Jolly LLB 2 row: 7 eyebrow-raising courtroom scenes that escaped censorship

The Bombay high court’s decision of deleting four scenes from Akshay Kumar’s Jolly LLB 2 has come as a shocker. More so, because the film has been cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) without a single cut. This also raises questions about the very existence of the CBFC.  

The bench passed the judgement after a committee appointed to look into the film suggested four cuts in the film. These are — ‘objectionable’ signalling and dialogues inside a court, judge hiding under his table, a scene where a shoe is hurled and a dialogue during an argument. 

One doesn't have to be a close observer of mainstream Hindi films to realise that such sequences have not faced cuts in any film before Jolly LLB 2. In fact, we have witnessed scenes that have been more melodramatic or even, unusual inside courtrooms.

Here are 7 such scenes that make us wonder where Jolly LLB 2 went wrong:

Dewaangee (2002)

The advocate who filed a petition against Jolly LLB said that the film is “a deliberate attempt to malign the judiciary.” Well, here Ajay Devgn’s character tells the lawyer, “Just because you have a belt around your neck, you are barking like a dog.” Now translate that in Hindi and see its impact double.

Damini (1993)

When you think of court scenes in Hindi films, the first name that comes to mind is Sunny Deol’s ‘Taareekh Pe Taarekh’ scene from Damini. But there is much more to the scene than the iconic term. The actor also goes onto say how the law system as a whole has completely failed to give justice to the masses. 

There is yet another scene in Damini where Sunny Deol’s character labels the opposition lawyer (Amrish Puri) ‘Kanoon ke dalaal'. But that’s not all. The antagonist declares him, ‘Do kaudi ke vakeel'. This was 24 years ago when we as a society had open minds. Whoever said we've become modern in our thinking now?  

Jolly LLB (2013)

The first film from the Jolly LLB franchise too had moments that were ignored by those offended by the upcoming Jolly LLB 2. During the climax, Arshad Warsi’s character uses the abuse ‘ghanta’ while describing the law system. In an earlier scene, the judge, played by Saurabh Shukla, requests the lawyer (Boman Irani) to help him buy a house even after the court proceedings begin.

Oh My God (2012)

In Umesh Shukla’s satirical drama, a religious head tries physically assaulting an ‘infidel’ played by Paresh Rawal. But neither religious heads nor legal professionals said ‘oh my god.’

Rustom (2016)

This is yet another Akshay Kumar film in the list which was his last release. It falls in the see-it-to-believe-it category. A witness asks the judge, 'How would you feel if you find out that your wife is sleeping with this lawyer?' Looks like the advocate who is upset with the promos of Jolly LLB 2 missed this one completely.

Govinda 

This is one of Govinda’s unknown films that released when his career graph was going downhill. The actor, as a witness, discusses underwear and its nada (waist rope) with the judge. He even asks the lawyer whether he is wearing an underwear. We guess there was hidden intellectualism in this scene which normal citizens like us aren’t qualified enough to understand. 

We rest our case.