Manpriya Singh
Any series that’s let you in on who’s committed the crime in the first few minutes is not banking on who dunnit premise. Nor does Your Honor, currently airing on SonyLiv. Initially, it’s a little taxing on the imagination that any adaptation of the Israeli series Kvodo could actually transport you to Civil Lines, Pritam Nagar, Model Town or the CRPF colony in Ludhiana. But it does and how, starting right with the upright sessions judge Jimmy Sheirgill playing Bishan Khosla, a single father in reckoning for promotion as a High Court judge.
The migrant issue
Punjab’s cultural landscape is just as much defined by migrants from Bihar and UP as the native Punjabis. Several issues faced by them are highlighted. stereotypes like if they are poor migrants, they must be inclined towards crime are challenged.
The writer Ishan Trivedi can take a clear bow for not subscribing to Indian cinema’s over the top idea of honesty and etching out Jimmy’s character with the darkest shades of grey. “If judge will commit a crime himself, then who will judge him,” he says to a questioning Mita Vashisht, a seasoned woman cop Kiran Sekhon, who is surprised by the fact that a judge should bother about an expired certificate or two of his vehicle.
It takes the end of the first episode or two to figure out that the narrative is banking on a slow-reveal script, the sub-plots that unfold and the resulting drama that unravels. Which it does, especially when the one run over happens to be the son of a gangster Satbir Mudki.
There are a few departures from logic in the script but nothing that can’t be ironed out by the performances. Varun Badola as the CRPF guy Kashi Samthar and Jimmy’s old friend nails the Bhojpuri accent.
There is a break from the feverish pace that unfolds in India-centric crime thriller series and the jarring background score.
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