Your Honor: Slow, but a good watch if you have patience
The story
Your Honor is an Indian adaption of the Israeli series, Kvodo. Taking to the roots, writer Ishan Trivedi has based the plot in Punjab. Bhishan (Jimmy Shergil) is a respectable High Court judge. He is known for dispensing justice righteously. But, the love for his 18-year-old son Abeer (Pulkit Makol), forces him to take steps that he wouldn’t normally take. Abeer has been desperately trying to get a driving license. He has failed in the first two attempts, and has been told he has failed in the third as well. Gripped with anxiety, the young lad takes his dad’s car and recklessly drives on the highway. His negligence causes an accident, where Abeer rams a young lad, who happens to be the son of a renowned gangster in Punjab.
Abeer confides in his father and Bhishan goes out of his way to protect his son by violating the law and tampering with the evidence. Bhishan takes Kashi’s (Varun Badola) help to dismiss all the evidence. He hires a young and needy boy named Gunjan (Kashi’s relative) to take the blame. And, in a bid to save his son, Bhishan distracts the gangster family by giving up Gunjan’s name. Now, with gangster family after Gunjan's life, things take a turn when Roma (Parul Gulati), the lawyer which Bhishan has appointed for Gunjan, starts digging deeper into the case. What will happen when the gangster family find out the real culprit? And, Gunjan, will he come out of it alive? For that, you will have to watch the show.
Though the plot is riveting, it only begins gathering steam after the sixth episode. The introduction of some characters later prove to be a waste of time. For instance, Abeer’s involvement with his college sports professor
was a needless distraction.
Jimmy Shergil’s part was very nuanced and he has played it with conviction. However, Mita Vashist takes the cake. She displays the varied sides of her character with ease — diplomacy, rage, a calm demeanour. She has even lent her charming voice by singing the lullaby to her son in the series. She has taken the perfect intonation in order to accentuate her character as the cop. All through the series she knew perfectly well, about who has committed the crime and has played that tricky part of keeping the secret well. She displays some outstanding method acting skills.
Parul Gulati has really experimented with her role as Roma. It may seem like she is playing dumb, but she is an ambushed narrator, getting viewers to think about what’s coming next. Suhasini Mulay’s character as Bhishan’s mother-in-law is instrumental at delivering the sharp turns. Yashpal Sarma plays his best ‘bhaiya’ gangsta avatar adding requisite flavour to the plot.
The dialogues are simple, but the post-production team should automate a translation, when incorporating the use of Punjabi in certain scenes. The direction is strategic, and builds progressively with every passing episode. A great watch, but requires patience for it to build. Overall a good show!
—Review by Heer Kothari