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Criminal Justice doesn’t get it right this season. Watch it for Pankaj Tripathi

The season tries to look at the world of teenage mental health and stardom, but does not quite manage to make an impact.

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Disney+ Hotstar’s Criminal Justice laid the foundation for quality legal dramas in OTT platforms in India. But the latest season fails to match up to its own standards. Despite a brilliant cast and good ideas, it does not engage the way its second season did.

The new season revolves around the death of popular child actor Zara Ahuja (Tripti Sahu) with all the clues pointing at her minor step brother Mukul, played by Aaditya Gupta. But Mukul’s mother, Swastika Mukherjee, knows her son is innocent and asks advocate Madhav Mishra (Pankaj Tripathi) for help. How Pankaj unravels the mystery and fends off the challenge of a new public prosecutor Lekha, Shweta Basu Prasad, forms the crux of the show.


Teenage troubles

The season tries to look at the world of teenage mental health and stardom, but does not quite manage to make an impact. Zara is a popular child actor who earns lakhs and has to maintain appearances constantly. She wants to be like other teens — ‘grow up’ faster. Mukul, her stepbrother, feels left out, as both his mother and stepfather Pankaj Ahuja, played by Purab Kohli, have their attention focused on Zara and her career.

Mukul is shown to be struggling with mental health, drugs and alcohol. There is also the rich-kids-gone-wrong trope. Added to it, is the world of social media and trolling, which makes for a crucial bit of the season.

Despite all the right ingredients, the season is a thanda recipe. Zara and Mukul’s characters fail to evoke real sympathy, the way earlier victims of the series did. You never quite relate to them. That is the biggest flaw, because in both season 1 and 2, a strong connection with the victims is what made the show stand out.

Keeping up with the previous season, this one too looks at the state of India’s legal detention centers. Juvenile home in this case, where Mukul lands. He is bullied, beaten up, and struggles to survive.

We still get some insight into Mukul’s state of mind, but Zara is never fleshed out well for the audience to feel enraged. That proves to be a big miss. The Gen Z representation feels hollow and superficial.


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It’s a Pankaj Tripathi show

Criminal Justice is a Pankaj Tripathi show through and through. Tripathi, as the street-smart lawyer Madhav Mishra, aces every scene and it is a delight to watch him do almost everything. The empathy, street-smartness and even frustration is played out flawlessly by the actor.

His conviction of Mukul’s innocence pushes him to investigate deeper into the flawed investigation carried out by the police, and also the refusal to submit facts to the court by his opponent, public prosecutor Lekha. It is unfortunate that Shweta does not get the space to showcase her talent.

The ‘villanious’ or gray shades in Shweta’s character could have been written with more depth. She represents the ‘win no matter what’ attitude of lawyers determined to make it big. Except it does not quite land. She is almost dumbed down to make Mishra the hero, when she could have been deployed much better.

Even Swastika and Purab do not really have much to do except appear helpless. Despite limited roles, they manage to portray the conflicted, grief-stricken parents well, especially Swastika, trying to hold her family together through the trauma.

Aaditya Gupta shines in the role he gets, and could be a Gen Z actor to look out for in OTT space. The banter between Mishra and his wife, played by Khusboo Atre, adds sparkle to a relatively dull season — the side pot of her wanting to own a beauty parlour.

The show has its own standard to adhere to, and work for a better fourth season. The audience wants more of Madhav Mihra and incisive insights into the flaws of India’s legal system.

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Disney+ Hotstar’s Criminal Justice laid the foundation for quality legal dramas in OTT platforms in India. But the latest season fails to match up to its own standards. Despite a brilliant cast and good ideas, it does not engage the way its second season...Criminal Justice doesn’t get it right this season. Watch it for Pankaj Tripathi