Film: UT69
Cast: Raj Kundra, Kumar Saurabh, Gaurav Mishra, Anand Alkunte, Errol Rodrigues, Mahesh Ghag, Sadanand Patil, Ganesh Deokar, Vinod Suryavanshi, Mahadev Jadhavmore...
Director: Shahnawaz Ali
Writer: Vikram Bhatti, Raj Kundra
Rating: 3.5 Moons
The story goes that when businessman Raj Kundra told his wife, that gorgeous Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, that he wanted to make a biographical film on his two months spent as an under trial in Arthur Road Jail, she flung a slipper at him! Raj, fans of Shilpa will not forget, was arrested for allegedly making pornographic films and publishing them on mobile applications. He spent 63 days in jail between July and September 2021 before he was released on bail. And it is a satirical look into his experiences as an under trial that Raj put into a script. Finally, he got director Shahnawaz Ali to give Shilpa a narration. Which made the actress realise that the story was “human”. If here is one emotion that properly describes this biographical, it is “human”. Raj has gone about sharing his experiences humorously and wisely.
The 1 hour and 57 minutes UT69, while not delving into the charges under the IPC, the Indecent Representation of Women (Prevention) Act and the Information Technology Act that landed Raj in Arthur Road Jail, does give the viewer an amusing and entertaining peep at what it must be like to be incarcerated at Mumbai’s notorious jail. Bollywood has only romanticized life behind the jail’s walls as seen through the eyes of the jailor or a condemned man on death row, both of whom are the hero. It is unusual for somebody with a Bollywood background who’s been there and done that to come forward and say, “It’s true, this is what happens.” Raj Kumar Hirani did do a little bit of that in his 2018 biographical and comedy-drama Sanju, but there was so much more to the life of Sanjay Dutt that his imprisonment passed quickly in the film.
Although Raj makes light of real life moments behind bars, like the time when a Shilpa Shetty film was being shown in the jail and the prisoners oblivious to his presence discussed how “hot” the actress was, the truth is these incidents must have rankled him but also taught him the power of self-control, mindfulness and dissociation. It shows in the rather poignant performance he delivers in what is his Bollywood debut (also his swansong, perhaps) highlighting life in jail that he quietly kept a diary of. Later on, the British-Indian businessman was to laugh at his efforts to show how the system works. But there is no hiding the truth about how seriously overcrowded and corrupt everything is inside the jail and how an under trial’s experiences can traumatize him for life.
A high five is definitely deserved for Raj’s compelling performance. His acting really takes the audience through the 63 days of incarceration in which the writer-actor skillfully mixes his deep, dark feelings with funny moments that keep the viewer hooked onto UT69. The narrative is quite gripping and thought-provoking, and the supporting cast have each done such wonderful work – that they might as well have been real prisoners in Arthur Road Jail sharing their bed, bathroom and breakfast with Raj. UT69 is really as fine an example of a black comedy as can be possible. But Raj has managed to show the power of resilience and how beauty can be found in all of life’s downs too as in the ups. He tells his story honestly, making you feel happy and sad for him at the same time, all the while taking the viewer into his joy and struggles behind the high walls. UT69 is, as Shilpa Shetty said, a very human film.
