Potential spoilers ahead. The latest Voot Select web series Illegal is set in India’s national capital. Crookedness follows as surely as ...
Potential spoilers ahead.
The latest Voot Select web series Illegal is set in India’s national capital. Crookedness follows as surely as the discovery of great bargains at Dilli Haat. Just like no web series in Mumbai is complete without a gangster or two, this overheated saga of crime and punishment has opportunistic politicians, shysters whose black robes conceal bent spines, powerful fixers who pass themselves off as entrepreneurs.
Nobody makes a move unless in the direction of profit. Acts of charity mask opportunism. There are no accidents, only murders. And so on.
Trying to row her canoe through this very familiar swamp is the equal parts bright-and-dim lawyer Niharika (Neha Sharma). She sets out as an idealist and speedily evolves into a pragmatist who comes to believe that “the ones who claim to be legal are the ones who are actually illegal”. Niharika has 10 episodes, clocking around 30 minutes each, to see the light. She navigates daddy issues, ex-boyfriend issues, boss issues. She defends a suspected rapist and makes it her mission to help a woman on death row. She loses and gains, waxes and wanes. By the end of the first season, she is only half done.
Few shows have flogged their lead character this hard. It’s...
