The ending of Ulajh, now streaming on Netflix, offers the possibility of a sequel where Janhvi Kapoor could return as a trained spy and fighter, and Roshan Mathew could have a much larger role as an intelligence officer on a mission.
Gulshan Devaiah, Roshan Mathew and Janhvi Kapoor in Ulajh, which released on Netflix on September 27.
This is a fantastic time for movie franchises and multi-film universes. The ending of ‘Ulajh’—starring Janhvi Kapoor, Gulshan Devaiah, Roshan Mathew, Adil Hussain, Meiyang Chang, Rajesh Tailang, Rajendra Gupta, Jitendra Joshi and Sakshi Tanwar—indicates that this Hindi feature from director Sudhanshu Saria (‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’) could be going in that direction.
Janhvi Kapoor and Meiyang Chang in Ulajh, streaming on Netflix.
Here’s a quick recap of the 124-minute film: Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Officer Suhana Bhatia (Janhvi Kapoor) gets a plum posting in the UK. Back home, her IFS father (Adil Hussain) is also picked for a prestigious position in the UN. As it turns out, it’s all a trap to save a corrupt politician.
While in London, Suhana falls into the honey trap that’s laid out for her—it’s the kind of honey trap we’ve often encountered in pulpy spy novels and film, albeit with one difference: in those novels the intelligence officer is usually male and a femme fatale sets the honey trap. These roles are reversed here, with Gulshan Devaiah’s Nakul/Humayun/David playing the eye candy and seducer.
Suhana teams up with RAW agent Sebin Joseph (Roshan Mathew) to work their way out of a potential international incident. But it’s far from smooth-sailing and Suhana takes quite a few punches—literally—as she and Sebin avert disaster. Before it’s all over, though, Suhana has worked up the courage to kill the bad buy.
The cast of Ulajh includes (from left) Rajesh Tailang, Gulshan Devaiah, Meiyang Chang, Janhvi Kapoor, Sachin Khedekar and Roshan Mathew.
Seeing this progression, at the very end of the film, Sakshi Tanwar offers Suhana a chance to join the “Black Cats”. As Suhana leaves the room in a daze, she runs into Sebin who whispers to her that black cats aren’t all bad. Is that a cue for a sequel where Suhana and Sebin really do solve international crimes and safeguard India’s interests as Black Cats?
Why Ulajh 2 could be fun
Janhvi Kapoor has been on a roll this year. After acting opposite Rajkummar Rao in ‘Mr & Mrs Mahi’, she’s acted in ‘Ulajh’ with a great ensemble of actors including Malayalam movie star Roshan Mathew, TV favourite Sakshi Tanwar as well as Rajesh Tailang (‘Mirzapur’). Janhvi Kapoor’s latest theatrical release ‘Devara’, opposite Jr NTR, is also her south film debut.
But coming back to Ulajh: The plot is unapologetically pulpy and unoriginal, and that can be a point in the film’s favour. There is a whole genre of outlandish but fun Hollywood thrillers with heroes and heroines rising to the occasion. This trend is picking up in India again, with slow-burn spy films like last year’s Khufiya, Berlin and now Ulajh scratching that itch for low-involvement but entertaining content that you can watch and forget until the next instalment.
Second point in favour of a sequel to the film: There’s no denying that Kapoor looks great as Suhana. She embodies the anxieties and abilities of Suhana’s high-achieving Indian woman, and looks every bit the part of diplomat-turned-desperate fighter. Indeed, there are entire scenes where the emotive charge hangs almost entirely on her expressions. Her wide-eyed fear and consternation reminded this reviewer of Sridevi in ‘Gumrah’, though that was a very different picture and a very different context. It will be interesting to see how Janhvi Kapoor embodies the role of a trained spy and fighter, if she is indeed cast as a Black Cat in a sequel. To be sure, Bollywood has yet to produce a woman fighter whom Indian audiences have truly loved (there are, of course, women cops in movies like ‘Mardaani’ and ‘Singham Again’, Nayanthara in ‘Jawan’ and Taapsee Pannu in ‘Naam Shabana’ came close; looking at spy films, while Alia Bhatt-starrer ‘Raazi’ didn’t quite present a woman fighter, the lead character had to have exceptional courage). Perhaps Kapoor could crack that formula with her patriotic girl-next-door act.
Point 3: This is hardly Roshan Mathew’s first rodeo in Bollywood (we saw him in ‘Choked’ and then in ‘Darlings’). He has established himself as a bankable pan-Indian actor. In ‘Ulajh’, he has a minor presence in the first half. Perhaps he could lead more strongly in a sequel?
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