Criminal Justice: Adhura Sach is an Indian Hindi-language legal drama television series directed by Rohan Sippy. Starring Pankaj Tripathi, Shweta Basu Prasad, Purab Kohli, Swastika Mukherjee and Adinath Kothare in prominent roles, the storyline follows the murder case of a teenage celebrity.[1] It premiered on 26 August 2022 and is the third installment in Hotstar Specials' anthology courtroom drama, Criminal Justice.
| Criminal Justice: Adhura Sach | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Crime Legal drama Thriller |
| Written by |
|
| Directed by | Rohan Sippy |
| Starring | Aatm Prakash Mishra |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
| Production | |
| Production companies | BBC Studios India Applause Entertainment[2] |
| Original release | |
| Network | Disney+ Hotstar |
| Release | 26 August – 7 October 2022 |
| Related | |
Synopsis
editMukul Ahuja is the spoilt teenage son of Avantika and Arvind Ahuja, and the stepson of Neeraj Ahuja. Neeraj's daughter, Zara Ahuja, is a child star who appears in a teleseries called Bittu. The Ahujas practically live off of the money earned by Zara. A property developer in Madh Island hires Zara to shoot an ad for his upcoming project. The night before the shoot, both Mukul and Zara sneak out of their villa separately and end up in the same party. They have a heated argument in public before leaving the party.
Mukul returns home, but Zara does not. Her body is later found drowned in the sea, with acid burns on her face. All circumstantial evidence points to Mukul, leading to his arrest and placement in an observation home for juveniles. Prosecutor Lekha is appointed to represent the State of Maharashtra and is almost prejudiced in her determination to convict Mukul. Meanwhile, Zara's parents hire Madhav Mishra as defense counsel, but Mukul lacks confidence in his lawyer and tries to find his own way out of the situation.
Cast
edit- Pankaj Tripathi as Advocate Madhav Mishra, Mukul's lawyer
- Shweta Basu Prasad as Prosecutor Lekha Agastya
- Purab Kohli as Neeraj Ahuja, Mukul's step-father
- Swastika Mukherjee as Avantika Ahuja, Mukul's mother
- Aaditya Gupta as Mukul Ahuja, Zara's elder step-brother
- Deshna Dugad as Zara Ahuja, Mukul's younger step-sister
- Gaurav Gera as Arvind Ahuja, Mukul's father
- Khushboo Atre as Ratna Mishra, Madhav's wife
- Adinath Kothare as Inspector Prashant Waghmare
- Kalyanee Mulay as Gauri Karmarkar
- Sushil Kumar as Sachin
- Rushad Rana as Vicky Kumar
- Chandresh Singh
- Ishrat Khan
- Rajesh Khera as Solkar, Lekha's senior
- Upendra Limaye as Superintendent Juvenile justice home
- Aatm Prakash Mishra as Deepu, Madhav's assistant[1]
Episodes
edit| No. | Title | Directed by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "A Dark Night" | 26 August 2022 | |
| 2 | "Web of Lies" | 26 August 2022 | |
| 3 | "Bail Denied" | 2 September 2022 | |
| 4 | "Section 15" | 9 September 2022 | |
| 5 | "Confirmation Bias" | 16 September 2022 | |
| 6 | "The Breaking Point" | 23 September 2022 | |
| 7 | "Digging Deeper" | 30 September 2022 | |
| 8 | "Nothing but the Truth" | 7 October 2022 |
Release
editOn 10 August 2022, Disney+ Hotstar released the trailer[3] and announced the release date. The series premiered on Disney+ Hotstar on 26 August 2022[4] and concluded on 7 October 2022.[5]
Reception
editThe series received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Subhash K. Jha, reviewing on Firstpost, praised the "storytelling structure, giving to each episode a kind of free-flowing momentum that doesn’t seem artificial or simulated" and added that the "new season manages to go beyond the other two seasons in the pursuit of an engaging thriller perched on the legal theme."[6] Agnivo Niyogi of The Telegraph praised the screenplay and acting performances, calling the series "an instant hit".[7] Nandini Ramnath wrote on Scroll.in that Pankaj Tripathi "hugely boosts the new edition, even if he can’t quite rescue it entirely."[8]
Archika Khurana of The Times of India gave the series three stars out of five, calling it an "engaging legal drama with emotionally dragging scenes", which is "overly stretched before the actual action and courtroom drama begins."[1] Srijita Sen of News18 opined that important topics like trial by media, juvenile justice system, substance abuse and mental health issues in adolescents remained underexplored due to "unnecessary, slow-paced drama".[9] Abhimanyu Mathur of Hindustan Times was critical of the storyline for sidetracking from the show's original theme of portraying "the shortcomings of India’s legal systems" and labelled it a "run-of-the-mill murder mystery".[10]
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Criminal Justice: Adhura Sach Season 3 Review: Rohan Sippy-Pankaj Tripathi's courtroom drama is engaging yet drags in emotional scenes". Times of India. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ "'Criminal Justice 3'- Lawyer Pankaj Tripathi to solve murder-mystery of popular child star". Zee News. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ "Criminal Justice Adhura Sach trailer: Pankaj Tripathi tackles his toughest case yet". The Indian Express. 10 August 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ "Disney + Hotstar's 'Criminal Justice: Adhura Sach' To Premiere On August 26". Outlook India. 10 August 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ "New on Disney+ Hotstar in October: 'Grey's Anatomy' Season 19, 'Prey', 'Alaska Daily', and more". The Hindu. 2 October 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ "Criminal Justice is back, and it's a knock-out". Firstpost. 27 August 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ "Pankaj Tripathi shines in Criminal Justice Season 3 yet again". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ Ramnath, Nandini. "'Criminal Justice – Adhura Sach' review: Truth be told, this is a Pankaj Tripathi show all the way". Scroll.in. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ "Criminal Justice Adhura Sach Review: Panjak Tripathi's Most Difficult Case Fails to Thrill". News18. 29 August 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ "Criminal Justice Adhura Sach review: Pankaj Tripathi sleepwalks through this boring, predictable murder mystery". Hindustan Times. 26 August 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.