Ulajh
U/A: Thriller, drama
Dir: Sudhanshu Saria
Cast: Janhvi Kapoor, Gulshan Devaiah
Rating: *1/2

I know, delusion can equal patriotism, sometimes. Especially, with movies, for what else are films, if not fantasies, first. That said, the sheer delulu around a dapperly-dressed, foreign ministry bureaucrat, carefully selecting snazzy #ootd—strutting around in her fancy apartment and office, like some US Vice President type from Veep, as TV channels go high-decibel berserk, breaking news of her getting anointed India’s youngest deputy high commissioner to Britain—should warn you enough about all that’s to follow in this pretentious nonsense. 

Curated in the garb of an international espionage thriller! Said diplomat is a woman (Janhvi Kapoor). There’s considerable workplace resentment around that. Roshan Mathew plays the main sulking colleague—given raw deal, as RAW agent. I don’t know whether Roshan is only offered such parts of a pointlessly annoying, angry young man, as in this film. Or he picks them, consciously. Consider his recent, overrated, wannabe art-house, Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise (2023), where he similarly, simply groans his way through!