A gripping morality tale
The fact that the Indian justice system is flawed, and at times is even broken is a well documented and accepted fact. The lawyers know it, as do the judges, and as for the people who end up in the system, well, movies and shows get made on them. Criminal Justice: Behind Close Doors season two takes us deeper into that system, and uses a new lens to view it. While season 1 was the remake of The Night Of, this season is a spin-off of the original, with Madhav Mishra (Pankaj Tripathi), whom we met last season, headlining it.
The show’s plot was pretty much revealed in the trailer itself, so one wondered what’s really going to happen in the season. But those fears were misplaced. We meet the Chandras, a super affluent, happy and picture-perfect family. Bikram Chandra (Jisshu Sengupta) is a bleeding-heart liberal lawyer, who makes heart-thumping speeches for the downtrodden in courtrooms. He is shown to be someone who has it all, including a beautiful, doting wife Anu, played by Kirti Kulhari, and a 12-year-old daughter who loves doing crosswords. But by the end of the first episode, we see this picture-perfect family disintegrate as Chandra is seen stabbed with a knife, and Anu is seen roaming the streets in a blood-soaked nightgown. Sure, that’s where our interest is piqued, and we sit and notice, that all’s not what meets the eye.
Enter Madhav Mishra, the much loved, quirky lawyer, who’s roped in to defend Anu, as no other lawyer wished to touch the case with a barge pole. He is the same Madhav Mishra from season 1, low on resources, equipped with a sharp tongue and quick wit, but will do anything to defend his clients, no matter how guilty. He is joined by Nikhat Hussain – Anupria Goenka reprising her role from season 1 – who’s is struggling to find work.
If you were expecting a taut, pacy legal thriller, Criminal Justice: Behind Close Doors is not it. Rather it is a super slow burn, where the detailing and the tiny pieces of the puzzle all come together slowly and steadily in a gratifying manner. This season takes its time, but it unravels beautifully. Yes, it’s a murder case, but it’s a why-dunnit, rather than a whodunit.
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