T. Rama Rao's Judaai is a typical Hindi melodrama which is only elevated, to an extent, by Rekha's sincere performance. This film is what most Rekha-Jeetendra movies of those times were all about - a good couple who separate for some unbelievably silly reasons only to meet after years. Some of them, like Ek Hi Bhool, worked, but Judaai does not. It is extremely exaggerated in execution and, while it has some moments, it is mostly a tedious movie experience. The film actually looks promising in the initial portions, with Ashok Kumar's nice character bringing some welcome humour, but then it goes rapidly downhill.
Leave the cheesy dialogues, the unimpressive song numbers, the waste of good actors in poor supporting roles, and the unnecessary subplots, aside, but then the concept itself is very unconvincing. Why would any sane couple part ways because of one silly rift which happens in every possible and normal family? How come they never meet again for so many years if they never officially divorced in the first place? And there's more. The fact that a woman would go so far as to abandon her own son and then feel relieved and compensated just because she had given birth to another, is one hell of a joke.
Back in time, it was considered a challenge for actresses in mainstream Hindi cinema to play sacrificing women much ahead of their years (a la Sharmila Tagore in Aradhana, Shabana Azmi in Avtaar) and that's basically what Rekha does here. The film is forgettable but Rekha does very well in a character that is silly per se. She is funny at first, and is quite convincing as the elderly mother. She would later perform better in Ek Hi Bhool and Jeevan Dhaara, also directed by Rao. Jeetendra is very average as the wannabe playboy, but he does better as the middle-aged man. Sachin and Arun Govil as the two sons are quite okay.
Famous and good actors like Ashok Kumar, A.K. Hangal, Aruna Irani and Asha Sachdev, are, as said, wasted in tiny supporting roles and have limited screen time. The second half is spectacularly bad and is actually more of a soap opera with many moments being unintentionally hilarious. It does try to tackle some social issues like changing generational differences, but it hardly deals with anything and how effective can it possibly be if the script is so bad? The ending is so predictably sugarcoated that I could not believe I really went through the whole thing to see it. Unless you are a Rekha fan, watch it if you must.
