With a newborn in her arms and petrified by an ominous black cat, Rasika Dugal playing Beena Tripathi begs, borrows, and steals her safety. She uses her charm, body, and helplessness, and tries to carve a space for herself and the heir of Mirzapur. She personifies what this season is about, a Mirzapur that is much more land than the people it represents.
Men are killed by dozens and over their bodies are piled sizzling roles to serve a hot dessert of 10 episodes of Season 3 of Mirzapur.
Men are killed by dozens and over their bodies are piled sizzling roles to serve a hot dessert of 10 episodes of Season 3 of Mirzapur. It is not meant for the faint-hearted or those who cannot watch the entire episode with undivided attention. After 10 hours, the series will tingle, tease, and tire its viewers while offering a gift of premature declaration of another season to follow.
Mirzapur is driven by the vehicle
Mirzapur has been aptly named. Every man and every motive is to walk closer to the throne of Mirzapur. It becomes the seat of influence for the entire Purvanchal. While aptly representing the relentless mix of politics and crime, Mirzapur inches towards a crucial and philosophical conclusion.
The land reigns and demands the sacrifice of men which explains the first scene of the funeral of Munna. Isha Talwar playing Madhuri Yadav becomes the stereotypical female chief minister, who depends on many men for information, revenge, and attention.
Men come and go, but Mirzapur remains supreme. Pankaj Tripathi personifies the throne, a wounded seat struggling to find a purpose for existence and ultimately killing anyone who comes in between the man and the throne.
A land of Rahim’s words
In the fifth episode of this season, we meet Rahim. A budding poet is first spotted eloquently using expletives to mock the politician who disturbs his performance. He becomes the driving force of today’s plight/ the audience relates to him when he mocks the system and reverberates with the nation’s conscience.
A young man from a humble background pays the price for dreaming too high and speaking too loud. His poetry is a blend of the first line serving as an attention grabber and the second line laden with expletives to ornamentalise the plight of the aam admi. He becomes the spokesperson delivering precisely what we have all been feeling but are too afraid to speak.
In a rude twist of fate and bowing to Darwin’s survival of the fittest trait, he ends up imprisoned, a voice choked too soon. The boy buried under the weight of his dreams and the fate of his family, suffocates under society’s expectations. The audience roots for him and lives through his words, but imprisonment for obscenity is expected and condemned. While the Guddus and the Munna bhaiyaas of the world are roaming free, a poet is stifled for his words.
A political satire
Mirzapur 3 has matured like seasoned wine, just that it hasn’t aged enough. In its naïve attempt to amaze the audience it uses vulgar techniques to draw attention, but the motive is fair. At the heart of the series, it is a political satire drawn on the maps of Uttar Pradesh that almost touches Bihar.
With patriarchs with arms and egos adorned, the baithaks are summoned. In a failed attempt to declare the supreme leader, men fight and how. It is a game of chess as accurately drawn by Kaleen Bhaiyya on a rustic table with pistachios and the audience would have to be on their toes to guess who makes which move.
From the corrupt police force, almost growing a spine to a chief minister who is a mute adorned doll, the political satire inches closer to the expected reality of the state.
From the corrupt police force, almost growing a spine to a chief minister who is a mute adorned doll, the political satire inches closer to the expected reality of the state. The bahubali’s threaten to kill, destroy homes, and create havoc on the streets but seldom face any consequence. The state of prison and the politics that govern supreme over law and order of the state sculpt a Mirzapur we have known.
The women of Mirzapur
Women have been given longer screen time and important roles to experiment. Golu shines through as an innocent woman trying to learn and exist in the bad world of goons. She exercises power amongst her stooges, but to confront the patriarchs, she needs a man. Her successful attempt at fleeing from her kidnapping requires her to sacrifice another woman. Her life as a woman caught up in the whirlwind of disaster because of love comes full circle in the final scene of the series. She finds love and successfully saves him from the claws of politics and power, the damsel becomes the saviour.
The director and writers have read and watched a lot about women in cinema, but only the roles created by other men. There is a representation of every stereotype. Saloni Tyagi or Bade’s wife is the ideal wife. She is dove-eyed, waiting for her husband to love her while caring for his family. She is fooled, kidnapped, and wounded but never allows her wit to overcome her conditioning.
Rasika Dugal playing Beena Tripathi steals the show with her acting skills. She has embodied her character and the hurt that the Tripathi household has inflicted on her never leaves her eyes. She is planning for a perfect revenge and she will do anything to get what she deserves. She is the woman of the haveli every man in the streets talks about.
Shabnam and Madhuri Yadav Tripathi are just pawns. They are cogs on the wheel of Mirzapur and help drive the motive of the man. Sheeba Chaddha as Vasudha Pandit is a mother but never helpless. She guides her sons, fights with her husband, asserts that he has a responsibility to answer her, and lives proudly with her daughter.
Rasika Dugal playing Beena Tripathi steals the show with her acting skills. She has embodied her character and the hurt that the Tripathi household has inflicted on her never leaves her eyes.
Harshita Gaur as Dimpy Pandit has a mind of her own. She sees things, really sees them and comments. She is not a goon and doesn’t own arms but her unafraid commentary about the state of her family is true. She has opinions and doesn’t hesitate to deliver them.
Zarina is the item girl you need, especially when the gaze is male enough. She is the relief for sore eyes with her latkas and jhatka. She is craving a position in the party and would do anything to achieve it, and literally, anything includes sexual favours, dancing on the stage, and fooling the opposition. She is the woman men are afraid of, neither coy nor shy.
Mirzapur 3 serves different flavours, from an ambitious don to a woman waiting for her revenge. This season sizzles all flavours and adds some spice. It has broken records and continues to dominate the OTT space while facing criticism from some factions. It is season-in-between. It ties the loose ends of previous seasons, fosters some fresh relationships, and cleans the slate for the fourth season which is expected to be brutal and essential.
Mirzapur 3 is a treat for people who enjoy political satires. It is not an easy watch, with a plethora of murders and profane language it is not a family show, but it is a delight for people who enjoy the rawness of Uttar Pradesh. It is shot in a faded yellow and the bright cast even appears rusty to establish that it is the vehicle that drives the man and the motive in Mirzapur 3.
