A late‑night sequence opens the film with a group of wealthy youths roaring through the city in imported Mercedes cars, driving fast and drunk, and challenging each other in a dangerous street race. Their back‑and‑forth ends badly when one driver loses control of a Land Cruiser and crashes into the footpath, setting off a chain of legal and media upheavals that will ripple through the rest of the story.
In the ensuing courtroom drama set in Uttar Pradesh, Brijendra Kala steps into the frame as Suresh Vasishth, an advocate who also practices astrology. He lands a client who seems to be a thug awaiting bail, using a wry aside about a forgetful lawyer named Girdhar Sharma to grease the wheels of an otherwise tense day in court. The proceedings quickly pivot around Jagdish Tyagi, known as Jolly, played by Arshad Warsi, a sharp‑tongued defence lawyer who tries to secure bail for Dr. Harphool by arguing that the media has sensationalized the case in a bid for headlines. The prosecution, led in part by Mahesh Gupta, pushes back with photographic evidence, forcing Harphool to confront a troubling admission: his son was involved in operating on a pregnant woman. The admission complicates the bail hearing and sets a somber tone for the rest of the film.
Seeking better opportunities, Jolly moves to Delhi, where he is compelled to improvise to survive. In a bid to make ends meet, he pretends to be an apprehended terrorist for a small fee, a stunt that lands him in a different precinct of public scrutiny. It is in Delhi that he becomes aware of a new, high‑profile case: the Land Cruiser hit‑and‑run involving Rahul Dewan, the son of billionaire Yograj Dewan, defended by the celebrated Tejinder Rajpal, a towering figure in the legal world. In court, Rajpal exposes a striking statistic—the sheer volume of road accidents in the city compared with the minimal coverage they receive in the press—an argument designed to cast doubt on the prevailing narrative and to secure Rahul’s acquittal on grounds of insufficient evidence or eyewitness testimony.
This verdict spurs Jolly to file a public interest litigation, challenging the way the case had been handled. When the judge, Justice Sunderlal Tripathi, questions the propriety and timing of the PIL, Jolly, with the help of an ally named Vasu, cites media reports alleging tampered evidence and missing details. He is rebuked for sloppiness, including a few spelling mistakes in the PIL, but the spark of ambition remains alive.
A night encounter changes the trajectory of the case: Albert Pinto, presented as an eye‑witness who witnessed the accident and who has a documented police complaint, approaches Jolly with new information. Albert, who claims to have seen Rahul Dewan at the scene, supplies a crucial piece of the puzzle—the claim that Rahul was indeed present and involved. This revelation earns Jolly overnight media attention and a new office space, courtesy of Kaul Saab, a respected retired attorney whose own past grievances with the system have left him sympathetic to reformers like Jolly. Ramesh Deo plays Kaul Saab in this key turn of events.
Yet Albert’s alliance with Jolly is not without conflict. He reveals that Albert Pinto, a schemer who works for Tejinder Rajpal, has sought to leverage the case for his own gain by proposing a payout. The offer—2 crores—would barely veil Jolly’s eventual share of 20 lakhs, a betrayal that forces Jolly to confront the murky ethics at play and to warn Sandhya, played by Amrita Rao, of the danger of trust betraying him.
As the pursuit of truth intensifies, Kaul Saab discovers that Jolly had accepted money from Tejinder Rajpal, a revelation that leads to a stinging rebuke and a public acknowledgment of the fragility of loyalties in a system under pressure. Realizing his misstep, Jolly resolves to fight harder, and with the help of his brother‑in‑law, digs up a video from the day of the accident. The video is introduced in court, but Rajpal counters by claiming the footage shows the driver of the Dewans’ car rather than the vehicle in question, leaving the courtroom in a tense stalemate.
An additional eyewitness becomes essential when Jolly locates a reluctant witness who insists on testifying but wants the investigation shifted away from New Delhi to Gorakhpur, a clue that reframes the search for the truth and raises the stakes for everyone involved. The ongoing confrontation shifts to the courtroom’s rhythm and cadence as Jolly questions SI Rathi and presses him to acknowledge the differences between the six people reported to have died and the five confirmed by the prosecution.
A burqa‑clad witness, Sadakanth Mishra, emerges to identify Rahul Dewan as the driver of the vehicle responsible for the death of multiple acquaintances and his own crippling injury. This revelation triggers a confrontation with the court’s schedule as Rajpal calls for the case to be postponed, while Tripathi resists, insisting on the integrity of the process. A pointed exchange ensues: footpaths, he notes, are not intended for sleeping, a line that stings with social criticism and underscores the film’s concern with justice for the marginalized.
In this charged courtroom drama, Jolly articulates a broader argument: while the system is imperfect and powerful interests tug at every thread, the Constitution guarantees the right to justice for all, especially those who often have the least leverage to obtain it. The confrontation reveals two essential strands the judge must navigate—suspending SI Rathi and pursuing a fuller investigation—while also admitting that substantial facts have been kept out of reach by those with vested interests.
In a dramatic culmination, the court finds Rahul Dewan guilty of the crime and sentences him to seven years’ imprisonment under Indian Penal Code 304. The verdict marks a turning point not only in the case but in Jolly’s own sense of dignity and purpose; he has won more than a legal victory—he has reclaimed his self‑respect in the face of a system designed to shield the powerful. The film closes on a sober note about the limits of legal leverage, the tenacity required to see a case through, and the enduring struggle to balance justice with accountability.
> foot-paths are not for sleeping
