Crime
Beat
is
engrossing
enough
to
binge-watch,
endorses
Deepa
Gahlot.
As
any
true
blue
journalist
would
agree,
the
crime
beat
of
a
newspaper
is
thrilling
because
the
chase
and
uncovering
of
criminal
activity,
with
its
whiff
of
risk-taking,
is
a
high.
The
new
show
Crime
Beat
is
based
on
Somnath
Batabyal’s
book,
The
Price
You
Pay,
and
directed
by
Sudhir
Mishra
and
Sanjeev
Kaul.
It
is
reminiscent
of
recent
OTT
content
set
in
the
world
of
journalism,
like
Despatch,
The
Broken
News
and
Scoop.
This
eight-part
show
is
not
so
much
about
the
inside
track
on
journalism
as
it
is
about
the
crime-police-politics
nexus
in
which
the
media
might
play
the
role
of
a
weak
catalyst.
Even
the
most
principled
journalist
has
to
succumb
to
pressure
from
the
management
and
bury
a
story
that
could
affect
the
interests
of
those
in
power.
At
the
same
time,
a
smart
criminal
could
manipulate
a
sensation-hungry
media
for
his
own
purposes.
The
protagonist
of
Crime
Beat
is
Abhishek
(Saqib
Saleem),
who
has
moved
from
Banaras
to
Delhi
to
make
it
big
as
a
journalist.
He
manages
to
live
in
a
lavish
apartment
thanks
to
a
rich
buddy.
He
impresses
Amir
Akhtar
(Danish
Hussain),
the
editor
of
The
Express,
enough
to
be
able
to
make
a
move
from
a
lurid
tabloid
to
a
respectable
newspaper
but
he
is
also
hungry
for
bylines,
and
the
elusive
Page
One
story.
The
show
makes
it
look
as
if
the
first
page
of
a
newspaper
is
essentially
an
investigative
expose,
while
in
reality,
most
of
it
is
regular,
agency-provided
news
copy.
The
paper’s
cynical
photographer
Pashupati
(Kishore
Kadam),
an
old-timer
in
the
newsroom,
becomes
Abhishek’s
guide
through
the
labyrinth
he
is
keen
on
entering.
An
escaped
gangster,
Binny
Chaudhary
(Rahul
Bhat),
is
pulling
political
strings
from
Afghanistan,
so
a
powerful
politician
S
K
Rawat
(Vipin
Sharma)
wants
him
dead.
Top
cop
DCP
Uday
(Rajesh
Tailang)
is
on
Rawat’s
payroll
and
curbs
his
enthusiastic
deputy
ACP
Mayank’s
(Adinath
Kothare)
investigation
into
Chaudhary’s
activities.
His
gang
members,
that
include
a
femme
fatale
nicknamed
Heroine
(Sai
Tamhankar),
carry
out
kidnapping
and
ransom
collection
on
Chaudhary’s
behalf.
When
Chaudhary
sneaks
into
Delhi
with
his
own
political
agenda,
Rawat
is
furious
and
worried.
Acting
more
like
a
detective
than
a
reporter,
Abhishek
starts
digging
into
Chaudhary’s
crimes.
At
one
point,
he
even
poses
as
a
film
producer
to
reach
his
inner
circle.
The
paths
of
DCP
Uday,
Rawat,
Chaudhary,
Heroine
and
her
victims
keep
intersecting,
as
Abhishek’s
scoop
is
stolen
by
Akhtar
and
he
walks
out
of
the
newspaper
to
join
a
television
news
channel.
He
is
more
than
eager
to
be
picked
up
by
Chaudhary
so
that
he
can
deliver
exclusives.
The
sense
of
power
starts
eroding
Abhishek’s
ethics,
for
which
he
is
berated
by
a
fellow
journalist
Maya
(Saba
Azad),
who
then
does
not
hesitate
to
steal
his
sensational
story.
Crime
Beat
is
a
fast-paced
thriller,
with
a
star
turn
by
Rahul
Bhat
(recently
seen
in
Black
Warrant)
as
the
charismatic
gangster.
The
show
is
well
cast,
with
Saqib
Saleem
looking
convincing
as
the
idealistic
journalist
who
does
not
even
realise
when
and
how
he
strayed.
Crime
Beat
has
plausibility
gaps
and
some
unexplained
tracks
—
like
the
mysterious
one-scene
godwoman
and
the
naïve
film
director
—
but
it
is
engrossing
enough
to
binge-watch.
Crime
Beat
streams
on
ZEE5
Crime
Beat Review
Rediff
Rating:
