Jan 10, 2011 03:04 PM
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Remember Sherlock Holmes, Father of all Detectives, with his quaint eccentricities and cocaine addiction, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who took the English literary circle by storm? Who can forget Defense Lawyer, Perry Mason, created by Earle Stanley Gardner, whose incisive court room cross questioning could resolve innumerable seemingly insoluble mysteries? Above all the much discussed and admired Belgian Mastermind Hercule Poirot, the ultimate mascot of cerebral detection, created by the Queen of Detective stories, Ms. Agatha Christie and his passion for logic and order? Aha! Ms. Marple, the deceptively wooly spinster of Village St. Mary Mead, again a creation of Christie, who is irritatingly inquisitive and unexpectedly agile when it comes to fathoming the modus operandi and ulterior motive behind a crime. Followed by the famous tele-dectives, Karamchand Jasoos (Pankaj Kapoor) and his dumb assistant Kitty, with his fetish for carrots and intermittent snubs for Kitty for her dumbheadedness. The handsome Remington Steel (Pierce Brosnan), the roguish con man and Laura Holt the detective, an irresistible combination of sleuthing and romance? Being a murder mystery addict, I was missing all these and much more and the answer to all my prayers came in the form of K. D. Pathak, the suave and urbane, defence lawyer with his pet takiya kalam "Jo hota hai woh dikhta nahin aur jo dikhta hai woh hota nahin" and I am glued to the TV screen every Saturday from 8.00 to 9.00 pm on Sony TV.
K.D. Pathak (played by Ronit Roy) is the urban Robin Hood who takes to defending convicts who have been given up as beyond emancipation. Every episode has a different case or a story. Pathak is pitted against Public Prosecutor, Ms. Maya Phadnis (played by Tina Chaudhry), who is irritatingly hell bent on proving the accused as guilty. Lo! Unfurls the court room drama refreshingly underplayed and well restrained but at the same time irresistibly gripping and irrefutably well scripted
The serial opens with the murder of Super Star Rehan Khan. The accused is Dhiren Shah, a film producer, who is seen brandishing a revolver at khan in front of glaring flash bulbs, a horde of shutterbugs and public going crazy to get a glimpse of the celeb at a film premier party. But Dhiren Shah confesses to K.D. that though he did want to kill Rehan Khan as he had cheated him yet he could not do so because the trigger of his revolver had got jammed at the last minute. Will K.D. Pathak be able to prove Shah's innocence?
A famous magician in his popular-with-audience sword slitting act actually kills his female assistant whom he loves passionately in full view of the spectators. His ace rival magician Goga is also under suspicion, more so because an anonymous caller keeps giving hints and clues over phone to K.D. about Goga's guilt and the caller is always right as though he has witnessed the act himself. What will be K.D. Pathak's next action? Who is this anonymous caller ?
A man murders his own brother while sleep walking. During investigation it is found that the medicines the convict has been taking for somnambulism has been changed by some one. However, he has been caught red handed with a blood soaked knife at the bed side of the victim by his own niece. The man says he is innocent. What will K.D. do now?
A badminton player of international repute is charged of murdering her own coach who has taken a huge amount as bribe from her father in lieu of a promise that he will get her the highest national, sports awards which she has not got even after representing the country successfully at global fora. All evidences except one confirm that the girl is guilty of murder. K.D. Pathak knows that she is not guilty but cannot prove so as she refuses to speak out. What is this evidence that can save the girl from getting hanged ? Will Pathak be able to save her?
A famous politician is murdered in his own study with the door closed from inside and a poor thief is found at the scene of the crime with his finger prints on the murder weapon. But the accused is just a first timer who has taken to stealing as he has lost his job and does not have any other means to meet both ends. Will K.D. Pathak be able to prove that the thief is not the murderer? Then who is actually the murderer?
These and many more interesting cases like these are threaded together in the tele serial Adaalat. a much wanted change from the regular tearjerkers that we are compelled to watch every day on the idiot box in want of better option. Ronit Roy as the quick witted, pro-justice and witty detective- cum-lawyer fits the role to the tee. Naresh Suri as the Judge and Ajay Nain as the Inspector support him well. But of course it is Ronit Roy and Tina Chaudhry with their brilliant performances who dominate the show. Though the cases vaguely resemble stories read earlier (English/Bengali), nevertheless the televised version is like a breath of fresh air. The best thing about the characterization of K.D. Pathak is that though he never loses a case in reel-life, he is not over the top or suffers from a know-all syndrome. He also has moments of confusion and dilemma and picks up the clues which in the long run leads to his victory from mundane things - sometimes it is just a piece of conversation or a chance action he notices while brooding over the case, that adds realism to his profile. In a few episodes Payal Rohatgi (of Big Boss ill fame) was introduced as his starry-eyed admirer and assistant but K.D. Pathak (read Ronit Roy) alone is quite capable of pulling the show long with his excellent mannerism and in-depth grasp of the character.
I will give this serial a four and a half out of five, not because of any flaw in the serial itself but because of the spate of ad breaks just prior to the climax which distract the nail biting audience and the tight narration and story telling. But on second thought the increasing advertisements may symbolize the growing TRP rating of this intriguing and engrossing serial.
Highly recommended and a must watch for murder mystery addicts like me.
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