One Day: Justice Delivered movie review ⁠— Anupam Kher's experience is lost to flawed direction, illogical script

Language: Hindi What he could not do due to the due process of law and its defined limits, Justice Tyagi (Anupam Kher) decides to do after his retirement. Taking the law into his hands, he sets up a justice system of his own, one where there are no limits to the nature of punishment. [caption id=“attachment_6676101” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Anupam Kher in a still from One Day. YouTube[/caption] Tyagi systematically kidnaps and confronts culprits whose deeds resulted in deaths and killings, and whom the law was unable to declare guilty. He holds them captive, delivers his sentence — confess or die a gruesome death — while nonchalantly enjoying a cup of milky tea or a juicy apple. And just when it looks like Tyagi is going to get away with his kangaroo court, in comes Laxmi Rathi of the crime branch. Esha Gupta’s performance as a cop in skinny jeans who occasionally waves her hands around in exaggerated gestures, and puts on and drops a Haryanvi accent arbitrarily is the most entertaining aspect of this ridiculous thriller. Her investigation mostly involves opening and closing files, using a highlighter pen with great confidence and stalking Tyagi.   Kumud Mishra is a breath of fresh air as the good-natured and well-meaning local cop. The relevance of a number of actors is revealed in flashbacks, among them Zarina Wahab, Murli Sharma and Rajesh Sharma. Kher does not really get that one key moment. He skates through the approximately two-hour long film on an even keel.   A few tacky item songs pop up, but fortunately they do not just feature graceless dances and poor choreography – there is some plot movement built in too. The story of a vigilante judge trying to bring justice once he has given up the duty of following the rule book had potential, but Ashok Nanda’s direction exposes flaws in the performances and tears open the already gaping holes in Alaukik Rahi’s story. The worst of this is captured in a scene where an overacting lawyer presents a sham defence against an opposing lawyer in a medical negligence case.   If Kher is the Batman of this Ranchi-set tale, then who is his Robin? It is another easy guess for anyone watching One Day: Justice Delivered. Rating: **