Story: Ikka revolves around the celebrated Public Prosecutor Arjun Mehra (Sunny Deol). He is known for fighting for the truth and that too by adhering to ethics. He stays in Mumbai with his wife Avantika (Dia Mirza) and daughter Samaira (Daria Bedi).
One day, Shouryamann Gaur (Akshaye Khanna), son of a wealthy industrialist and politician Harshvardhan Gaur (Shishir Sharma), gets accused of attempting to murder Soma Mittal (Akansha Ranjan), a young girl he met at a night club. Arjun is offered to fight Shouryamann’s case as a Defense Lawyer this time. He plainly refuses because of the past equation between both of them. However, circumstances force Arjun to fight Shouryaman’s case.
Review: The sub-plot about Arjun being compelled to fight Shouryamann’s case instantly reminds you of an old Sanjay Dutt movie, which, in turn, was ‘inspired’ from an iconic Hollywood movie. However, this point also ensures that Ikka becomes more than just a normal courtroom drama. It brings the personal equations of the characters at the forefront thereby making it an emotional courtroom drama. This also puts the audience in an interesting dilemma in terms of whose side should they be on.
As far as the courtroom scenes are concerned, there are engrossing. The dialogues and the sarcastic digs by Arjun, Public Prosecutor Madhura Banerjee (Tillotama shome) and the judge (Vijay Vikram Singh) triggers humour at regular intervals.
However, with the genre of courtroom drama being over-exposed in the OTT world, especially in shows like Criminal Justice, one constantly gets the feeling of been-there-done-that. Plus, there are also some questionable aspects related to the proofs and witnesses brought during the case. The biggest one is the absence of CCTV angle brought into the proceedings to find out if a person was present at a particular site, which is bewildering.
The film doesn’t end with the courtroom case. But the final turn in the story, which justifies the title, is easily predictable.
Sunny Deol plays a lawyer for the first time after his famous act in Damini (1993). But with this film being closer to reality, one can’t expect him to shout “Taareekh pe taareekh” in the court, although there is a mention of “Dhai kilo ka haath” at one point. The actor does well as an intelligent lawyer and an emotional father.
Akshaye Khanna, strangely, has continued his act as Rehman Dakait from Dhurandhar (2025) when it comes to both his expressions and dialogue delivery. He is formidable during his confrontational sequences with Sunny though. On a lighter note, a visual of Metro Inox Cinemas playing Dhurandhar is visible for a second.
Tillotama Shome once again puts on an impressive act as a lawyer much junior to Arjun. Dia Mirza shines as an emotional mother. She also succeeds in being firm during her scene with Shouryamann. Child actor Daria Bedi impresses with her talent. Sanjeeda Shaikh leaves behind an impact in an important scene. Vijay Vikram Singh is good as the judge. Thankfully, he is not a typical judge that we have seen plenty of times in films of this nature.
Overall: Ikka, which is streaming on Netflix, is a one-time watch emotional courtroom drama that could have been more impressive.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Director: Siddharth P Malhotra
Producers: Alchemy Films
Writers: Althea Kaushal and Mayank Tewari
Cast: Sunny Deol, Akshaye Khanna, Tillotama Shome, Dia Mirza, Daria Bedi
Also read: Welcome To The Jungle review: Enjoyable chaos after a long time
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