Justice Chaudhury (1983)

Kicking off Sridevipalooza is Justice Chaudhury, Sridevi doesn't get to do much in this acting wise, but as a fan you'll get your money's worth Sridevi-wise with lots of super fun songs as well as dance routines

Honest and upright Justice Chaudhury (Jeetendra) gets in the bad books of Jai Singh (Shakti Kapoor) when he gets his doppleganger brother Shankar sent to the gallows

Suave looking Justice Chaudhury

Jai plots to get back at Justice Chaudhury by ruining his reputation, to do this he hires struggling mechanic Ramu ( Jeetendra) to carry out his shady plans for him in return for cold hard cash. Ramu hopes the money he makes would help buy a mansion of dreams for his mother Radha (Hema Malini), who is spending time in Jail for a crime he had committed as a child, when he had murdered the man who attempted raping her

He meets and falls for Rekha (Sridevi), and in the usual filmi way she plays hard to get at first, but then eventually falls in love with him, over time she comes to know of his shady deeds and tries to make him see the error of his ways, arguing his mom won't be able to find peace once she finds out he had gained the money to buy her mansion of dreams through dishonest means

Justice Chaudhury on the other hand is burdened by his disabled daughter Laxmi's (Debashree Roy) plight to find a husband, this changes when Kiran (Raj kiran) takes a liking to her, they both get married and Kiran turns out to be a trap by Jai Singh in order to get Justice Chaudhury to release yet another one of his brother's who's been tried at the court of law

When Justice Chaudhury refuses to release Jai Singh's brother, Kiran divorces Laxmi which obviously is a taint on Justice's reputation/honour. When Kailash (Kader Khan), another Justice Chaudhury hater realises Ramu is Justice Chaudhury's son, he alerts Ramu that Justice Chaudhary is his father and tells him how he had impreganted his mother Radha and then left

Young Justice Chaudhary and Radha

Ramu is furious and is hell bent on avenging the injustice done to his mother, he disguises as Justice Chaudhury and sets up Justice's son Ramesh (Arun Govil) for murder

Ramesh is brought to the court of the law and none other than his father Justice Chaudhury must decide the case

Will he bend the law for his son or will he be his usual upright self? Did Justice really do the dirt on Ramu's mother or is there a reason why she ended up raising him alone?

This is one of my all time favourite Jeetendra films, he shines and is believable in his dual role as Justice and Ramu, he played both parts with conviction albeit in a very melodramatic kind of way, yet still he was convincing as both the father and son, plus the make up applied to age him was not over the top. The soap opera style sub plot after sub plot, as well as twists and flashbacks though a bit tiring after a while, made this film highly enjoyable to watch for me, i couldn't wait to see what twist or tale would be introduced next, overall i'd say Justice Chaudhury is a very entertaining flick with a stronger storyline than all the other southern style films Jeetendra did in the 80's like Himmatwala.

As for Sridevi as I've said at the beginning of this post, she doesn't get to do much apart from the Song and dance numbers, which I have to say are a treat if you're a fan

Other things i loved about Justice Chaudhury are

Jeetendra & Sridevi of course

lots of sychronised dance steps

some cool even if doll house like interiors


A sharp Suited and rather well dressed villain

a cool collection of sunglasses Jeetendra wears in the film

the psychedelic style sets of 'Mujhe kya hua' with giant sea shells with disco lights attached

And of course Bappi Lahiri's music made this film all the nmore enjoyable, from the sweet 'Laxmi o Laxmi' and 'Zindagi Anmol' to my three favourites

the sexy 'mujhe kya hua' watch as Sridevi and Jeetendra hug, and writhe seductively amidst psychedelic sea shell sets i've included the video below with subtitles

The aerobic style dance moves as well as the pure awesome double entendre lyrics in 'saath mere aaoge'

and not forgetting the bollywood disco classic 'Mamma mia'

Bappi Lahiri Zindabad

Paisa Vasool rating: 7/10, even Jeetendra gives it the thumbs up