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Retake: Courtroom dramas and the journey from modern myths to mythical modernity
FirstpostIn a scene from B R Chopra ’s Kanoon, three judges discuss the death penalty. Chopra’s Kanoon was iconic for many reasons, foremost of which was an early evaluation of India’s many institutional hazards. In a scene from Shankar Mukherjee’s Baat Ek Raat Ki, a lawyer, played by Keshto Mukherjee, alludes to a blind witness by saying “Agar ye gawah andha hai toh main aisa gawah pesh kar sakta hun jo dekh sakta hai par uski zubaan samjhna mushkil hogi.” Mukherjee is holding a dog who was present at the scene of the crime. Context is the victim of swift justice, something early films like Kanoon and Baat Ek Raat Ki effectively portrayed. Courtroom dramas are fertile ground for thrillers or moral messaging because they are perceived, at least in this country’s cinema as affirmative of some difficult truths and some compliant mistruths that are rarely spoken of.
History of this topic
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Ahead of Vakeel Saab, analysing why courtroom dramas have become a major draw in Telugu cinema
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