Rohan Sippy on getting Pankaj Tripathi back for ‘Criminal Justice’

Mumbai, Dec 15 Filmmaker Rohan Sippy says getting actor Pankaj Tripathi back in the second chapter of Criminal Justice was a creative decision, which brings strength and heart to the narrative.

The second chapter in the Criminal Justice franchise is titled Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors. The show is the Indian adaptation of the hit BBC series of the same name, which was later adapted into the Emmy Award-winning HBO show “The Night Of”.

Talking about Pankaj’s character lawyer Madhav Mishra, Sippy shared: “I think that the cast is perfect. One of the great creative decisions was to continue the character that Pankaj Tripathi is playing which is not the case in the original British show.

“But here, we decided to continue that, and I think it’s one of the strengths of the show to have him at the heart of it,” he added.

The show will see Madhav taking up the case of Anu Chandra, portrayed by Kirti Kulhari, who has confessed to stabbing her husband, an eminent lawyer named Bikram Chandra.

Opening up about getting real-life lawyers for research, Sippy shared: “The research was done speaking to lawyers — both before we set out to write the show and even once we had started writing.”

“Dialogues were also run by lawyers to make sure that we get the nuances right and also explore the legal side so we can maximise the drama in the show. This was also very important because the original show was set in the British legal system which had a jury and that had to be changed a lot because we don’t have that system here, so that was a very challenging part of the process which Apurva and the creative team handled well,” he added.

Sippy also revealed that the entire season was shot in two months.

“Total number of days for the season’s shoot was somewhere close to about 60 to 70 days. We shot at three different locations, the women prison, police station which is always a central part of any crime show and the last one being Anu Chandra’s house where she and her family are living,” said the director.

Sippy has co-directed the show with Arjun Mukerjee. The courtroom drama series has been written by Apurva Asrani. It will launch on Disney+ Hotstar VIP on December 24 in seven languages.