BOTTOM LINE
Smart Twists and Performances Prop Up This Courtroom Saga
PLATFORM
Netflix
RUNTIME
2 Hours 20 Mins
What Is the Show About?
Shauryaman Gaur, the son of an influential politician, is accused of assaulting a woman and leaving her stranded in the streets. A high-profile lawyer, Arjun Mehra, who has a rough past with Gaur, is asked to fight the case on his behalf. He initially rejects the proposal but is later forced to accept it. A rookie advocate, Madhura, stands up against her idol in this sensational case.
Performances
Sunny Deol and Tillotama Shome deliver credible performances among the leads. The former genuinely surprises you with his restraint in the need of the hour and enjoys going ballistic occasionally. He appears composed and unperturbed within the courtroom and transforms effortlessly into a man consumed by guilt back home. Tillotama is as assured as ever with a confident portrayal of a rookie lawyer.
Akshaye Khanna is alright, but his performance lacks the required punch. He has been a regular at playing an entitled man with questionable intent many a time, and there is an undeniable pattern that has set in his recent roles. Dia Mirza is not given a chance to do much; the same holds true for Sanjeeda Sheikh. Daria Bedi, the child actor cast as Sunny Deol and Dia Mirza’s on-screen daughter, is impressive.
Analysis
Nothing matches the joy of a gritty, at times hammy, courtroom drama done right, especially with a bunch of actors who know well how to alter the pitch of their performances as per the film’s rhythm. Ikka is a smart fusion of old-school melodrama and contemporary treatment. It has standard storytelling beats associated with the genre, but every time you think you have cracked it, it offers something new.
Ikka refuses to be a simple good versus evil drama. Two men- a star lawyer, Arjun Mehra, and Shauryaman Gaur, a spoilt kid of an influential politician- who are at loggerheads with each other personally and professionally, are forced to come together for an attempted murder case. An underdog lawyer, Madhura Banerjee, serves as the public prosecutor.
An emergency in Arjun’s life puts him in direct conflict with his ideals and forces him to stand up for Shauryaman, the obviously crooked man one would love to hate. Arjun is a powerful advocate and a vulnerable family man at once, and the film constantly reflects how his conscience consumes him during the case. The idea of a conflicted man fighting for a red-flag of a client paves the way for good drama.
Thanks to the casting, instead of rooting for an underdog victory, you are more curious about the possibility of an accused going scot-free. This is not for morality reasons but for how Arjun responds to the challenges thrown at him, even as the odds and the evidence are against Shauryaman. Arjun keeps asking himself why he is doing this at all and at what cost. The drama is not afraid of exploring these dilemmas.
The troubled past between Arjun and Shauryaman is the film’s itchy spot. There is a woman between the two and a child battling a terminal disease, factors that put a man of tall standards like Arjun to the test. Through the film, all those standards fall apart. You realise he is a simple, ordinary family man who finds a ray of hope to save a loved one and goes all out chasing it.
There are witnesses turning hostile, misleading the case, and lawyers lured with money. Everything about the case appears so straightforward and obvious, but the screenplay is twisted, peeling various layers of the incident. At one end, you want a life saved and also justice served, but can only pick one side. What would you go for? The unconventional climax arrives at a satisfying resolution.
The last 40 minutes are among Ikka’s high-flying portions. Be it Gauri Gaur’s delayed confessions (wife of Shauryaman) or the verbal and psychological duels between Arjun and Madhura, every character attempts to outsmart the other. At no point does Ikka undermine the trauma of the victim’s family. It just places its key characters in constant catch-22 situations that help you remain invested in the story.
For all the good it does, Ikka could still have been a tighter film, especially in the initial half-an-hour and the way it sets up the foundation for the courtroom drama. As a character, you wish Shauryaman had more layers than simply being labelled an entitled prick. Also, Madhura does not manage to be the fierce opponent that Arjun really needed; there could have been a greater scope for her to prove her acumen.
At some level, the male gaze within the story is there for everyone to see. Barring Madhura, the women at most levels- the wives, children, and the assault victim- need to rely on the men for justice, emphasising them as protectors. The battles in and out of the courtroom are largely fought among the men. It is a film headlined by Sunny Deol and Akshaye Khanna; we get it, but things could still have been better.
Ikka starts like a deceptively simple courtroom tale, but the good old-school drama and a neat screenplay, packed with smart twists without resorting to exaggeration, does the job.
Music and Other Departments?
The background score by Julius Packiam does enough to sustain the tension and the anxiety in the narrative, not trying to dictate the emotions to a viewer and going about its job neatly. Jishnu Bhattacharjee’s cinematography is sharp and precise, delivering on the basics and using its visual atmosphere effectively to drive the story forward. The screenplay loses its momentum at times, prolonging an emotion beyond necessity and having a tendency to over-explain its ideas. A compact runtime would have also helped.
Highlights?
Good performances by Sunny Deol and Tillotama Shome
Interesting premise, climax
Out-of-the-box ending
Drawbacks?
Loses its momentum at times; drama doesn’t always soar.
Lacks precision in storytelling
Needed stronger characters
Did I Enjoy It?
For a major part of it, yes. It’s quite watchable with a share of boring stretches.
Will You Recommend It?
If you enjoy old-school courtroom dramas with decent performances, you may give it a try.
Ikka Netflix Movie Reviewed by M9 News
