Review: Court – State vs. A Nobody

‘Court: State vs A Nobody’, is the latest film from Nani’s production company ‘Wall Poster Cinema’, which has established goodwill among the audience with the ‘Hit’ franchise films & Awe!. The trailer and Nani’s confidence during the promotions created a good buzz around the film. With immense confidence in the movie, the makers screened premieres two days before the actual release date both in India and overseas. Did ‘Court: State vs A Nobody’ meet the expectations? Did the film end up becoming a well-made court drama? Did the production company, Wall Poster Cinema’ continue its success streak? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

Chandrashekar (Harsh Roshan), a 19-year-old boy from a poor family and Jabilli (Sridevi Appala), a 17-year-old girl from a rich family fall in love with each other. What happens when Sridevi’s head of the family, Mangapathi (Sivaji) get to know about Chandrashekar & Jabilli’s love? What challenges do Chandrashekar and Sridevi face? How did young talented lawyer, Surya Teja (Priyadarshi) argue and fight Chandrashekar’s case in court? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Harsh Roshan in the role of Chandrashekar, delivered a very confident and effortless performance. His dialogue delivery deserves a special mention. He is certain to get many roles in the coming days. Sridevi Appala as Jabilli performed well. She’s delivered a very mature during the emotional sequences.

The show stealer of the film is Shivaji. In the role of Mangapathi, a caste and class fanatic, he delivered a very good performance apart from a sequence or two where he went a bit overboard. The way portrayed ruthlessness and at the same time generated fun is a treat to watch. Priyadarshi in the role of Surya Teja delivered an honest performance. His subtle act during the court proceedings in the second half worked out well. A bit more care would have been taken in his dialogue delivery though.

Saikumar in the role of senior advocate and the boss to Priyadarshi made his presence felt. His performance in the sequence where he instils Priyadarshi’s confidence is very good. Harshavardhan in the role of Damu went overboard, especially in the first half. In an attempt to showcase ruthlessness, he appeared forced. Rohini, Surabhi Prabhavathi & Subhalekha Sudhakar appeared in crucial roles and made their presence felt with mature performances.

Technicalities:

Vijay Bulganin’s background score is adequate. The background appeared a bit loud at times though. Karthika Srinivas’ editing should have been better, especially in the first half. Dinesh Purushothaman’s cinematography is adequate. His camera work captured the scenic beauty of Vishakapattanam in a song is good.

The director, Ram Jagadeesh made an honest and good debut. A bit more effort in writing and screenplay by him and his screenplay team would have made the film even more gripping. Let’s discuss more about the director’s work in the analysis section. Kudos to Nani for backing such a thought-provoking film.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠Second Half
2.⁠ ⁠Pre-Interval Sequence
3.⁠ ⁠‘Truth’ Disclosing Sequence During Pre-Climax
4.⁠ ⁠Sivaji Performance
5.⁠ ⁠Harsh Roshan & Sridevi Appala’s Chemistry
6.⁠ ⁠Thought Provoking Dialogues
7.⁠ ⁠Priyadarshi’s Subtle Performance

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Slow Pace In The First Half
2.⁠ ⁠Not So Convincing Performance By Harsha Vardhan
3.⁠ ⁠Editing
4.⁠ ⁠Convenient Screenplay

Analysis:

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO for short) was passed by the government of India in 2012 with the noble intention of protecting children from any kind of sexual harassment. The punishments under the act include lifetime imprisonment or the death penalty for the accused depending upon the sections filed. Although the government passed the bill with noble intentions, there is an increase in false cases being filed across the country by misusing the act. Many people dealing with marital disputes or land disputes or simply to take revenge on a person are misusing the POCSO Act and filing false cases against innocent people.

Court: State vs A Nobody, deals with one such false case. The director of the film, Ram Jagadeesh, took a sensitive topic and succeeded largely in making an engaging film. Court proceedings right from pre-interval to climax worked in the favour of the film. There were at least four to five very well-executed sequences in the second half that drew very good applause from the audience in the theatre. Especially, the way the writer and the director conceived and executed the court sequence involving the girl and boy talking about the actual ‘truth’ that happened in a closed room, deserves special appreciation. Also, a sequence involving Saikumar and Priyadarshi in the second half where Saikumar explains the importance of lawyers staying away from making instant decisions, worked out well.

The screenplay and editing in the first half would have been tighter though. When a director decides to disclose the core conflict point of the film at the very beginning, he needs to ensure telling the backstory with a very crisp runtime. It is very important to sustain the audience’s attention when they already know the eventual end to the backstory. This is where the film struggled with pace issues. The teenage love story involving Harsh Roshan & Sridevi Appala was executed well but the director and editor should have taken a bit more care to make it crisp.

Another major complaint in the film is the selection of actor Harshavardhan for the shrewd lawyer character. That character needs an actor of Prakashraj’s stature. Unfortunately, Harshvardhan’s performance went overboard, especially in the first half. Also, Priyadarshi’s dubbing during the court proceedings looked forced. Overall, Court: State vs A Nobody, is a ‘good’ film and it has a good chance to work out commercially at the box office. However, a bit more care during the first half and selecting an actor who oozes arrogance, confidence and ruthlessness for the role played by Harshvardhan would have made it a ‘great’ film.

Court – Judgement ‘Passed’

Rating: 3/5

Tags Court - State vs. A Nobody Nani Priyadarshi