Your Honor - A slow burn yet well worth the watch.

Your Honor : Source-SonyLiv

Language: Hindi

Streaming on: SonyLiv

Genre: Drama, Thriller, Legal

Hindi web-series thriller 'Your Honor' that dropped on SonyLiv is directed by E. Niwas and is based on the Israeli TV Series of the same name.

If one watches the trailer, it would be safe to assume that 'Your Honor' is a legal courtroom drama because the protagonist is a Judge. Surprisingly, most of the action takes place outside the courtroom. Then what is it all about? Before I address that question, a little introduction to-

The Cast

The series features an ensemble revolving around Jimmy Sheirgill as upstanding Judge Bishan Khosla, Pulkit Makol as Abeer Khosla, Bishan Khosla's introverted son, Mita Vashisht as fiery Inspector Kiran Sekhon, Parul Gulati as Ruma Pathak, Judge Khosla's protégé, Varun Badola as an upright CRPF Officer, Kashi Samthar, Yashpal Sharma as drug-peddler Pandit, Kunj Anand as Harman Mudki, part of Mudki gang, Suhasini Mulay as Gursheel Tandon, Bishan Khosla's mother-in-law and of course Anuj Singh Duhan as Satnam Mudki.

Now coming down to -

The Plot

The story unfolds when Judge Bishan Khosla (Jimmy Sheirgill) discovers that his son, Abeer Khosla (Pulkit Makol) causes a hit-and-run accident. To make matters worse, this comes at a time when Khosla Senior is being considered as a serious contender for the position of High Court Judge.

Initially, Judge Khosla decides to do the right thing and takes his son to the nearest police station. However, when he learns that the victim is none other than Satnam Mudki (Anuj Singh Duhan), an infamous Ludhiana gangster, Bishan Khosla decides to take matters into his own hands in order to protect his son, as he himself had sentenced Satbir Singh, Satnam Mudki’s father to prison.

This sets off a series of events where the Judge goes to great extents to cover up his son’s involvement in the hit-and-run accident.

When a simple attempt to destroy his own car, the main piece of evidence in the accident, goes awry, the righteous Judge goes down a dark path deceiving and manipulating those dear to him and exploiting the loopholes in the legal system.

At times, the underlying premise reminds you of 'Breathe: Season 1', where the father goes to great extents, almost to the point of madness to save his son's life. However, unlike 'Breathe: Season 1', the fact that the protagonist himself is a judge makes the web series all the more interesting just to see how things will play out. Also, at no point does Bishan Khosla lose his mental balance in the attempt to "protect his son".

Cinemania Guru Analysis

The series is essentially a character-driven series and it's really wonderful to see how seemingly “good” people do wrong things when they themselves are on the line.

'Your Honor' has a number of things going for it like a fantastic storyline, very good screenplay (with a few exceptions), and character development, however, the series falls short in its acting department, especially in dialogue delivery.      

Pulkit Makol's dialogue delivery could have been much better. Jimmy Sheirgill, in his attempt to play the calm man, also delivers a lukewarm performance in the first half. However, this is compensated for in the second half of the season. Parul Gulati, who plays the naive Ruma Phatak also suffers from similar issues.

Fortunately, many of the other actors like Mita Vashisht (Inspector Kiran Sekhon), Varun Badola (Kashi Samthar), Yashpal Sharma (Pandit), and Kunj Anand (Harman Mudki) play their roles very convincingly.  

Varun Badola as Kashi Samthar who is a CRPF Officer has been a given a lot of screen time and has truly outdone himself in his role. Mita Vashisht is as usual outstanding in her role as Kiran Sekhon. 

Both Yashpal Sharma as Pandit, a drug-peddler in Ludhiana who hails from Uttaranchal, and Kunj Anand as Harman Mudki, the aggressive heir of the Mudki gang have played their roles exceptionally well.

Verdict and Rating

The first few episodes are great. The show then drags out a little bit in the first half with the introduction of a sub-plot involving Abeer's Sports teacher which has no bearing on the overall plot.

However, the show makes an excellent recovery in the 2nd half which keeps you on tenterhooks till the very end.

By the end of the season, one wonders who the villain really is? The show also raises quite a few social issues that have not been depicted much on the screen like the discriminatory treatment meted out to the 'Bhaiya' community from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in states like Punjab.

“Be patient. Everything is coming together.”

All, in all, the above quote would be a great way of summing up this series.

Each episode is around 30-35 minutes long making it a great weekend binge. Undoubtedly, it is a slow burn but it is well worth your time.

Cinemania Guru Rating - 8.0/10

You can stream 'Your Honor' on SonyLiv.

Extra Extra 📰 - The original Israeli Series 'Your Honor' has also been re-made into an American TV Series of the same name featuring none other than Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad fame.