The legal duel that had been promised in Jolly LLB 3 between the two popular Jollys, Arshad Warsi as Jagdish Tyagi and Akshay Kumar as Jagdishwar Mishra was to be a duel of equals. But the rumors surrounding the manufacturing process and the observations involved with the final film have caused a significant, yet unproven, controversy. Word in the industry now is starting to become a hue-and-cry among the obsessive fanbase of Arshad Warsi and, supposedly, even among those nearer to him: that his part has been drastically reduced, and that important heroism scenes have been handed to Akshay Kumar, so that he can become the unquestioned star of the movie. The alleged reason? To be able to take over a spotlight of the original lead in the franchise.
Heroism of Rise and Fall of Jolly Tyagi.
Jolly LLB 3 focuses on the plot of a land grabbing and the case of critical farmer suicides, which causes the protagonist lawyers to unite against a strong industrialist, Haribhai Khaitan. Although the story needed both characters to begin at opposite poles, and ultimately come together, the division of the big moments has been greatly criticized.
The action scenes and the climax of the movie have the most outrageous accusations. One key scene, where the villain pays off the corrupt forces, who then invade the village to threaten the farmers was reportedly the first of the major, rough-cut fight scenes directed at the village, performed by Arshad Warsi, playing the role of Jolly Tyagi.
The Fight Scene Rewrite
There was, according to an unconfirmed source within the original script development, a massive raw fight, in which Jolly Tyagi, the streetwise and desperate real-life fighter is pitted against a current of goons armed with sheer street savvy and desperation. It is his time to prove that, although he may not be a polished person like Jolly Mishra, he is the one with the fire.
But it is the last cut, hence the allegations made by the alleged makers of the allegations, which is another story. In the outrageous on-screen edition that has brought about this furor, a role is played by Arshad Warsi, Jolly Tyagi, who gets thumped by the henchmen of the villain and is left critically wounded.
The pivot of the storyboarding script was reportedly the one that presented to Akshay Kumar the following heroic scene. It is said that Akshay Kumar played a character, Jagdishwar Mishra, who subsequently rescued the villagers who were being attacked. It is then revealed that Mishra is the person who is left running behind the lead villain in an exciting chase scene. This abrupt reversal, critics believe, immediately placed Jolly Mishra as the more powerful action-hero saviour, and Jolly Tyagi in an undignified position of wounded side-lines.
The Courtroom Conundrum
The courtroom which has been the actual battlefield of the Jolly LLB franchise also seems to have favored too much the star power of Akshay Kumar. Although the first part of the case recalls a fine measure of back and forth between the two attorneys- which the fans were jumping over- the last, most notable aspects of the court argument have apparently been handed over to Akshay Kumar.
When the case comes to its nail-biting climax and the two Jollys are finally united, it is said that all the climactic, dramatic hearings and the final, forceful argument that acquits the farmers was made by the character of Akshay Kumar.
The whole plot development of Jolly Tyagi, in which he initiated the case and endured so much, ought to have been topped off by a joint victory speech or at least the character uttering the final, definitive legal blow, says one of the leading film reviewers on social media who has been following the saga. The shift that we saw was a definite one. It was as though Jolly Tyagi was the set up man and Jolly Mishra was the one who had put the ball into the net and the final goal was his.
This so-called pruning down of the last act of Warsi, on which the power of a lawyer depends in words, has fanned the flame. The Jolly Tyagi fans are cheated because they think that the character was denied the last moment of glory in the box-office politics. What was once a feeling of a two-star car in which either of the stars eventually outshone the other has now become the elephant in the courtroom.
Star Power vs. Substance
Jolly LLB franchise started in 2013 with Arshad Warsi, a smaller movie that is a hit on its crude sincerity and stinging script. The latter section witnessed the replacement of Akshay Kumar: a move that brought with it the big-star appeal and box-office clout, a point that Arshad Warsi himself has admitted in previous instances was a purely business move.
The news of the release of the parts of Jolly LLB 3 with both actors was destined to be a success strike on both fronts, the first one being the natural acting of Warsi and the second one being the mass appeal of Kumar. The existing allegations imply that the screen time and the key heroic moments eventually became the internal struggle that the star power won.
There has been no official response by either Arshad Warsi or Akshay Kumar to these particular script or scene-cutting accusations. The director of the film, Subhas Kapoor who has been applauded in balancing the two characters is yet to comment on the supposed changes to the original screenplay especially the dramatic re-write of the action sequence.
To the average movie goer the very essence of Jolly LLB 3 was the two opposite-pole lawyers on the screen. When the grumbles of a trainable piece are truth, when it must be that one Jolly has had to be physically benched and silenced in the denouement so that the other can have the last bow, it is grape-sour. Now comes the question; did the movie makers compromise the integrity of the original character, Jolly, Tyagi, to make Jolly Mishra a superstar? The box office figures may be soaring but to the fans of Arshad Warsi, the verdict regarding fairness of the film is yet to be passed. This is because, it appears that the spotlight can only focus on one star at a time.
