Guilty Minds Review: Shriya Pilgaonkar's Amazon Prime Series Keeps the Court Drama Refreshingly Real and Entertaining (LatestLY Exclusive)

Guilty Minds review: Courtroom dramas are highly exciting. It not only keeps you hooked for its several twists and turns, the information you get regarding law also makes it alluring. Yes, overdramatisation is the curse here but Jolly LLB did manage to prove to all that one need not be over-the-top and screechy in a courtroom while presenting evidences. Thus, watching Guilty Minds left us quite pleased with the way proceedings are executed. Guilty Minds Trailer: Shriya Pilgaonkar And Varun Mitra Are Seen As Ambitious Lawyers In This Amazon Prime Show (Watch Video).

Guilty Minds deals with a different episode in every case with Kashaf Qaze (Shriya Pilgaonkar) and Deepak Rana (Varun Mitra) butting heads on nearly every one of them. They are friends with palpable romantic tension with Deepak losing no opportunity to flirt with her. Deepak is an outsider who grew in ranks and is now the youngest partner in a popular law firm. Kashaf is the talented daughter of an experience and revered judge Munnawar Qaze (Benjamin Gilani). How both of them fight their cases while also navigating their own issues form the crux of the series.

Guilty Minds is the best case study on how court dramas can be subtle and yet evoke the right responses. It's sharp, precise, collected, contemporary and factual. The writers should be commended for understanding the fact that the audience today are exposed to some great courtroom dramas from around the world. They won't hail a half-baked, outlandish, dialoguebaazi for a court case.

What also works is the fact that despite being mellow on theatrics, it never comprises on the entertainment quotient. There's a subtle yet stirring hint of romance, a few social ills, hint of mystery, catchy one-liners, personal duels, intimacy  and more. Yet none of this overshadow the way the cases are handled. The cases themselves are quite varied and that's the biggest winner here. There's one on an algorithm that helps its engineer to form new compositions by 'sampling' available songs on the internet, a startup founder's termination because of her pregnancy, a dating app forged to fool young men, gaming obsession spilling in the real world, Guilty Minds' writers have tried to include the issues of today's world. That makes it really interesting.

Although we still do have a few grouses. While themes are contemporary, a few cases feel a bit cliched and old. The driverless car plot, we have watched it in the sloppy futuristic thriller Ok Computer and so is the cola company's water stealing activities. We aren't invested in these cases as much. The fact that one theme is addressed in every episode, sometimes the judgement is pretty conveniently reached. We all know court cases are unending, so that feels a bit rushed. Amazon Prime India to Include Mubi, Docubay, Eros Now and More on Its Platform, Know All About The Addon Subscription Plans and How to Access Them!.

Watch the trailer of Guilty Minds here:

Performances are just bang on. Be it Kulbhushan Kharbanda who runs a high-profile and famous law firm Khanna Khanna & Associates or the stoic yet upright judge Benjamin Gilani, everybody suits the role they are playing. Personally, it felt so good to see Gilani on screen after so many years. As a kid, we used to watch him often on Television. Felt like a piece of childhood returned back to us. Supriya Pilgaonkar and Sugandha Garg are a treat to watch. Both are partners and have their unique way of solving cases. Guilty Minds never judges one over the other and that's another win for the series. Varun Mitra is quite likeable as a lawyer as he puts across his point humbly without indulging in any theatrics.

Yay!

-realism to court dramas

-no over dramatisation of events

-impressive performances

Nay!

-obvious cases

-rushed judgement

Final Thoughts

Guilty Minds understood the assignment perfectly that a court room drama can be effective without being overly verbose and annoyingly hysterical. Guilty Minds streams on Amazon Prime.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 22, 2022 05:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).