Credit: Special arrangement
Season Three is said to be the stumbling block for most series that have their winning formula in place. ‘Criminal Justice’, though, sailed through pretty smoothly to arrive at season four. Why, even the pre-release hype (with Pankaj Tripathi popping up in nearly every ad break in IPL matches) has generated enough lather.
Although originally adapted from the BBC series by the same name, the Indian version found its ethos early enough. And much of the credit ought to go to Tripathi’s screen presence, even more than his acting chops. Playing the ostensibly artless lawyer Madhav Mishra (LLB, gold medallist, as he declares), he projects an earthy charm that makes you look past the often predictable plotlines.
In season four, there is an oblique reference to this very quality: A renowned law firm has taken Mishra on contract for his “aam aadmi” looks and mannerisms, and a slimy corporate yes-man of the firm tells him as much!
The story revolves around a well-known surgeon Raj (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) who is found sitting in the cliched ‘pool of blood’ holding his dead girlfriend whose throat has been slit with medical precision. Raj is separated from his wife Anju (Surveen Chawla), but she is still his neighbour and the couple co-parent their daughter Ira (Khushi Bhardwaj), who has Asperger’s Syndrome. There are red herrings at every turn and digressions into Mishra’s life and loves, accompanied by his acerbic comments, of course. That said, it all does seem to hold together, much more strongly, in fact, than it did in the previous season. Acting is solid across the board; special mention to Surveen Chawla for the nuances she’s brought in.
(New episodes every Thursday.)