Too many cooks spoil the broth. Too many genres ruin the watching experience if not blended well. Tigmanshu Dhulia and Vishal Furia's Criminal Justice which has been adapted from BBC series of the same name promises to be an edge-of-the-seat murder mystery (as suggested by the trailer), but dampens its pace by mixing elements of courtroom and jail drama stretched over approx 45-minutes to 1 hour long 10 episodes.

If you are planning to watch this Hotstar series penned by Shridhar Raghavan, don't go by its promotional posters for it will only bring disappointment. But if you decide to not judge the book by its cover and keep expectations aside, it could be a bearable watch.

Aditya (Vikrant Massey), an MBA student and a football player also helps his father and brother-in-law run a cab registered with First Cabs. Shy, good-hearted, naive, Aditya is the typical good guy who would go to any extent to help a person in need. You do not expect trouble in such person's world simply because he's not willing to invite any.

Aditya wants to party the night away, but his sister Avni (Rucha Inamdar) requests him to drive the cab for some extra money during surge pricing. The doting brother agrees and tells his friends he would be on time for the party. The trip stretches longer than he expected as the girl keeps changing the destination. Though he is professional and humane enough to drop her home. After driving for few minutes, he realises the girl has left her phone, and drives all the way back to return it. The girl is relieved to get her phone back, but feels bad to ruin his party. So, she insists that he parties at her home. He's initially hesitant but soon gives in. The two share a drink, make out, and the girl slips a drug tablet in his mouth. They spend a steamy night together. Much to his horror, Aditya realises upon waking up that the lady has been brutally killed. Worse, he doesn't remember anything. Has he killed the lady or somebody else came to her house that night?

All this happens in Episode 1, but the series doesn't focus on the murder mystery alone. It splits into courtroom drama and Aditya's ordeal in jail where he undergoes a transformation from a naïve man to someone on the verge of turning a criminal. The courtroom drama is panned out quite separately from the ordeal Aditya has to face in the jail. The two tracks meet very rarely.

Pankaj Tripathi's Madhav Mishra, is a breath of fresh air and a treat to his fans. His character is in complete contrast with Kaleen Bhaiya of Amazon Prime series Mirzapur. Tripathi has the reputation of a corrupt, inefficient and money-minded lawyer, someone who cannot be trusted. His eczema troubles and intrusive ways make his personality even less pleasant. Yet, he makes you smile with his goofy antics and out-of-the-box ideas.

Mandira Mathur (Mita Vashisht) plays a sharp lawyer who's representing First Cabs in the murder case. She helps Aditya's case from crumbling with her convincing arguments and makes good use of the loopholes of law. She does not believe in the innocence of Aditya, but she surely knows how to prove her story right.

Inside the prison, it's an entirely different world, something Aditya wouldn't have imagined even in his wildest of dreams. Apart from understanding the politics of jail and saving himself from murder and sexual assault by die-hard criminals, Aditya finds support in Mustafa (Jackie Shroff). While on one hand, Madhav along with Mandira Mathur's assistant Nikhat (Anupriya Goenka), start gathering evidence to prove his innocence, Aditya is undergoing the biggest transformation of his life, something that gives him courage to uncover a drug racket but also leaves him at the verge of committing a murder.

Jackie Shroff's Mustafa evolves from a shrewd and ruthless man to a true leader who prevents Aditya from falling at the most crucial juncture. His performance is one of the high points of the series, something that stays with you.

The series also shows what happens to the life of family members of people like Aditya who have to endure shame and suffer financial hardships because of a long-stretched case.

Criminal Justice could have a stronger impact with shorter episodes, crisper editing and right twists and turns.