Courtroom Dramas In Bollywood | Under Lens

1. Kudrat: Re-incarnation, crime-never-leaves-you and debt-versus-ethics conflict, Chetan Anand’s Kudrat had all of this. Son of a Zamindar – Janak Singh rapes a local girl Paro under influence of alcohol. Her fiancé Madhav comes to know about this and seeks revenge. In order to save his skin, he gets them murdered. The girl’s fiancé reborn as Mohan and gets Janak Singh patronage. Paro has reborn as Chandramukhi. As expected, they meet and learn about their past life. They decide to take Janak Singh to court. Movie is still remembered for its songs and brilliant performances by Rajesh Khanna and Raj Kumar.

 

2. Damini: Shekhar is a rich man who marries a poor girl Damini. His family reluctantly accepts her. But all hell broke loose when she witness Shekhar brother raping their maid and decides to lodge police complaint. As expected, in the first act, justice is not delivered. Damini’s real struggle begins as she is not ready to forfeit and is helped by Govind, a lawyer who is upset with the entire system. Stellar performances by Sunny Deol, Meenakshi Sheshadri and Amrish Puri backed a strong but melodramatic script. Movie is still remembered for its hard-hitting dialogues.

 

3. Mera Saaya: How will you react when a woman who looks like your wife comes and claims when you know that she is dead? Sunil Dutt has been a part of many courtroom dramas. Mera Saaya is one of the most memorable one. In a very difficult role of husband whose love died in front of him and now needs to take on a fraud, he excels. Sadhana, in twin role, play both the characters beautifully. One might wonder that she was heavily underrated as an actress.   

 

4. Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara: An agonizing tale of an old man who believes that he is responsible for Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. Struck in a moment of his childhood, he is not able to see differentiate between reality and illusions. To save him, his daughter decides to take the trial to court. Anupam Kher and Urmila gave brilliant performances, may be next to their respective performances in Saransh and Pinjar.  Though the movie failed to impress BO, it remains a special film.

 

5. Awaara: Son is a convict while father is the judge. A cue drawn from Ramayan, Awaara tells story of a man (aptly name Raghunath) who disowns his wife when he doubts her loyalty. He believes that lineage is more important than the upbringing. His prejudice angers a criminal who decides to test his philosophy. When Raghunath disowns his wife, the criminal ensures that Raghunath’s child Raj follows path of crime. Raj ends up in court on multiple charges. Awaara is one of the most celebrated Hindi film. Intense performances, well-woven script and memorable music.