Criminal Justice: Adhura Sach Ep 1, 2 Review: Pankaj Tripathi’s legal drama makes for a gripping watch

The Ahuja’s lives are upended when 14-year-old Zara Ahuja, the nation’s beloved child star is ruthlessly murdered. Things become much more complicated when her 17-year-old step brother Mukul becomes the prime suspect in the case. Some lies, some half-truths, and a few revelations come to the fore when lawyers Madhav Mishra (Pankaj Tripathi) and Lekha (Shweta Basu Prasad) represent each side and meet at court. This is the simple gist of the popular and critically-acclaimed legal drama Criminal Justice which is back with its third season. It is directed by Rohan Sippy and backed by Applause Entertainment, in association with BBC Studio India Production. 

Criminal Justice S3: Review 

Zara Ahuja (Deshna Dugad) is a 14-year-old child actor who keeps extremely busy with her shoot schedules, public appearances, interviews, endorsements, and more. She is managed by her step mom Avantika (Swastika Mukherjee) who she is quite close to, and her father Neeraj (Purab Kohli) handles her finances. While things look perfect a distance, such is hardly ever the case up-close, as Avantika’s 17-year-old son Mukul (Aditya Gupta), feels overshadowed at home due to his step-sister’s success. 

 

When Zara’s body is found wrapped in tarpaulin in the sea, with disturbing evidences of torture and acid attack, Mukul becomes the prime suspect in the case. The evidences found against him, and his history with drugs does not help his case either. While Neeraj is no longer certain about his step-son’s innocence, Avantika knocks the doors of the simple-minded yet witty, humane, and sharp lawyer, Madhav Mishra. 

 

This is where the second episode of Criminal Justice S3 ends, leaving the audience guessing and waiting for more. 

 

The Rohan Sippy directorial does not waste time but propels the viewer into the story right from the word go. The screenplay by Bijesh Jayarajan and Iti Agarwal is quite engaging and keeps the viewer hooked at almost all times, except the scenes involving Mishra’s sex-worker client, which felt poorly-executed. The first two episodes which have released today take the time to establish the core details of the story, comfortably introducing the viewers to the world of the Ahujas. 

 

Talking about the performances, every member of Rohan Sippy’s ensemble cast delivers decent performances. We do not get to see much of Pankaj Tripathi in the two episodes, but he continues to steal the spotlight with his desi charm and smooth dialogue delivery whenever he comes up on screen.  

 

Purab Kohli is impressive too, but it is especially difficult to take one’s attention away from the beautiful Swastika Mukherjee, who does a convincing job at playing the caring, sensitive, and nurturing mom to her two kids. Aditya Gupta as the troubled teenager Mukul delivers a solid performance as well, and so does Deshna as Zara, who falls prey to peer pressure, and just like every young teenager, wants to experience everything ‘fun’ right away. Shweta Basu Prasad as a newbie lawyer, passionate to take up a complicated case is fits the role perfectly. It will be interesting to watch her go against an experienced Madhav Mishra in the upcoming episodes.