Director: Shashant Shah
Rating: ***1/2
The mystery-thriller genre is the most-watched one on OTT platforms these days and the latest addition to the list is Zee5's latest offering 'The Chargesheet', a whodunit crime-thriller that takes you back to the era of the late 80s.
This Shashant Shah series begins with a famous national table tennis champion Shiraaz Mallik (Shiv Panditt) being murdered in broad daylight. The brutal murder of a famous sportsperson shakes the nation and the CBI is brought in to investigate the case lead by officer Vidur Mehra (Sikander Kher).
Vidur’s investigation leads him to a very powerful political figure Ranveer Pratap Singh (Arunoday Singh) who becomes the prime suspect in Shiraaz's murder. A courtroom battle ensues fought by the biggest lawyers of the country Laxman Chotrani (Satish Kaushik) representing Ranveer and Abha Abhyankar (Ashwini Kalsekar) representing Shiraaz.
The story takes an interesting turn when Ranveer and Shiraaz's wife Antaraa's (Tridha Chaudhary) secret extra-marital affair pops up in the court and thus begins a tale of lust and betrayal with new layers unfolding every now and then creating an atmosphere of confusion summing up the title of the series "innocent or guilty?"
The Chargesheet has a simple storyline that keeps moving back and forth in time. The investigation, the courtroom drama, and the politics are engaging and portray the rawness of the 80's perfectly going over the top at points but that’s fine. It begins on a high note hooking you from the very start and as the story progresses the tale keeps getting more & more twisted and more interesting though some parts are predictable and the pace in the second half of the series is a little slow but the grip is never lost.
Sikander Kher as the cunning CBI officer Vidur grabs your attention from his very first scene and he once again has done an incredible job managing to stand out and leaving his impression on you.
Arunoday Singh as the 'Bahubali Neta' Ranveer Pratap Singh pulls his character off spectacularly with enough heft and his presence in every frame is a delight. Tridha Choudhury does a fine job as Shiraaz's wife 'Antaraa' who is having a secret affair with Ranveer. Hrishitaa Bhatt as Ranveer's wife 'Chitrangadha Singh' and Shiv Pandit as 'Shiraaz Malik' are good too but their talent here is not completely utilized as they could have done more and better. Satish Kaushik and Ashwini Kalsekar keep the courtroom lit with their legal wits and do justice to their respective characters.
Overall, The Chargesheet is a simple yet engaging mystery-crime-thriller that makes you relive the eighties era with the lens of some flawed characters answering the question “innocent or guilty?” in a riveting way.
