Voot Select’s legal drama illegal is not about the usual dialogues like “Tareekh par Tareekh, tareekh par tareekh” or “Mujhe insaaf chahiye, judge sahab” between judge and lawyer. It is the story of an upcoming lawyer Niharika Sharma played by Neha Sharma who is hired by senior lawyer Janardan Jaitley or Piyush Mishra to work under him.
Niharika is new to the profession and keen on getting guilty punished by book and amending capital punishment. Jaitley, on the contrary, does not care about the law when the situation gets out of hand. Niharika has an internal fight between duty and conscience as she does not want to lose the job.
Illegal web series is different from the usual right and wrong battle shown in the countless legal dramas. It goes deep into the personal life of the lawyers and how this profession can take a toll on their mental health. Reshu Nath has written an entertaining and smart web series. All the episodes of Illegal web series have different plot twists.
The courtroom scene where rape case is being discussed is devoid of theatrics. It is an argument where both the lawyers present the evidence by citing the laws. The writing is not heavy despite it being a legal drama. The 30-minute episodes can be binged watched easily without paying too much attention to detail.
The courtroom scenes leave you thrilled and the drama which opens up after the court shows the reality of the political and judicial system. In order to emphasize on subplots, the focus from details shifted very soon. It would have been interesting to watch research sessions where lawyers and clerks shift through the documents until they find the right evidence for a strong argument.
The two characters have some secrets between them or secrets which they are keeping from each other. However, keeping secrets is not interesting. It is important for a person to divulge the secrets for a better story. The strength of the Illegal web series lies in its characterization. There are no weak characters whether it is Niharika, Jaitley, opposition lawyer Punit Tandon or Jaitley’s son Akshay.
All the characters are way more complicated than their words might show. Piyush Mishra, who is in the role of Jaitley gives a power-packed performance as a self-assured, cold and condescending man. Neha Sharma in Niharika’s role is a revelation of sorts. It is hard to believe that she is the same girl who played roles in Crook, Youngistaan and Kya Super Cool Hain Hum. Illegal is a good web series and the makers should bring out a detailed and crispy second season.
