Janhvi Kapoor-headliner Ulajh is an espionage-thriller from the house of Junglee Pictures, the banner behind the seminal Raazi (2018). Helmed by National Award-winning director Sudhanshu Saria (for the short Knock Knock Knock), the film boasts an eclectic ensemble of actors like Gulshan Devaiah, Roshan Mathew, Rajesh Tailang, Meiyang Chang and Adil Hussain, among others. Owing to a competent team, Ulajh opens with some promise. Like any self-respecting spy film, we begin in a foreign location. We meet Janhvi’s Suhana Bhatia, a young IFS officer, as she runs uphill in Nepal’s Kathmandu. A tracking shot which feels like a homage to the title sequence of The Silence of the Lambs. Like Clarice Starling, Suhana too is a woman trying to push in a word in a male-dominated world. There it was the FBI, here it is the foreign diplomacy. But the parallels, sadly end here. This story isn’t as internal as it tries to be. A pacy plot is bubbling to be served.Suhana gets appointed as India’s Deputy High Commissioner at the London embassy. A young recruit for such a plush job. There are murmurs of nepotism as she comes from a diplomat family. Her grandfather was the country’s first UN representative, her father, Dhanraj Bhatia (Adil Hussain), is also a revered diplomat. “What does she have besides her surname?” whinges Roshan Mathew’s Sebin, Suhana’s subordinate at the embassy, behind her back. The meta-commentary, trying to inculcate criticisms against Janhvi Kapoor the actor into Suhana’s character, feels too spelt out, too indulgent. It seems like the character is merely a tool to flip Janhvi’s on-screen image, which has been stuck in meek, submissive roles (Roohi, Mili, Bawaal, Mr. & Mrs. Mahi). “This lamb will gobble up the whole lion,” she says at a crucial point as if it’s a mic-drop line. The effect, is mostly lukewarm.Ulajh comfortably saunters during its set-up. It gets the style, the sombre mood of a spy-drama. The sparse interiors, dimly lit with yellow lights, the grey London skies, all add up to create a bleak environment. The cinematography (by Shreya Dev Dube) is impressive and captures the steely coldness of an espionage thriller. But it’s all surface-level since the storytelling doesn’t hold up. It’s more mood than meaning.
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