Ikka Movie Review: Siddharth P Malhotra’s Ikka is one of those films that’s all style and very little substance. It takes pride in being a slick legal suspense drama. It also strives for a cerebral edge. The narrative is packed with twists, turns and anti-climaxes but the problem is that most of them can be seen coming from a mile away. It’s ambitious but unfortunately crumbles under its own weight.
The film opens with a gruesome sequence. Shouryamann Gaur, the son of a rich industrialist and politician, meets a young Soma Mittal at a bar in South Mumbai. A few drinks down, they decide to spend the night together. But during their ride, Soma is violently attacked by Shouryamann. He eventually pushes her off the car on a deserted road to die alone.
The scene then cuts to ‘undefeated defense lawyer’ Arjun Mehra addressing a town hall where he poses a tough question: Is a truck driver and a car driver equal in the eyes of court and justice? But his talk gets interrupted with a frantic call from his wife Avantika, who informs him that their daughter Samaira has been admitted to a hospital.
It’s revealed that Samaira has been diagnosed with advanced-stage leukemia. When doctors inform the family that the only way to save her is through a stem cell transplant from a parent, we learn that Arjun isn’t her biological father. Meanwhile, on the professional front, Arjun is approached to fight Shouryamann’s case but refuses owing to deep-seated personal differences with him.
Soon, his personal and professional worlds become intertwined in a cruel twist of fate. The only way to save Samaira’s life now hinges on his ability to secure a victory for Shouryamann. Enter Madhura Banerjee, a public prosecutor who stands in his way. As Soma slips into a coma and Samaira fights for survival, the courtroom transforms into a labyrinth of moral dilemmas and high-stakes confrontations.
But not every peak point that appears compelling on paper translates effectively to the screen and Ikka falls squarely into that trap. Coherence is not its strongest suit. In a post-interval scene, Arjun tells Madhura, “Yours isn’t a watertight case.” Ironically, that line sums up the film’s biggest problem. There’s a lot happening at once but very little of it comes together in a convincing manner.
