‘Yahan par koyi bhi farishta nahi hai’ (No one is an angel out here)
When Jimmy Sheirgill mouths this line somewhere in the middle of this well crafted 12 episode crime series currently streaming on Sony LIV, as a viewer you nod in approval. After all, as a 50 something judge who is peaking his career and is gearing up for that big seat there in the high court, he is not just believable but also righteous. However, all the value system starts crumbling down soon enough when his only son in the late teens [Pulkit Makol] ends up finding himself in a hit-n-run case.
A number of players get involved. A CRPF officer [Varun Badola] who is carrying an emotional debt, a senior cop [Mita Vashisht] who is honest to the core but then doesn’t mind bending for a larger cause, an insider gangster on the rise [Kunj Anand] who is more of a businessman than a criminal, a rustic outsider gangster [Yashpal Sharma] who doesn’t allow his inferiority complex to come in the way of his big game-plan, an upstart lawyer [Parul Gulati] who wants to do everything as per the book and a granny [Suhasini Mulay] who has ‘insaaf’ in her blood.
Well, with so many characters coming together, Your Honor – with a unique Ludhiana setting where Sikh as well as UP ‘bhaiyaa’ ganglords collide on a daily basis – is a thrilling drama with ample twists and turns galore. What starts off as a possible father-son tale with former trying to safeguard the interests of the latter turns out to be a far layered drama that one could have envisaged. In fact this is the best part of this E Niwas directed series, adapted from Israeli series Kvodo, as there are no predictable moments with the guessing game constantly on.
What is particularly exciting is to see the supremely cold and manipulative, yet calculative and intelligent character brought to screen by Jimmy. He plays it subtle, which is a far cry from the character that he played in Rangbaaz Phir Se, raises his volume may be just twice in the series, and quietly goes about getting the job done. Of course, a lot of it is also due to the manner in which everything is written on paper. However, to bring it all on camera is a different ballgame altogether and this is where Jimmy brings to fore his experience of around 25 years.
This is one of the major reasons why Your Honor stays on to be a cat and mouse game as Jimmy keeps spinning a web of lies and deceit in practically every episode. So whether it is Varun, his wife [Richa Pallod], Mita, Parul, Suhasini, Kunj or even other supportive characters played by Bikramjeet Kanwarpal [a rival judge] – just about no one is spared from the games he plays.
Meanwhile, it’s the game played by director E Niwas with the sequence of events that he has to hid disposal as well as the master twist that he brings towards the end that makes Your Honor super exciting from start to finish. Yes, for those used to witnessing the setting of a series in a Delhi or a Mumbai, a Ludhiana set up may seem a bit distant. Also, the manner in which Puklit’s guilt keeps taking a toll on him every now and then seems way too stretched as well. Ditto about his interactions with his granny as well as the sports teacher [Taniya Kalra].
Moreover, as is the situation currently, no series can perhaps be made without liberal dose of cuss words and that’s the case here as well. That said, it is still justified due to the crime setting. Thankfully though, there is zero nudity in the series, which is some mercy. The dialogues though are just right for the core plot of Your Honor and you particularly like the interrogation scenes, as well as the procedures followed with the nitty-gritty of the law explained well to the audiences and that too in s subtle way instead of being forcefully fed.
This is also the key mainstay of Your Honor, which is that nothing is really forcefully fed to the audience. It all flows organically and though the middle portions of the series could have been a bit tighter, the performances (especially by Jimmy Sheirgill and Mita Vashisht) as well as the heart-stopping twist in the climax more than makes up for it all.
One of the best OTT shows that is currently streaming today, Your Honor is Jimmy Sheirgill’s own Drishyam.