Keeping the moral compass on point is tricky: Eeshwar Nivas on ‘Your Honor 2’

Mumbai, Nov 23  As the conflict continues in the world of Bishan Khosla in the courtroom drama web series ‘Your Honor 2’, the director of the show Eeshwar Nivas says keeping the moral compass ‘high’ is tricky for a storyteller.

In the show, a father, who is also a High Court judge, is pushed to the wall and further, in a situation to save his son.

The character of Bishan Khosla is played by Jimmy Shergill. In the new season of the show, after the hit and run case, to save his son Abeer, Bishan shot a man who had a connection with a mafia group. Things get more difficult for Bishan and the situation gets worse.

Asked if he felt the need of keeping the moral compass high in a show like ‘Your Honor 2’ where everyone is doing something that is morally wrong, National Award-winning director Nivas shared his thoughts in conversation with IANS.

He told IANS: “Well, since it is an adaptation of an Israeli web show ‘Kvodo’, the first interpretation is done by our writer Ishan Trivedi who set the story in the heartland of India. Now see, every part of our country, every community has different socio-cultural practices, moral values and the parameters of right and wrong. For a director of the show, since every character in the narrative is equally important, keeping the moral compass high is tricky.

“What is important is to give a justification of their actions…right or wrong, every action is a result of the situation and emotional turmoil they are in. For a father, no matter how righteous he is as a judge in the courtroom, he will do everything to save his son especially when he knows that initially what happened was a mistake. For me, it was to weave everything to convince their actions.”

It is easy to build a logical structure to rationalise even something that is morally wrong. Therefore the question arises that as a director of the show, if his moral compass comes into play and reflects in the show.

Nivas answered, “As a storyteller, I would rather leave it to the audience which side one should take because not every film or show is an opinion piece or a statement. In the Ramayana for instance, both the characters are equally important, Rama and Ravana. So, instead of taking a side, a wise mind would show both sides of the emotions objectively.”

“The tough call for a writer and director is about the conclusion. That is precisely the reason why instead of taking a side, we should leave it to the audience. I feel, my job as a storyteller is to raise the question instead of spoonfeeding an answer to the audience,” he signed off.

Produced by Applause Entertainment, ‘Your Honor 2’, also featuring Gulshan Grover, Mita Vashisht, Mahie Gill, and Yashpal Sharma, is streaming on SonyLIV.