The State vs. Jolly LL.B 2, known also as Jolly LL.B 2, is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language black comedy film which is the second film of the Jolly LLB franchise. It was produced by Fox Star Studios. The story, screenplay and dialogue were written by Subhash Kapoor, who also directed the film. It follows a lawyer who fights a case against a ruthless and powerful advocate. The film stars Akshay Kumar and Annu Kapoor. The supporting cast included Saurabh Shukla, who reprised his role from the first film as the courtroom judge, and Huma Qureshi as Jolly's wife. It opened worldwide on 10 February 2017. Made on an investment of, Jolly LLB 2 earned worldwide. A third installment of the franchise has been planned, with Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi and Shukla in lead roles.
Plot
Jagdishwar "Jolly" Mishra is a Lucknow based lawyer, who stays with his wife Pushpa and son. Despite being a lawyer, he works as a menial assistant to one of the most famous lawyers of Lucknow, Mr. Rizvi, where his father had worked as an assistant for 30 years. He is street smart and dreams of his own law practice. To arrange money for his own chamber, Jolly lies to a widow, Hina Qasim, telling her that Mr. Rizvi will take her case and that the fee is 200,000 rupees. When Hina finds out that she has been bluffed by Jolly, she commits suicide. Jolly soon discovers that Hina's husband Iqbal Qasim was killed in a fake encounter on the very next day of their marriage by Inspector Suryaveer Singh, showing him as Mohammed Iqbal Quadri, a terrorist. Singh also shot at a fellow constable, Bhadouria in order to show the encounter as genuine, who died later due to complications. Filled with guilt, Jolly decides to fight Hina's case & files a PIL. Singh then hires Lucknow's best lawyer Sachin Kantilal Pramod Mathur to fight his case. After reprimanding Jolly for his mistakes in filing the PIL and no credible evidence, Judge Sunderlal Tripathi gives a date for hearing and warns Jolly to collect some evidence before the hearing. Jolly is able to get a copy of the FIR and other papers regarding the case with the help of a bookie, Guru Ji, in Varanasi by paying him a substantial amount. Later he is able to track Ram Kumar Bhadauria, the son of the constable who died in the fake encounter. This backfires as Advocate Mathur, uses his power and money to tamper with the narco test video of the witness. Though the Judge orders disciplinary action against Jolly for showing allegedly dishonest evidence, The Chairman of the Discipline Committee, Mr. Rizvi gives Jolly 4 days of time to prove himself correct, as he also feels guilty for not fighting the case himself. Jolly travels to Kashmir and gets confirmation of the truth from Fahim Butt, a constable who visited Lucknow to identify the terrorist during Iqbal Qasim and Hina's wedding. Fahim, now suspended and arrested in a fake case, reveals that the person who died in the encounter was not the real terrorist and that he also filed a complaint against Singh. Jolly flees with Fahim to Lucknow. Meanwhile, Jolly coaxes the police commissioner V.K Paul to tell the truthor else he will file a PIL against all the encounters done by him. Advocate Mathur, tries his best to avoid Fahim from giving statement in the court as he stops proceeding in the courtroom by sitting on the floor in protest. The judge also sits on the floor, refusing to be swayed by Mathur's tactics. At midnight, the Judge ignores his plea and decides to carry on the proceedings. After Fahim's statement, Jolly with the help of police commissioner presents Quadri, who fakes his identity as a BrahminPandit. After the initial reluctance by the Judge, Jolly rapidly fires questions to Iqbal by asking him details of the Shastras. Iqbal finally admits that he is the terrorist and had bribed Inspector Singh to set him free. The judge then declares Iqbal Qasim innocent and orders the arrest of the terrorist and gives life imprisonment to Suryaveer Singh along with his accomplices on charges of murder, erasing evidence, misleading the court and showing false evidences and Jolly wins the case
Cast
Akshay Kumar as Advocate Jagdishwar "Jolly" Mishra
Huma Qureshi as Pushpa Mishra, Jolly' s wife
Saurabh Shukla as Judge Sunderlal Tripathi
Annu Kapoor as Advocate Sachin Kantilal Pramod Kumar Mathur
The film was announced in July 2016, where the lead actor Akshay Kumar had revealed his first look for the film. It was reported that Arshad Warsi, who played the lead role in the previous instalment, was replaced by Kumar. Actress Huma Qureshi was signed as the female lead, pairing opposite Kumar. Annu Kapoor was signed as the antagonist of the film pitted against Kumar.
Development
of the film began in Mumbai. The major parts of the film were shot in Lucknow in a one-month schedule. It was further reported that the first schedule was completed in September 2016. The second schedule was shot in Varanasi in later September 2016. A stunt sequence was shot in Ganga river, where Kumar refused to use a stunt double. The final schedule of the film was shot in Manali, Himachal Pradesh in October 2016. Kumar shot his scenes in a time span of 30 days. A promotional song was shot in Mumbai in December 2016.
Criticism
Depiction of Indian judicial system
The film's title and depiction of the Indian legal system created a controversy. Advocate Ajaykumar Waghmare filed a case at the Bombay High Court for removal of the word LLB and stated that the use of the word is a "deliberate attempt" to insult the Indian legal system. The Bombay High Court appointed a 3-member committee to examine the content of the film. The Supreme Court of India also appointed a 3-member panel, consisting of Chief Justice J. S. Khehar and Justices N. V. Ramana and D. Y. Chandrachud, to review the film.
Lawsuit from Bata
The film's trailer had shown a derogate reference to Bata Shoes, a shoe brand. The firm Kocchar & Co, on behalf of Bata India, had issued a legal notice to the filmmakers for the comment and filed a lawsuit of. The CBFC had edited out the reference to the brand with respect to the filed lawsuit.
The film was released on 10 February 2017, prior to the release of the film, the CBFC had passed the film without any cuts.
Soundtrack
The music for the film is composed by Manj Musik, Meet Bros, Vishal Khurana and Chirantan Bhatt while the lyrics have been written by Shabbir Ahmed, Junaid Wasi, Manj Musik and Raftaar. The song "Jolly Good Fellow" incorporates lyrics from the English folk song "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow". The full movie soundtrack was released on 13 January 2017 and it consists of four songs which includes one Qawaali song too. The music rights are acquired by T-Series.
Box office
Domestic
The film opened with a domestic collection of 132.0 million becoming Akshay Kumar's eighth highest opener and second highest of the year following Raees. The film shown growth in next two days collecting 17.31 crores and 19.95 crores on second and third day of release respectively and took its first domestic weekend collection to a total of 504.6 million. It became second highest first weekend collecting Bollywood film of the year after Raees. Its cumulative collection in next four days evaluated to 26.25 crores and with that, the film scored first domestic week of 777.1 million. After Raees, Jolly LLB 2 is second highest domestic first week collecting film of 2017. As of 2 March, the film has collected 1172.4 million domestically And It Declared As Superhit By BOI.
