Pankaj
Tripathi
anchored
the
first
two
seasons
with
his
performance. Here,
he
is
made
to
sit
it
out
for
most
of
the
show,
and
none
of
the
actors,
except
for
a
fiery
Ali
Fazal,
have
the
charisma
to
hold
the
viewer’s
attention,
observes
Deepa
Gahlot.
When
the
first
season
of
Mirzapur
started
streaming,
it
brought
to
the
small
screen
the
kind
of
gore,
profanity
and
sex
that
one
had
not
been
seen
before.
Television
content
had
some
control,
if
not
outright
censorship,
but
shows
like
Mirzapur
and
Sacred
Games
broke
the
barriers,
and
challenged
earlier
notions
of
what
was
acceptable
on
a
home
viewing
platform.
Mirzapur
was
set
in
a
carpet-weaving
town
of
North
India,
where
Akhandanand
Tripathi,
aka
Kaleen
Bhaiya
(Pankaj
Tripathi)
runs
his
drugs
and
guns
criminal
empire
under
the
guise
of
a
legit
carpet
business.
The
stunning
opening
credits,
that
had
threads
in
the
loom
soaked
in
blood,
gave
an
indication
of
what
was
to
follow.
Kaleen
Bhaiya
wants
his
trigger-happy
son
Munna
(Divyendu
Sharma)
to
inherit
the
‘gaddi‘
(seat
of
leadership)
of
Mirzapur,
under
which
the
other
Baahubalis
(gang
leaders)
of
Purvanchal
function
in
relative
peace.
Guddu
(Ali
Fazal)
and
Bablu
(Vikrant
Massey),
sons
of
an
upright
lawyer
Ramakant
Pandit
(Rajesh
Tailang),
start
by
opposing
Munna,
who
has
carelessly
killed
a
bridegroom,
and
end
up
working
for
Kaleen
Bhaiya.
Pandit’s
troubles
start
when
he
takes
on
the
case
against
Munna,
which
no
lawyer
would
touch.
Kaleen
Bhaiya
has
an
opponent
in
the
Shukla
clan,
and
when
Guddu
kills
his
father,
he
makes
an
enemy
of
Sharad
Shukla
(Anjum
Sharma).
Another
gangster
Dadda
Tyagi
(Liliput),
with
twin
sons
(Vijay
Varma),
join
up
with
Shukla.
In
Season
1
and
2
of
Mirzapur,
the
body
count
was
alarmingly
high,
as
gangsters
go
about
killing
with
abandon,
cops
and
politicians
safely
in
their
pockets.
By
the
time
the
smoke
clears
to
make
way
for
Season
3
(coming
so
long
after
Season
2,
that
a
recap
is
needed
to
recall
who
is
who),
Munna,
Bablu,
Guddu’s
pregnant
wife
(Shriya
Pilgaonkar),
Kaleen
Bhaiya‘s
randy
father
(Kulbhushan
Kharbanda)
and
one
of
the
Tyagi
twins
are
dead,
and
a
wounded
Kaleen
Bhaiya
is
spirited
away
by
Sharad.
The
gainers
are
Guddu,
who
snatches
Mirzapur
and
gets
a
loyal
ally
in
his
wife’s
sister
Golu
(Shweta
Tripathi
Sharma),
and
Munna’s
wife
Madhuri
(Isha
Talwar),
who
took
over
the
chief
ministership
of
the
state
after
her
father’s
death,
leaving
her
uncle
(Pramod
Pathak)
in
the
wilderness.
Season
3
—
with
10
episodes
directed
by
Gurmmeet
Singh
and
Anand
Iyer
individually
or
jointly
—
has
a
profusion
of
characters,
and
a
vague
road
map
on
which
to
let
the
streams
of
blood
flow
(there
is
literally
a
map
with
UP
towns
frequently
popping
up,
and
they
are
joined
by
thick
red
lines),
but
otherwise,
it
keeps
going
without
purpose.
The
havelis
are
grand
and
there
is
s
bleak
beauty
to
the
exteriors,
but
the
show
does
not
do
UP
Tourism
any
favours.
Madhuri
wants
to
avenge
Munna’s
murder,
and
Sharad
his
father’s,
so
they
form
an
alliance
against
Guddu
as
their
shared
foe.
Ramakant
Pandit
confesses
to
the
murder
of
a
cop
who
was
in
the
process
of
shooting
Guddu
in
an
encounter
and
goes
to
jail.
There
are
so
many
scenes
that
may
be
well
written
and
shot,
but
serve
no
purpose
except
to
bloat
the
show,
which
has
no
positive
characters.
Except
for
Ramakant
Pandit,
and
to
some
extent,
his
daughter’s
boyfriend
(Priyanshu
Painyuli),
there
is
not
one
decent
man
in
the
series.
The
women,
who
are
not
innocent
wives
and
mothers,
are
not
wallflowers
either.
Kaleen
Bhaiya‘s
wife,
Beena
(Rasika
Dugal)
had
given
birth
to
an
illegitimate
son
and
has
hopes
of
taking
over
Mirzapur.
Golu
becomes
a
gunslinger,
deal
maker
and
Guddu’s
lover.
Shabnam
(Shernavaz
Jijina),
daughter
of
incarcerated
opium
dealer
(Anil
George)
takes
over
his
business.
Sharad’s
mother
(Meghna
Malik)
is
his
advisor,
and
dancer
Zarina
(Anangsha
Biswas)
is
a
pawn
in
the
schemes
of
the
dignified-looking
Madhuri,
who
is
as
wily
as
any
politician
has
to
be
to
survive
in
the
jungle
of
UP.
Again,
dozens
are
killed
and
there
are
horrifying
—
and
needless
—
scenes
like
a
woman
being
whipped
with
a
belt,
pigs
eating
a
charred
corpse,
a
man’s
eyes
being
gouged
out
with
thumbs,
a
chopped
head
being
gifted…
Every
form
of
gruesome
violence
is
used,
as
treachery
and
revenge
become
the
fuel
for
the
show
in
which
everybody
covets
the
gaddi
of
a
nondescript
town,
as
if
it
were
more
precious
than
the
leadership
of
a
country.
There
are
action
sequences
that
are
well
choreographed
and
shot,
like
the
jail
attack
on
Guddu,
and
a
shootout
in
the
Mr
Purvanchal
contest.
But
there
are
also
baffling
bits
like
a
cop
listing
the
vegetables
he
has
bought
or
an
arrested
poet
killing
a
key
character
in
prison,
or
a
gambling
scene
in
Nepal
where
Guddu
has
gone
to
make
a
drug
deal
and
chatters
interminably.
Mirzapur
makes
it
look
like
people
routinely
kill
and
maim
while
the
cops
look
away.
In
a
show
replete
with
all
kinds
of
violence
and
no
pretence
to
restraint
or
good
taste,
there
is
mercifully
no
rape.
Pankaj
Tripathi
anchored
the
first
two
seasons
with
his
performance.
Here,
he
is
made
to
sit
it
out
for
most
of
the
show,
and
none
of
the
actors,
except
for
a
fiery
Ali
Fazal,
have
the
charisma
to
hold
the
viewer’s
attention.
Even
Vijay
Varma
looks
listless.
What
also
takes
away
from
the
series
is,
ironically,
its
past
success,
which
kicked
off
a
spate
of
me-too
series
so
full
of
bloodshed
and
crude
language,
that
it
really
has
reached
the
point
of
overkill.
Mirzapur
3
streams
on
Amazon
Prime
Video.
Mirzapur
3
Review
Rediff
Rating:
