System Review

Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s courtroom drama System falls short due to muddled narrative and uninspired execution, observes Sukanya Verma.

It’s not uncommon for an eagle-eyed lawyer to use their legal smarts for the benefit of an affluent client while the disadvantaged get thrown under the bus.

In her courtroom drama System, Director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari takes a roundabout route to question whether everyone is equal in the eyes of the law. But the plot gains traction only when she stops asking questions and starts suggesting how two can play at the game.

Drawing attention to class differences at first is an unexpected alliance between public prosecutor Neha Rajvansh (Sonakshi Sinha) and court stenographer Sarika Rawat (Jyotika).

One arrives to work in a Range Rover, clicks selfies for social media and wants to work for her big shot daddy. The other travels in rickshaw and bus, plays Sudoku, and is saving up for her daughter’s science fair.

More than the ‘one buys lilies, the other picks marigolds’ distinction, their individual brand of struggle defines their equation, which comes into play when Neha makes Sarika an offer she cannot refuse.

Daughter of a star lawyer (Ashutosh Gowariker), Neha must win 10 cases to become a partner in his law firm if she wishes to dodge the nepotism bullet and escape her shoddy ‘sarkari vakeel‘ existence.

Meanwhile, Sarika has developed a feel for the system through her daily exposure to courtroom battles and is a perfect candidate to fast track Neha’s winning streak.

It’s a rather bare bones characterisation of a mutually beneficial partnership between the privileged and the penny-pinched, which grows into an equally predictable crusade for justice when consciences are pricked and motives are laid bare.

Sarika’s canny gifts are treated like one of those private tutors spoon-feeding a lazy student on what to expect in the test tomorrow, which makes Neha’s father’s reservations about hiring her all the more warranted. Seeing Sarika part-time as a tuition teacher for a rich kid only confirms the similarity.they are facing off in court)—doesn’t instill much confidence in her choices or ambition.

It’s good to see Ashutosh Gowariker, an occasional actor, before the camera. Arrogance sits well on his seasoned shoulders as does pride in the guise of wisdom. If only there was even an iota of chemistry between him and his, ugh, princess.

Sonakshi Sinha excels at tough, spunky girls but Harman Baweja and Arun Sukumar’s confused story and screenplay (with additional input by Iyer Tiwari and Tasneem Lokhandwala) cannot decide her tone between an entitled brat and a moral beacon. Giving the growing bond between her and Jyotika, a semblance of women supporting women makes for cheerful montages.

But it’s the latter’s steely determination that sustains interest. Jyotika’s reserve has a beguiling quality that makes it difficult to read her mind and her emotional authority defies all the loopholes in the plot.

For a courtroom drama insisting on two wrongs make a right, System is awfully devoid of spirit.

The cases are meh and the sparring lacks bite in a subject aching for barbs and repartee. Director Ashwini Iyer Tiwari’s gentle gaze of grievous crimes is not always the right fit for System‘s social commentary.

Something pertinent could be said about the growing safety concerns in many parts of Delhi’s claustrophobic restaurant scene, the class bias perpetuating an unfair blame game and armchair activism coming face to face with ground reality.

System skims past these irregularities to focus on quietly brewing a vendetta.