapegoat and will soon lose her position, respect, and family. Will this scapegoat be able to eat the tiger? (as she says in the trailer).As mentioned earlier, Ulajh has many outdated formulas, and they don't have anything exciting to offer. Moreover, the film is immoderately slow and bores you with many cliches. India vs. Pakistan relations, peace treaty, friendly visit, ISI, R&AW, inside stool pigeon, betrayals, and heartbreaks—you get to see all these things, but don't tell me you haven't seen them before. Ulajh messes itself within many taboos that could have been broken, and the pacy screenplay could have saved it from disaster results, but it played too safe to be called a modern Spy thriller. The screenplay just does not hold you. The dialogues are weak, and the characters lack depth as well. Overall, whatever comes your way is either rotten or half-baked.

Janhvi Kapoor's accent bothers again, but this time it's more annoying because she is playing a high-ranking officer. Though too young, there could have been layers that the writer fails to add, and Janhvi herself attempts no such thing as "efforts." The looks and glam appeal don't help here since the character's demand was exactly opposite. Roshan Mathew suffers from low screen space but covers up a lot in the second half. Gulshan Devaiah seems to have enjoyed the satirical and sarcastic character here, but it's pretty hard to digest. Can't reveal much here, but the character graph isn't what you expect at those moments. Meiyang Chang and Jitendra Joshi have done well despite small roles, while Rajesh Tailang and Adil Hussain add their two bits of experience and talent to messy characters.

Being a spy thriller Ulajh should have stayed away from typical Bollywood glamour, songs, and melodrama, but it just can't be helped sometimes. The music comes and goes, only to add a few more minutes to your boredom. I'd like to watch Shaukan separately on YouTube (4K) and enjoy Janhvi's sexy moves and dresses, but I wouldn't really want such a song in a thriller movie. Ulajh also fails at editing because the grip to hold you for 130 minutes is not there. The cinematography and sound design were okay. The film has been shot overseas and looks lavish—all thanks to the good production design.

Sudhanshu Saria wanted to make Infernal Affairs but ended up making Internal Affairs," or, can I say, "Private Affairs." A female-led spy thriller about a patriotic officer can't get too personal. The audience would lose connect with the character, and it's a simple equation to understand—very well known to every film maker. Had it been more about the nation and suspense and less about private life, family, death-boring India-Pak conflicts, and too much drama, Ulajh would have been a decent flick. For now, all I can say is "Film Ulajh gayi."