Apurva Asrani on Criminal Justice 2: Showing too much would have made the series voyeuristic

With some noting that Criminal Justice 2 didn’t delve deep into abuse, writer Apurva Asrani on approaching subject sensitively.

With Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors, writer Apurva Asrani brought the uncomfortable truth of marital rape into our living rooms. While the writer had the blueprint in Peter Moffat's British series of the same name, he says that developing the story in the post #MeToo world demanded that the women’s characters be better evolved.

“The original BBC drama was aired 13 years ago. The position of women has shifted by leaps and bounds,” begins Asrani, who gave us a quiet but steely survivor in Kirti Kulhari's Anu Chandra, who is accused of stabbing her husband to death. "The core of Anu's journey comes largely from the original. But we took forward elements from the first season of Criminal Justice like Nikhat [Anupriya Goenka’s character] being affected by her father’s polygynous marriage. Pankaj Tripathi's marriage to Ratna adds layers to the series."

Apurva Asrani

Many felt that the Disney+Hotstar series did not delve into the abuse inflicted on the protagonist by her husband, portrayed by Jisshu Sengupta. Asrani states they deliberately stayed away from depicting it in greater detail, instead approaching the subject with sensitivity. "To have a sensitive producer is half battle won and I found that in Applause's Sameer Nair. It was a conscious call to not titillate. Kirti gets full marks for performing the suppression perfectly. We didn’t want to lay her pain bare, but leave it to the audience’s imagination. The daughter spills out how the husband kept a tab on Anu, cut her off from her family, and encouraged her to take medication to suppress her. Showing too much would’ve made it voyeuristic, which we wanted to avoid."

While BBC didn’t go on to make a third edition of the much-loved drama, will he develop a fresh season? “I hope there’s a third instalment. I am talking to the same producers for another show. I love justice as a theme, and want to explore it from different angles.”

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