Directed by: Rohan Sippy Arjun Mukerjee
Watch it on: Disney+ Hotstar
If you have seen Big Little Lies, you would very well know the story of Celeste. A former lawyer who gave up her career to raise her twin boys. Celeste was depicted to have the picture-perfect life. But as the story unravels, we realise that she is actually trapped in a violent, abusive marriage to the handsome and successful Perry. In the beginning, we (the audience) watch the “perfect” relationship between Celeste and Perry and get deceived into believing that the “rough sex” between the couple is normal. And then it just goes straight to abuse. Somewhere along the way, lines were being blurred. We were seeing it just as Celeste was starting to see it too. Celeste was confronting motherhood, domestic abuse, and identity.
I know this is supposed to be a review of Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors but I can’t help but draw the parallels. And while I am fully aware that the Hindi version is a remake of Perter Moffat’s Criminal Justice Season 2, I have not seen the latter. But I did see hints of Big Little Lies in this one and hence the comparison. Both shows tell us how domestic violence is complicated and more common than we think. Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors is about Bikram Chandra (Jisshu Sengupta), a reputed and famous lawyer and his beautiful, doting wife Anuradha Chandra (Kirti Kulhari). They have a 12-year-old daughter and they seem to be the picture-perfect family. But soon that image disintegrates as Anuradha (Anu) stabs Bikram with a knife one night. We know she did it but why did she do it? Enter Madhav Mishra, (played fabulously by Pankaj Tripathi), the much loved, quirky lawyer, who’s roped in to defend Anu, as no other lawyer wished to touch the case. 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.
Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors is a brave attempt by the makers to bring to light a subject that’s considered taboo in Indian society – sexual abuse, martial rape, domestic violence. Bikram had cut Anu off from her family and friends. He used to keep tabs on her intensely and even asked his 12-year-old to keep an eye on her mother. It is also implied that Bikram used to give Anu unnecessary medication and make her believe that there was something wrong with her mental health. I just wish the show could handle serious topics like marriage, spouses’ complicity, isolated and creepy nature of relationships, on a much deeper level. What we get instead is Anu dealing with supposed naxalities and suicidal mates in prison, which does not culminate to anything. The issues are all just touch and go. It got really difficult to stay patient with Anu because her silence dragged on for 8 episodes. It could have easily been a tightly scripted 5-episode mini-series. I badly wanted to know more of Anu’s story.
Big Little Lies Season 2 ends with a custody battle pitting Celeste against Mary Louise, her mother-in-law. And we get to see an origin story for Perry’s violence: it all began when Mary Louise crashed the car when he was a kid and blamed him for his brother’s death. We don’t get an explanation as to why Bikram treated Anu the way he did. Why did he fake love to her when all he wanted to do was to damage her dignity and life? Was he just an unstable and violent person by nature? Why weren’t those violent streaks visible ever in front of his colleagues or his mother? What was the trigger? I wanted to know Bikram’s story as well.
That’s not to say the show did not work for me. It did. I liked the parallel track of police officer Gauri whose husband Harsh, himself a cop on the case, undermines his wife at every step. Even Madhav Mishra is given a lesson on being ‘woke’ by his newly wedded wife Ratna. Pankaj Tripathi is the star of the show. He brings the much-need energy and interest and delights with an equal mix of seriousness and straight-faced humour. If not for Madhav Mishra, the show would have been a slow burn.
Overall, Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors successfully ratchets up the tension in the first half but the story slowly looses grip towards the end, becomes predictable and monotonous. Still better than season 1, though! So, yes a good one-time watch.
Xoxo
Ritwika
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