LAYING DOWN THE LAW

SHOWS LIKE GUILTY MINDS ARE PROOF THAT OTT PLATFORMS HAVE FOUND A WINNER IN GRITTY LEGAL DRAMAS

- Suhani Singh

Shefali Bhushan is no stranger to the legal profession. The film maker’s family boasts of several illustrious members in the legal fraternity (legal luminary Shanti Bhushan is her father, public interest lawyer Prashant Bhushan her brother) so developing the Amazon Prime courtroom drama Guilty Minds came easy. Her writing team comprised Manav Bhushan, a biomedical engineer with a law degree, and Deeksha Gujral, a human rights lawyer. They made sure the “line of arguments and sections quoted” were accurate. Shefali also did a tour of the courts with co-director Jayant Digambar Samalkar, her director of photography and the production designer to ensure they got the ambience right.

Given this insistence on accuracy, it’s no surprise that Guilty Minds, released late last month, has drawn much praise for its authentic depiction of judicial proceedings. “Of course, there are places where you can’t be completely true, so you take creative liberties,” says Shefali.

While the success of Guilty Minds hinges on its own merit, it is also an indicator of a larger trend— legal dramas are taking off on OTT. Almost every major platform has a show in the genre. SonyLIV has released two seasons of