In the 1993 film Damini, Sunny Deol played a fiery lawyer, who was immortalised with the lines: “Yeh dhai kilo ka haath jab kisi pe padta hai na, to aadmi uth ta nahin uth jaata hai,” and “Tareekh pe tareekh milti rahi hai lekin insaaf nahin mila.”
In the new Netflix film, Ikka, the star making his OTT debut plays a lawyer again, so a tribute is paid to the “dhai kilo ka haath,” though the “tareekh pe tareekh” doesn’t apply because his case is fast tracked. Deol plays Arjun Mehra, nicknamed Ikka (Ace), because he always pulls out a trump card in the end, and never loses a case. He is also reputed for always defending the innocent.
Three decades have converted the scruffy lawyer to a stylish one, who strides in slow motion and wears sun glasses in the dark. He is forced to defend an obnoxious rich brat, Shauryaman (Akshaye Khanna—whose face has frozen in Rehman Dakait mode), who is accused of murdering a young woman he picked up in a night club. Predictably, he is the son of an industrialist-politician (Shishir Sharma), and of course, elections are round the corner! Shauryaman’s main alibi is his wife (Sanjeeda Sheikh), whose testimony would not be admissable in court. It looks like a slam dunk, till Ikka enters the fray, in spite of intense criticism from all quarters, particularly the victim’s (Akansha Ranjan Kapoor) grieving mother (Jyoti Mukerji).
The two men have a bitter history. Arjun had gotten Shauryaman disbarred from legal practice and married his ex-girlfriend (Dia Mirza). However much he despises the man, he has to take the case for a personal reason. Standing against him as prosecutor is a relatively inexperienced Madhura (Tillotama Shome—so intimidated by the star power on display that she overacts madly).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unf8x_aZg9Y
They play a game of oneupmanship in court, much to the exasperation on the judge (Vijay Vikram Singh). The fireworks in court are so exciting, that the melodrama running parallel just slows down the film. Directed by Siddharth P. Malhotra from a script by Althea Kaushal and Mayank Tewari, Ikka draws inspiration from dozens of other courtroom movies, including the classic Witness For The Prosecution.
The old-fashioned, high-stakes drama is entertaining, though a glitch in logic–keeping modern technology in mind– creeps in. Like the case hinging on the location of Shauryaman’s car, when there are CCTV cameras all over the city; even if he skipped the toll plaza that is on the way from North to South Mumbai, the police ought to have been able to track it and check the alibi of the accused.
Sunny Deol is at his angry man best, thumping tables and giving death stares to those who displease him. In keeping with the current social mood, he refuses to drag the victim’s character into the case, and berates anyone who does. He makes Ikka worth a watch.
Ikka
Directed by Siddharth Malhotra
Cast: Sunny Deol, Akshay Khanna, Tillotama Shome and others.
On Netflix
