Guilty Minds Review: slow paced and lengthy courtroom drama with new trails in new episodes with only few are effective
Guilty Minds Web Series Rating: 2 Stars
Just watched Guilty Minds web series on Amazon Prime Video. So let’s analyze the cast, release date, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this web series.
Cast: Shriya Pilgaonkar, Varun Mitra, Namrata Sheth, Sugandha Garg, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Satish Kaushik, Benjamin Gilani, Virendra Saxena, Diksha Juneja, Pranay Pachauri and Deepak Kalra
Director: Shefali Bhushan and Jayant Digambar Somalkar
Release Date: 22nd April 2022 (Amazon Prime Video)
Duration: 10 Episodes/ 45 Minutes
Story: Each episode of the show is devoted to a single trial that is concluded within a runtime of roughly 50 minutes while the equally crucial stories outside the courtroom pan out alongside and address another set of issues centred on shifting choices, questionable certitudes and convoluted loyalties.
On one side is a young idealistic lawyer Kashaf Quaze (Shriya Pilgaonkar) who, with her associate Vandana Kathpalia (Sugandha Garg), instinctively gravitates towards cases that give full rein to the activist in her. On the other is an ambitious and go-getting advocate, Deepak Rana (Varun Mitra) who is prone to being fast and loose with his moves.
All three are friends from law college. They usually find themselves on opposite sides of the law. Kashaf is a idealist and takes up the cases of the common man while the ambitious Deepak is a partner at a top law firm representing the big shots. How their cases and their personal lives intertwine propels the narrative forward.
Deepak is a partner in a law firm run by L.N. Khanna (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) and his two sons and a grandson Shubhrat (Pranay Pachauri). Deepak is the only outsider in Khanna Khanna and Associates but thanks to the faith that the patriarch has in him, he is every inch an integral part of the legal enterprise and enjoys tremendous clout.
In the first episode “Meri Tumhari” of a leading actress Mala (Karishma Tanna) suing a powerful filmmaker Divendu Khurana (Atul Kumar) for rape. He is the one who launched her, but after a starlet accuses him of sexual assault, Mala musters up the courage to expose him. As the court battle uncovers the areas that are not all black and white, Kashaf attempts to find justice for Mala while Deepak defends Khurana in his plea for innocence.
In the Second Episode “Finisher” A 19-year-old engineering student Prateek Malhotra (Meet Vohra) brutally kills a cab driver. Despite it being an open and shut murder case, Kashaf takes it up and eventually finds the motive behind his act. Shubhangi (Namrata Sheth) who is LN Khanna’s granddaughter joins Deepak’s team against the will of her cousin Shubhrat.
In the Third episode “Paani” Deepak is representing a cola company accused of causing a drought in a village in Maharashtra. Kashaf and Vandana are on the other side. In the other case, Under pressure from Bhalla (Satish Kaushik), Deepak hires a private investigator to dig deeper into the allegations against Justice Quaze (Benjamin Gilani) who is father of Kashaf.
In the Fourth Episode “Spermaa“, Lata Jha (Niya Kumar) gets fired from a startup company on grounds of misconduct and behavioural issues. She approaches Kashaf and Vandana for legal help.
On the other hand, Shubhrat girlfriend, Ria Singh (Diksha Juneja) breaks shocking news that damages the Quaze family’s reputation. The environment at KKA becomes grim with the ever growing rivalry between Deepak and Shubhrat. Ria and Shubhrat decide to take Deepak down together.
In the Fifth Episode “Aalaap“, A group of music directors led by Anwar Saleem (Shakti Kapoor) decide to sue a guy Antrio Banerjee (Joel Pinto) who’s come up with a music software that samples music from various songs to create a new song. Kashaf holds a press conference to prove her father’s innocence. Deepak tries to rekindle old flames with Kashaf while on the music case in Mumbai.
In the Sixth Episode “Ehno“, Deepak hands over her first independent case to Shubhangi. She is to defend a driverless car company that’s accused of causing an accident. A bitter Abhijeet (Akshay Baghel) opens up a can of worms about Deepak. Kashaf confronts her mother about a past incident that’s haunted her. Ria goes to Himachal to dig deeper into the Bhalla case.
In the Seventh Episode “Deep Waters“, Deepak’s brother-in-law Pankaj Dogra (Nishant Kaul) seeks his help about a case which involves a Private Security Agent killing himself. Deepak takes the case to Kashaf and Vandana while LN Khanna and Shubhangi defend the private security company in an MP court. Bhalla warns Deepak to shut Ria Singh’s investigation down. Shubhrat got to know that Deepak helps Kashaf in the case against their own firm KKA.
In the Eighth Episode “Plan Your Baby“, Geeta Verma (Priyanka Sethia) accuses an IVF clinic of giving them a damaged embryo, resulting in their son being born with a disability. Kashaf manages to confront the demons from her past. Deepak goes back to his village to find out more about Bhalla’s history. Parvathy gives Deepak shocking information about the Quaze case.
In the Ninth Episode “Alola“, Shubhangi takes up the case of her friends who want to sue a dating app for fraud and cheating. Shubhrat convinces their father and uncle to fire Deepak from KKA. Justice Quaze gets a threat letter. He tells Kashaf about it and that Deepak is swimming with sharks in murky waters. She confronts Deepak about it.
In the last Episode “Guilt“, Kashaf decides to leave the Quaze house after getting some devastating information that his father prevent his son and help him illegally. Deepak goes to Mumbai in search of his childhood friend Ratan Badra (Nitin Dhiman) who might have more leads about the Bhalla case. Shubhrat calls for a meeting of the partners of KKA to vote Deepak out but LN Khanna and Shubhangi votes for him that saves him in the firm. A final verdict is given on the Bhalla case and consequences follow.
Positives
1. Excellent Performances
2. Few Episodes
3. Direction
Negatives
1. Length
2. Climax
3. Screenplay
4. Unnecessary subplots
Durgesh Tiwary’s View : When I have watched the trailer of this series planned to watch in on in free time because looks interesting with good star-cast.
The protagonists; friends from law college, almost but never quite lovers, Kashaf Quaze and Deepak Rana usually find themselves on opposite sides of the law. Idealistic Kashaf is into public interest litigation while Deepak, a ruthlessly ambitious rising star is a partner at a top law firm that represents big corporations. Deepak’s new junior Shubhangi Khanna, the heiress to the firm is attracted to him, adding fuel to the fire. Shubhangi’s insecure and competitive cousin, Shubhrat Khanna, wants Deepak out of the firm.
Guilty Minds is an interesting ensemble with many more actors appearing in each episode which meshes well with each other. Work has been done to make all these characters appear fleshed-out, with lives they lead when they are not arguing their matters.
It proves that it is entirely possible for a show to be contemporary and sharp, reflective of societal mores and biases, and manage to insert a topline a welcome liberal attitude towards both criminals and perpetrators. Each trial that the series showcases probes questions of both morality and legality with a keen and mellow sense of drama.
Each trial that the series showcases probes questions of both morality and legality with a keen and mellow sense of drama. It is a multifaceted series packed with lingering paradoxes, startling revelations and conflicting acts of defense and offence and bolstered by a bunch of steady performances that allow all the opacities to flourish. What works is the wide variety of the cases that the makers pick in each of their episodes. From a high-profile sexual assault case to a teenage murderer, who is addicted to the violent mobile games of today. And from big cola companies sucking out water from drought-stricken villages to the injustice that women face in their corporate lives. Each story has an exciting premise and social subtext to it that is relevant but not strikingly real. This is because the way these cases are pitched in the court is too straight-jacketed and convenient in how it eventually gets solved at the end of the episode.
The show’s strongest episode has to be the one when these hotshot lawyers travel to rural Jalna in Maharashtra where villagers are fighting a cola company plant. Right from the episode’s background music, hard-hitting dialogues to its authenticity of characters and the court set up, it all simply stands out. Bhushan manages to strike a balance between these real-life cases and an absorbing screenplay. Overall is not layered and complex for the cases it tackles, but it’s surely a well-made ensemble .My View on this web-series Time Pass only if you like courtroom drama.
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