Kiran Bedi, in her signature short back and sides, her intelligent spectacles and a finger which wags almost at will when confronted by criminals or errant human beings, has returned to her high perch on the bench of Aap Ki Kachehri (Star Plus). From there she stares down those had the temerity not to sort out their differences, scolds them irrespective of age, gender or background as though they’re snotty little schoolboys caught wiping their noses on the back of their hands. Behave, she thunders. After reducing most to tears or human pulp she then offers a spoonful of sugar to sweeten her diktat. A money guarantee offer: Rs.20,000 more or less, to settle disputes. So when a mother accused her daughter and son-in-law of stealing her savings and wished to prosecute them, Bedi awarded her money with a stern command to think things over. Mother and daughter were eternally grateful to Judge Bedi, even though they have settled nothing between them. Perhaps money does talk after all.

The show is another Sach ka Samna (shifted to 11 pm last week, obviously to contain political fury) since that is what the quarrelsome disputants confront as Bedi claws the truth out of them. Their petty little crimes, their meanest thoughts come tumbling out: there’s fraud here, adultery too, parents throwing out children, children abusing parents¿you name it. And just as you watch S ka S for its scandalous admissions of human frailty, so A Ki K is highly watchable for the bare-faced revelations about what men and women really want and the lengths they go to get it.

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