The third season of Undekhi picks up from the same point where the second season had ended, and it follows the pursuit of the truth of a tribal girl being shot in broad daylight at a wedding by a senior member of a wealthy family. The initial conflict here is of the original video resurfacing that opens the court case but the question remains on whether the accused will ever be proven guilty, given their might with power. The story here is a decent followup that does a bit of a course correction from its slightly deviating second season while forming an intriguing tale of the power of politics. Yet, the stumble and the slide in its third act cannot really be discounted given that it introduces a fresh conflict late in the day that changes the core idea of the show in the first place. The screenplay standing at 8 episodes of roughly 30 odd to 40 odd minutes scores with its first two acts nicely but falters with its third act which was nothing short of a brain fade!

The drama does open with the confession of a character about the original video capturing the murder of the tribal girl before being shot himself. Yet, it is very early on that you do get a strong indicator of the course correction that the writers opt for from the second season. So you are introduced to all the principal characters and the situation that they find themselves in, in the current timeline. So you have the family of the Atwals featuring Papaji who doesn’t exude of an iota of remorse for his actions with his sons, Rinku and Daman by his side. This, even as Inspector Ghosh grappling with depression wishes to get back to his case of arresting Papaji. And a few subplots not withstanding, the twists and turns emerging out of the cat and mouse chase does a ruffle a few feathers from the side of the accused.

The proceedings are pretty compelling in the first two acts that show glimpses of the first season where it is win at all cost for the Atwals using all their might and power against Ghosh and his colleagues. The subtle game of one upmanship is interesting even as the writers aren’t shy to bump off characters, some of whom seemed to be important in the larger context of things. The urgency shown with the turn of events was incredibly good even as the writers manoeuvre past its twists and turns related to a character that was long presumed to be dead. Yet, you see a sense of vulnerability in a few principal characters that often act as chinks in their armour. This, until the court of law produces its judgment at the end of the second act. Pretty interesting, I would say until this point!

The issue for me was in its third and final act wherein the writers try to introduce a totally fresh conflict which has very little time to be setup. Had there been a little thread(from the perspective of Papaji) running through the narrative up until this point, then this may well have worked. But what baffled me was to put aside the core concept of the show, and run in a completely different direction which made me feel a little cheated. This, even as a couple of characters that could very well have been solid trump cards in this season were simply ignored, never to pave a path for them to return in the third act. When the core subject is compromised, the impact of the show is diluted, and something that exactly happened here. The events were still watchable with a little twist at the end but by then, I was disconnected with the drama. The rushed and simplistic finale didn’t help its cause too. So overall, the screenplay here is decent but doesn’t quite match up to the intensity of the previous two seasons.