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Scroll.in
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scroll.in
‘Criminal Justice – A Family Matter' review: All in a day's work for Pankaj Tripathi's Madhav Mishra
Pankaj Tripathi's Madhav Mishra has gone from being one of the reasons to follow the Criminal Justice series to being the main attraction. The formidable lawyer, whose sangfroid comes wrapped in a steeliness forged by his humble origins, was introduced in the JioHotstar show's first season in 2019. In the fourth and latest season, Madhav is once again at the front and centre of the proceedings. In the third season from 2022, Madhav had moved from the back of a Maruti van into his own office. Vertical mobility awaits Madhav in Criminal Justice – A Family Matter. He is offered a position in a prestigious law firm. But before that, Madhav – part attorney and part detective – must solve the mystery of who has slashed a nurse's throat, and why. Roshni (Asha Negi) is found dead at the apartment of her lover, the surgeon Raj (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub). Although Raj is separated from his wife Anju (Surveen Chawla), they share parenting responsibilities of their Asperger's syndrome-affected daughter Ira (Khushi Bhardwaj). Raj is an instant suspect, as is Anju, who lives in the apartment across from Raj. Among the returning characters are the advocate Mandira (Mita Vashisht), public prosecutor Lekha (Shweta Basu Prasad) and police inspector Gauri (Kalyanee Mulay). Madhav's super-chirpy wife Ratna (Khushboo Atre) is back too, promoted from beauty parlour owner to unofficial paralegal – a contrivance that gives Ratna something to do in a show that doesn't really have room for her. Directed by Rohan Sippy – who also helmed the second and third editions – the Hindi-language A Family Matter is an improvement on its most recent, overwrought season. The latest eight-episode series is based on a story by Harman Wadala, Rahul Ved Prakash, Varsha Ramachandran and Riya Poojary, and a screenplay by Wadala, Sandeep Jain and Sameer Mishra. The themes include temptation – a partnership for Madhav, Roshni's unwise dalliance with Raj, the efforts of Lekha and Mandira to avenge their previous defeats by Madhav. Mandira dismisses Madhav as the 'fluke artist of the century'. There are some missteps for Madhav and his assistants Shivani (Barkha Singh) and Deep (Aatm Prakash Mishra) as they develop their defence. This being a legal drama with heavy lashings of a detective thriller, the focus is on the investigation rather than meaningful character development. Inspector Gauri pursues leads with eyeball-straining zeal, but she is no match for Madhav's Sherlockian laser gaze. The ample twists and red herrings provide a distraction from the lip service paid to 'justice for all'. Madhav's gradual entry into the upper reaches of society, coupled with Ratna's aspirational ways, allow a subtle class bias to creep into Criminal Justice. Larger questions of the meaning of justice for victims and perpetrators have been set aside for a jolly good time in Madhav Mishra's delightful company. The series has settled for mild fireworks inside the courtroom and light comedy outside it, chiefly emanating chiefly from Madhav's textbook Hindi-aided drollery. The most engrossing scenes revolve around the cross-examination of witnesses, which gives Madhav pause for thought – is his folksy approach always successful? This is the only extent to which Madhav grows as a character. Pankaj Tripathi is typically superb as Madhav, smoothly moving from self-deprecating wit to empathy. But the lack of a serious challenger to Madhav is glaring, despite impressive efforts by the advocates played by Shweta Basu Prasad and Mita Vashisht. The easy-going tone sobers up only in the presence of Surveen Chawla's murder accused. Chawla is excellent as Anju, whose personality has hidden layers and secrets. Chawla plays Anju with the right correct of gravitas and feeling, giving A Family Matter much-needed heft. Play
News.com.au
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Bizarre Prince Harry move we never saw coming in 2025
COMMENT We love a mystery. A gone girl, a podcast, a true crime investigation, which is handy because we are faced with a Sherlockian puzzler that will require a magnifying glass and everyone bringing a packed lunch to try and solve. Have you noticed? Something strange and unusual of late? Something missing? A certain silence, a space, a void? A one time super glued-on fixture of news headlines, a mainstay of People covers and all round general thorn in the side of the British royal family? Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex has disappeared. The DoS is MIA. So far, 2025 has to be the quietest year on record for the 40-year-old who appears to have vanished into the honeysuckled thin air of Montecito. The royal father-of-two has, this year, seem to have become something of a comparative recluse, keeping his head firmly down. There have been no denunciations of the press in interviews or speeches given on New York stages where, dark blue-suited, he passionately rails against the ills of social media or him, tan-blazered, raising funds for his mainstay charities. Ditto, no polo, no red carpets, no TV projects, no books, no podcasts, no beachy holidays, no Katy Perry concerts, no private jets, no drinks at Ellen's place and no even being papped leaving a local Santa Barbara restaurant after putting away a T-bone. We are living in a very strange Sussex-y time indeed. By and large this year, the vast majority of the times the duke has been seen, it has been being one half of a double act with his wife Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex. In January the couple found themselves, wholly unfairly, at the centre of a bit of a s**tstorm after they turned up to lend a hand during the LA fires before Harry, very much on the down low, occasionally popped up to thank first responders. Prince Harry stopped & thanked South Dakota firefighters in S. Cal. Monday asking q's & chatting--no media in sight. He also talked with CalFire personnel. SDWF and 3 VFD’s (Whispering Pines, Black Hawk, and Fairburn) are part of a task force assisting with wildfires in S. Cal. — SD Wildland Fire (SDWF) (@SDWildlandFire) January 23, 2025 He also made a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance at One805's Rock for Responders fundraiser in LA. In February, for one week, it was High Wattage Harry A-Go-Go at the Invictus Games in Vancouver. In March he earned himself not even an IMDB credit with a cameo in the final episode of his wife's generally critically panned With Love, Meghan playing his favourite role, beamingly adoring husband. In April he flew to London to attend court where he is legally challenging what is technically his father's government over his security arrangements, having lost his automatic police protection in 2020. Last week, we got another chance to really prove he's the world's proudest Wife Guy when he played supportive plus one when the duchess spoke at the TIME100 Summit in New York. Also during that trip, the Sussexes unveiled the Lost Screen Memorial which remembers 50 young people who have lost their lives due to harms of social media. Harry, as far as I can tell, has not done a day of publicly facing paid work. Despite being the Chief Impact Officer of coaching platform BetterUp he did not appear at their recent Uplift Summit, an event he spoke at for the previous four years. We are at least 120 days into 2025 so far and Harry has been seen on fewer of them than there have been UFO sightings in New Jersey. (Because where else would the alien invasion begin but in the birthplace of disco fries and Danny DeVito?) Never has there been a time in the last two decades, by and large, that the world has seen so little of the Duke of Sussex. Has Harry, I wonder, pulled off something truly extraordinary – by and large is this the shockingly quiet, peaceful life he always dreamed about? Where he can do Dad things like pickups and drop offs and where no one is busy defining him as the Boy Who Will Never Be King? After all, he has told his story, cashed the cheques and, maybe, given up on expectantly waiting by the phone for his father King Charles to stutter out some sort of half-hearted 'sorry' over the yapping of the Jack Russells. That's one view. Another is that, five years on from Megxit, the Duke of Sussex's life has ended up in something of a cul-de-sac. Last month he revealed he was 'heartbroken' to have parted ways with Sentebale, the charity that he and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho co-founded nearly 20 years ago, the duo along with the rest of the trustees having resigned in protest over chairwoman Dr Sophie Chandauka. Dr Chandauka has accused Harry and the organisation of 'bullying and harassment at scale'. The UK's Charity Commission is currently investigating concerns about the Sentebale. I'm absolutely sure that Harry does a hell of a lot of work behind the scenes for the Invictus and the Sussexes' Archewell Foundation's projects, we are a hell of long way off the 152 engagements, at least, that he clocked up in his final full year of official royal life in 2019. The interesting contrast here is that Harry appears to have withdrawn from view while Meghan is more out there and in the limiest of lights, appearing on podcasts (her own and a friend's), being interviewed by the New York Times, debuting her Netflix show, launching her As Ever range of food products and posting, posting, posting over on Instagram. As anyone who lives near a fault line knows, the thing to do in an earthquake is 'duck and cover'. Who knew he would seemingly take it so very literally?
New York Times
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
For Morris Chestnut, R&B Is Therapeutic
When Morris Chestnut first heard about 'Watson,' a new CBS medical mystery set within the Sherlock Holmes mythology, he was interested. But once he read the script by Craig Sweeny — the show's creator and one of the writers behind that other Sherlockian CBS series, 'Elementary' — he grew even more excited. 'He has so many crazy, creative ideas,' Chestnut, 56, said. 'So I rushed to it. I said, 'I have to do it.'' 'Watson' opens as Chestnut's character, Dr. John Watson, is rebuilding his life six months after the death of his dear friend and partner, Sherlock Holmes. Holmes has left Watson a parting gift: a medical clinic, in Pittsburgh, devoted to curing rare disorders. 'He's treating patients, and while he's treating those patients, he somewhat also has to treat himself,' Chestnut said. Studying to be a doctor is stressful, but so is studying to sound like one, and it requires a certain level of sacrifice — especially for an N.F.L. addict. 'When I'm doing the show, I literally have to pick one game on Sunday,' Chestnut said of learning the medical jargon that flows like honey from Watson's mouth. 'In the middle of commercial breaks, I'm looking at the script.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
