Retro Review: Judaai

Directed by Raj Kanwar, Judaai did not do too well at the box office at first but went on to becoming a semi-hit at the box office. Revolving around the controversial issue of a woman selling her husband for money, this movie gave a different take to indian cinema.

The story focuses on the married couple Raj and Kajal (played by Anil Kapoor and Sridevi respectively), and the greed which takes over the character of Kajal. A mother and a wife who loves her family, Kajal gives more value to money rather than human relationships. Her main disappointment in life is the fact that even though she has married an engineer, her husband is not rich. So when opportunity knocks on her door in the form of Jhanvi (Urmila Matondkar) who is the niece of Raj's boss. First upon meeting Raj, Jhanvi takes him to be a driver but later finds out that he is an engineer in her Uncle's office, and later after apologizing to him, she gradually falls in love with him. Far too gone in her love, she sticks to her decision of getting married to Raj, even after finding out that he is a married man. And how does she do that? By targeting the wife who is in love with money. She goes and puts a proposal in front of Kajal saying she would give her as much money as she wants but in return she would like to marry Raj. The story goes on to show the tug of war that Raj goes through in between his two wives, one who changes herself completely and becomes extremely money minded and the other who changes for the better and becomes the perfect wife and mother to his kids. Eventually calamity strikes when Kajal realizes that money can not buy everything, thus figuring out that true love has no price. But is it too late by then? The movie climaxes with Kajal trying her best to get her husband back, but when all else fails, she decides to let him go as he decides to leave with Jhanvi and his kids, only to realize that Jhanvi had decided that she would be the only one leaving because she would never be able to break a family as she knows how much Raj loves Kajal. Giving Raj back to Kajal, Jhanvi leaves the happy family with her own happy memories.

While Sridevi's performance was enjoyed by all, it was Urmila who got nominated for various awards for the best supporting actress for the movie. Anil Kapoor's docile character was also approved and appreciated by all. But it was the different theme of the movie that took people by surprise and urged them to go ahead and spread the word that the movie does have potential!

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