Guilty Minds

Indian movies and shows, from its feel, characters behavior, body language, dialogues, story, look, cinematography, and other minor and major things should always be localized and Indianized, rather than imitating flashy American content, whether it's a realistic movie or show, or commercial; some inspiration is fine, and of course the storytelling, production, writing, direction, acting, originality should always be of very very high quality.

We now officially have a genuine legal drama in Guilty Minds. Prime Video India's latest series focuses on the cases argued by lawyers based in Delhi with each episode focusing on a different case.

Kashaf (Shriya) & Deepak (Varun) have known each other from their law school days. Present day, Kashaf is running a small firm along with her friend, Vandana. Varun is a partner at Khanna & Associates, a reputed law firm. The overarching theme/plot focuses on Kashaf's father; Justice Quaze's defamation and Khanna's biggest client; Bhalla.

Guilty Minds is an engaging legal drama. It has its usual mix of relationships, the accompanying barage of emotions and so on. But the cases shown in each episode address important issues/relevant themes. Like the Blue Whale Challenge, viability of driverless cars, farmers running short of water, #metoo among others.

Shriya Pilgaonkar, who plays Kashaf is the star of the show. She is righteous & the allegations against her father shake her life. Varun Mitra as Deepak is excellent as Kashaf's closest friend. Other standouts include #sugandhagarg (Vandana) & Namrata Sheth (Shubhangi).

Guilty Minds is one of the best Indian shows we have got in a while. It manages to tackle relevant topics in what is an accurate depiction of the Indian judicial setting.

This is one of the best courtroom drama shows that i have ever seen. The performances of the the whole team is outstanding. At one scene two of the protagonists discussing a case and male counterpart says that there is nothing like white and black outright. There are Greys. This very well sets the mood of the series. I really enjoyed this show.

I'm very confused whether I shall suggest this show to anyone or not. I'll why you the reason why I think I shall and otherwise.

Reasons in Favor: 1. This show shows a grey shade for everyone. No one is completely black or white and the story, direction and acting will make you feel bad for both sides in almost all the cases.

2. They way they portraited the courts and the arguments was real good. They showed what exactly happens in a court.

3. The terms like 'My Learned Friend', 'Mere Kabil Dost', "Lordship', 'Honorable Court' and many more are used appropriately.

Reasons in Against: 1. It features different stories in different episodes with a story going on in the background about the main leads, which made me a little uncomfortable as both the stories do not relate with each other. I really felt that it'll be like Made in Heaven by Zoya Akhtar, where the background stories of main character and the stories of new characters in each episodes were somewhere similar, which advances the main story.

2. After watching the entire story I couldn't recollect the story as a whole and that's why not able to connect with it properly.

For the above reason, I'll, give an overall rating of 6 stars to the movie for the performance of all the actors in the series and there is no doubt about the acting skills of the actors.

Anwar Says: Courtroom Drama has been a favourite subject of Bollywood directors and this time it is being presented by one of the most famous lawyer family, Shanti and Prashant Bhushan, member Shefali Bhushan. Normally courtrooms theatrics overpower the script but here nothing has gone overboard.

Questions raised in each episode are pertinent and contemporary and not preachy. Three college friends , two of them pro-bono lawyers and third a high profile are not only confined to Delhi court cases but travel through out for some high profile cases . Each episode has a new case but the story of main characters are running simultaneously.

Shriya Pilgaonkar has already proved her caliber on OTT , Varun Mitra looked suave as hotshot lawyer. Though in some of the cases the lustre of the drama is missing but the realistic presentation, particularly the choice of judges and set of courtroom and the pinching dialogues encourages you to go for next episode. Watch it in parts , 3.5/5 from me.

#amazonprime #anwarsays #courtroomdrama #probono #ShriyaPilgaonkar #VarunMitra #shantibhushanfamily #GuiltyMinds.