There is a moment about thirty minutes into ‘System’, the new courtroom drama starring Sonakshi Sinha and Jyotika, where everything seems to click. The premise is sharp. The performances are restrained. The anger feels earned.
And then the film loses its nerve, takes a sharp turn into melodrama, and ends not with a bang or a whisper — but with an eye-roll.
The premise
‘System’, directed by Kanupriya, is produced by Jio Studios and Nirrimi Films. It follows two women from opposite ends of India’s judicial nightmare: a brilliant public prosecutor (Sonakshi Sinha) who has never lost a case, and a cynical legal aid lawyer (Jyotika) who has never won one.
The film’s stated intention — to critique India’s glacial judicial system, where millions of undertrials rot in prisons for years — is noble. The opening montage, showing case files stacking up like a second Himalayas, is effective. The title ‘System’ is meant to be ironic; the film suggests that the system has failed everyone.
The problem
The problem is that the film does not trust its own premise.
For the first hour, it is a restrained, intelligent procedural. Sinha, playing a prosecutor who believes the law is above everything, is surprisingly understated. She has none of the loud courtroom theatrics we have come to expect from Bollywood legal dramas. Jyotika, as the defense lawyer who has seen the law fail her clients too many times, brings a world-weariness that feels earned.
But somewhere after the intermission, the film loses its nerve. The nuanced critique of a broken system is replaced by a villain who is cartoonishly evil. The grey areas disappear. The lawyers stop being professionals and start being crusaders. By the climax, the film has abandoned its premise entirely in favor of a twist that is as predictable as it is unsatisfying.
The performances
Both lead actors do what they can with the material. Jyotika, who has spoken openly about getting better roles on OTT than in films, delivers a quiet, lived-in performance. Her Tamil-accented Hindi is endearing, not distracting. Sonakshi Sinha proves, once again, that she is capable of much more than the industry has given her.
The chemistry between the two actresses — as adversaries who slowly realize they are on the same side — is the film’s strongest suit. Their scenes together crackle with tension and mutual respect. One wishes the screenplay had trusted that dynamic instead of falling back on clichés.
The verdict
‘System’ is not a bad film. It is a frustrating one — a film that knows exactly what is wrong with the system it critiques, but cannot escape the formulas of the industry it belongs to.
