The fate of a young ruffian hangs in the balance as twelve jurors deliberate in a closed room to decide on the accused. What will be the decision - will it be the deathly gallows or freedom?Eleven seems certain about the boy's crime while only one has doubts. And here begins the drama. A single case, a focused plot, a single room with a goal for a single decision. But a dozen persons with a dozen views, a dozen perspectives and a dozen traits that they represent had apparently at least a dozen reasons to differ!
But the court wants a decision unanimous and so starts the deliberation. Locked in a room till the decision is reached, some goes hungry while others go impatient. Reason fights emotion while logic pits against bias. Passion prevails while irritation peaks. The sane fights the obsessed and the serious confronts the casual.
Can the truth be ever unveiled? Will the accused get the deserving judgement? The debate that started with the eleven convinced against the one favouring otherwise, not only unwraps the evidences in new light but also exposes the raw perspectives of the general populace. When prejudice unfurls its irrational fangs and obsession clouds judgement, the logical few will always be tasked with the difficult assignment of spelling out the right decisions against the impatiently arrogant and the impertinently ignorant.
Nandikar presents this tremendously thrilling drama directed by Saptarshi Maulik. The director also acts as one of the juries and is correctly critical in his performance as his character demands. Assisting him in direction is Arghya Dey Sarkar who is deputy to Maulik in direction but on stage, his characterisation as the stubbornly passionate and aggressively obstinate jury will easily keep him way ahead of the others. Barishan Chatterjee will deserve a special applause, representing the sober elderly with faith in the youth, in this Swatilekha Sengupta adaptation of the original. Sourav Dinda portrays the insignificant peon with no or only tiny crumbs of dialogues, who starts the proceedings and closes them as well, signing off with significance infused in the character, representing the contrastingly gentle regular worker with defined duties, a mind not unhinged by the stress of taking decision that matters!
The entire presentation is brilliant and will request the fans of drama to watch this display of passion where thrill will flow, emotions will engulf the audience, senses will writhe with the rage that arises on stage as you will never be certain till the very climax whether sanity will prevail and order restored. A fantastic compact presentation that will keep the audiences on edge throughout and time will fleet past with a pace accelerating yet surprisingly steady.
There is a very interesting caveat. There is a wallpiece on stage that runs on real time. Though the actual time will be different but audience may note the duration of the presentation from the clock, clearly in their view, and will surely appreciate the precision of acting in this dialogue intensive presentation that wraps up in style within the duration, announced at start, reflecting professionalism at its finest.
