Maharani (Season 3)
Introduction
It is just a Thursday but the new releases have started trickling in. With that, I have finished watching the new Hindi show, the third season of Maharani which is streaming on SonyLiv. There is a plethora of content that is being churned out on various OTT platforms but not many have dabbled into the political space. The reason for the same being that the writing itself requires to be layered, just enough to hoodwink the viewers given that most folks can read through ‘the politics’ in recent times. And this is where the first two seasons of Maharani stood out, firstly in creating a murky world of politics in the land of Bihar and backing them with an interesting set of chaeacters to brew the drama further. The writing was quite rooted, often borrowing incidents from the real world and adapting it onscreen, and if you have been following the news, then you would also be able to connect the dots with the events unfolding on the show. So when the show was renewed for its third season, I was quite looking forward to how the show would shape up, given how the previous season had ended. So then, does the third season of Maharani aka Maharani 3 manage to impress, let’s find out.
Story & Screenplay
The third season of Maharani picks up from the same point where the previous season had ended and it further traces the political atmosphere of the state of Bihar after the demise of its then Chief Minister Bheema Bharti. Would Rani be able to gain power once again? The story here is once again compelling while packaging a relatively layered revenge drama in a cerebral fashion. The issue for me was that the protagonist of the show such less screentime in this season, that even a payback at the end did seem slightly incomplete. This is not to say that the show is bad but if the idea was to showcase the journey of a woman in the patriarchal space of politics in the previous seasons then the core idea here was a little compromised. The screenplay standing at 8 episodes ranging from 30 odd minutes to 40 odd minutes is layered and compelling while borrowing from a few real-life incidents but the lack of screentime of the protagonist mildly derails the drama in the overall scheme of things. I did feel that there was a little more importance given to a few characters while the arc was missing in others. But the show is still watchable for all the right reasons.
The drama begins with the reintroduction of all the major players of this political arena and where they find themselves post the demise of the previous Chief Minister for which the protagonist also finds herself in jail. But the political mindgames soon kick in during the tenure of Navin Kumar as the New Chief Minister of the state, who happens to be a nemesis of the protagonist as well. The drama is deliberately designed to be subdued while the non-hurried style of narrative allows the viewers time to dig deeper into the proceedings. My issue with respect to the writing was that a few major characters weren’t given powerful arcs, almost relying on the knowledge of the viewers from the previous seasons, pertaining to the characters involved.
The proceedings are fairly interesting and the stakes are raised almost immediately with the death of one of the characters early on. The cerebral nature of the writing does help in immersing yourself in the drama which this time around is driven in a patriarchal manner for most parts of the show. What begins like a little mystety involving the death of a character, soon pivots into a major subplot involving fake alcohol dispersion, leading to death of innocent folks and the politics that ensues around it. While this was an interesting pivot, the protagonist found herself on the sidelines more often than not even though her daunting screen presence that light up the proceedings every now and then. A little more focus on her face-off with her nemesis was the need of the hour, along with other characters that would play the perfect foil for an engrossing encounter, much like the previous seasons.
In between, the mind games and the multiple branched sub-plots definitely add depth to the proceedings, which is a necessary ingredient for a political show. The events leading up to the final act do reveal the entire picture of the undercurrents of politics being played out, almost like a revenge saga, and things pick up automatically as the Maharani comes to the fore. Although I did have a little issue with the staging in the final act, the writing definitely ups its game, ensuring that the third season is supremely watchable, overall speaking.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are rooted and give a simmering flavour of the political landscape of the area where the drama is set in. The lines are earthy and definitely leave a mark in conveying certain aspects of the drama to the viewers. The BGM is good and it does its bit in highlighting the different flavours of Bihar while blending well with the beats of the drama. The cinematography is good and some frames capture the earthy essence of the land pretty well. The editing is decent for most parts of the runtime. The costume department deserves a mention for accurately designing attires for their characters. Director Saurabh Bhave does a good job here in keeping the drama understated although his direction is a little rough around the edges with respect to the staging of the drama in a few scenes(like the finale act). But what he does well is in keeping the flavour and essence of the previous seasons of the drama intact.
Performances
The performances are excellent once again by the ensemble cast. Tina Bhatia as Sundari does a wonderful job in a character that was layered with respect to her motives. Kumar Saurabh as Sanyasi is terrific once again in a character that was so different from the one that he played in last week’s release, Maamla Legal Hai. And that, showcases the brilliant range that the man possesses. Danish Iqbal as Dilshad and Sushil Pandey as Kunwar are excellent and both of them manage to shine. Sohum Shah as Bheema Bharti impresses in a little cameo appearance. Atul Tiwari as the Governor and Aashique Hussain as Prem lend dependable support, as does Dibyendu Bhattacharya as Martin who according to me needed a little more screen time. Nirmal Kant Baitha as Baitha and Sanjay Sharma as Tarkeshwar lend dependable support in some interestingly penned characters.
Pramod Pathak as SN Mishra delivers a dignified act once again wherein he is sincere and earnest. Kani Kusruti as Kaveri also manages to leave a mark despite a limited screen time. Anuja Sathe as Kirti does a fabulous job here despite the fact that her character was underwritten particularly with respect to how her character had shaped up in the second season. A little subplot of her getting visions was discarded early on but it is attributed to her phenomenal acting prowess that this character still made a mark in this season. Vineet Kumar as Gauri Shankar is phenomenal and he makes an instant impression with his antics and body language.
Amit Sial as Navin Kumar was the pick of the actors for me especially because I wasn’t able to predict his intentions(intrisically speaking) on what his next move would be. His stoic expressions and vile expressions were the highlight of his character wherein he performed wonderfully well. Huma Qureshi as Rani is excellent here but she needed a little more screen time given that the story was once designed to unfold through her gaze. Her screen presence though is immaculate and often elevates the drama at various junctures of the narrative. Hopefully, her character doesn’t face the similar fate with respect to the writing in the next season.
Conclusion
The third season of Maharani is a compelling political drama with good performance that needed a little more of the ‘Queen’ in the setup. Nevertheless, the drama makes for a decent one-time watch this time around. Available on SonyLiv.