I watched a few episodes this serial becuase:
A mouthshut review posted earlier recommended it
It generally airs on Fri & Sat (I am not sure if it comes on ay other days too) before a fun to watch serial on Sony TV (Comedy Circus), so I generally end up watching about 20 minutes towards the end of this serial before comedy circus begins
I am a big fan of murder mysteries; have watched and read Sherlock Holmes adverntures many times. May be that’s why my benchmarks are already set quite high. The Indian writers (especially those who write for TV serials) have rarely touched those benchmarks, let alone surpassing them. I had watched a few episodes of another popular serial CID; I found it hilarious to say the least. The CID almost everytime says at the scene of crime: "Oh God! Yahan toh laash hai." LOL!! I mean come on, you have been called on the crime scene to investigate a murder; what else do you expect to see? A pole dancer?? No offences meant to CID lovers :-P
The serial is supposed to be a court room drama where KD Pathak (played by Ronit Roy) saves innocent people from being sentenced to death by unraveling the mystery and the real culprit.
This serial is only slightly better than CID in terms of plot and performances. I recently watched their full 2 hour Maha-episode (or whatever rubbish the TV guys call such episodes) where KD and a bunch of cartoons travel on a private plane and that crashes on an unknown island. People start getting murdered one by one and it is up to KD to save the episode and his ex-flame of 10 years. A clever play of words finally solves the real mystery. Of some 5-6 episodes that I have watched of this serial, this was probably slightly better than the rest.
The serial has some patches of good plots, but somehow the whole package does not look much convincing. In another episode, KD is buried alive in a coffin 5 feet below the ground. The idea he used to get out was good.
If you are a mystery lover, the gold standard is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie’s Poirot. Comparing Adaalat to that would be an insult of these legendary writers; so I will refrain from that act. But still, given the current trash on Hindi TV channels, Adaalat, purely on a comparative basis is better than others currently on air.
I am confused about the mandatory mouthshut review question: Would you recommend "Adaalat" to a friend? It is not that good to say "Yes" but not so bad to get a "No". So I will be a bit generous and say "Yes" :-)