I sympathize with the “Nepo-kids” of Indian cinema. Honestly, the more I’ve watched the performances of the sons and daughters of superstars and producers of yesteryears, the more my initial irritation and intolerance have matured into understanding. Now, as I grow older and perhaps wiser, I find myself feeling a deep sympathy for them. Put yourself in their shoes: if you were a child growing up in a household that lived and breathed cinema, smothered by affluence from the moment you opened your eyes, constantly surrounded by people telling you that you have your mother’s looks or your father’s chiseled profile—it would be inevitable that you will aspire to an actor, and nothing else. Unless you were Gautama Buddha, who, as we remember, left his family at the height of power and glory, you would start to believe you were destined for cinema, and the world awaited your grand entry. After all, the usual barriers that vet talent never existed for you. You didn’t have to knock on producers’ doors or work hard at screen tests, and most importantly, no one in the industry would ever have the gumption to tell you to your face that you were no good and should try something else with your life. With so much scaffolding, kindness, and protection, what else would you become but an “actor”?
My problem with “Ulajh” is not with the theme or even the attempt at a theme. International relations and foreign diplomatic intrigues are subjects capable of spinning an unending tapestry of plots and screenplays. Hollywood has exhausted this genre, yet they still manage to create something interesting now and then. Spy thrillers need good actors, a taut script, and a sharp screenplay—all of which are rare in commercial Bollywood. The premise of “Ulagh” is simple enough. Suhana Bhatia, played by Jahnvi Kapoor, the daughter of an acclaimed and respected diplomat, is part of the Indian Foreign Service—the elite cadre of the Indian Administrative Service. The plot begins in Kathmandu, where young Suhana rubs shoulders with seasoned diplomats and makes a few smart comments to salvage a politically tricky situation. The next thing we know, she is posted as the Deputy High Commissioner of India in London. We are quickly introduced to an array of characters, including Suhana’s driver, Saleem (played by Rajesh Tailang), who, in the short ride from the airport to her apartment, offers to bring biryani cooked by his wife. How many diplomats strike such a warm conversation with their drivers on arrival? It feels unrealistic.
Things start getting murky pretty quickly. As Suhana goes about her business, she is attracted to a young, debonair Michelin-starred chef who literally sweeps her off her feet in a single meeting, leading to an immediate romance. Not long after, the story devolves into a potpourri of blackmail, sniper shootings, and assassination plots. Sebin Kutty (played by Roshan Mathew), a young Malayali RAW agent working in the embassy, initially distrusts Suhana but later ends up working with her to unravel the thickening plot. The tête-à-tête between Suhana and Sebin during critical moments of the drama was hard to relate to. Even more bewildering was their sudden transition to India, where they end up on a terrace with candies in hand, spying on someone. It took me a moment to orient myself to this abrupt shift. The second half of the movie is predictable, drab, and uninspiring. By the time the credits rolled, whatever points the film had gained were lost, and I was left feeling utterly exhausted.
The only saving grace for me was Gulshan Devaiah’s performance. Until now, I’ve seen Gulshan in positive roles, and I’ve admired his ability to get into the skin of his characters effortlessly. His performance as a police inspector in a village in Rajasthan in “Dahaad,” the miniseries on Amazon, was a masterclass in acting. Watching him in “Ulajh” in a negative role was refreshing—for both him and the audience. In every scene he appears in, the dramatic quality of the movie improves significantly, and even Janhvi shines when she shares the screen with him. Unfortunately, Jahnvi is still in the shadow of being Sridevi’s daughter and has yet to establish herself as a serious actor. She is one of the few “Nepo-kids” who has potential, but what she lacks is consistency and intensity. She is good in bursts. For someone who studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in California, I expect more realism in her performances. Lee Strasberg was at the vanguard of the “Method” school of acting—a philosophy of performance that arose in the 1930s and was evangelized by Konstantin Stanislavski, the Russian actor and dramatist, and his followers. Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, and Natalie Portman are all products of this technique. Janhvi shows glimpses of her “method” training in a few emotionally charged scenes, but that level of intensity quickly dissipates, leaving behind many pedestrian sequences that lack substance.
I particularly liked Jahnvi’s performance in “Mili,” a movie in which the camera focused on her most of the time, allowing her to carve out a nuanced portrayal of a girl trapped in a refrigerator room with no way out. That movie should have been a turning point in her career, but since then, she has been sucked into average Bollywood fare that doesn’t give her the scope to expand and deepen her skills.
It will be a challenge for Jahnvi to cast away her image as Sridevi’s daughter. Some striking physical resemblances cannot be overcome—her eyes and her smile remind us of her mercurial mother, who set the screens ablaze for decades. It’s also true that her father is one of the top producers in the country, and she will likely never be out of work. However, whether she can break out of this mold and establish herself as an actor in her own right remains to be seen. Looking at her upcoming projects, it seems they are all commercial films in which she is just an adornment to the hero, with little for her to gain from an acting standpoint.
I spoke to a few friends who told me they liked “Ulajh.” Sure, it is a decent movie with a different storyline. But for me, the movie didn’t make the cut. There were several red flags—technically, in the screenplay, and the acting—that lead me to rate it as a failed attempt at a promising theme.