Satyameva Jayate 2

Come on, let’s not get into logic and all. This is mainstream Bollywood. Fine, let’s not. But can we, at the bare minimum, demand that there is the semblance of a story, that the jokes are not so crass, that the lines are not so risible, that the violence is not so gratuitous? Swords are twisted, humans are turned into colanders, orifices are torn open, and dialogue is delivered at ear-shattering volumes. The return of the vigilante is set in a maelstorm of loud religious iconography (there are mandirs and masjids and gurdwaras galore, god knows how they missed out churches) and high-pitched nationalism, which gives the film a free pass to create as many opportunities to wave the flag as possible.

Satyameva Jayate 2 is mind-bogglingly, excruciatingly loud, on-the-nose, screechy and melodramatic. For a film that clearly doesn’t want to even spell subtle, I won’t critique it on the finer aspects of filmmaking. No point wondering that when none of the characters have been shown suffering from a hearing impairment, why should everyone shout at the top of their voices? Who do they want to be heard by? The fellow actor, who is some inches away? Or the audience sitting in the same theatre and watching? I would like to to assure writer director Milap Zaveri that anything in the normal human decibel level is perfectly audible. There was no need to make people shout, rhyme, then echo to melodramatic lines. It only leaves us with a headache.