When Mirzapur’s first season premiered in 2018, it gave an adrenaline rush with its strong mix of action, deception, politics, and power. Fans were moved to tears by Vikrant Massey’s portrayal of Bablu Pandit’s demise, and Pankaj Tripathi’s terrifying portrayal of Kaleen Bhaiya captivated audiences.
In the second season, Ali Fazal’s Guddu Pandit’s thirst for vengeance made us root for him, and Divyenndu’s explosive portrayal as the power-hungry Munna Bhaiya was a standout.
After an excruciating four-year wait, Mirzapur 3 was finally released on Amazon Prime on 5 July.
Mirzapur Season 3 Review
Mirzapur is a show that lacks a moral center, which is problematic both ethically and narratively. Without a single character to root for, the show is forced to relish in the violence, which is frequently unnecessary and excessive. When someone slashes a throat, pops a vein, or empties a clip into an innocent person, blood spatters across the camera lens.
But that’s sort of the tone the show settles into. Everything is taken to an extreme – every emotion, every line of dialogue and every scene. Once, when a goon expresses a desire to do some drugs, he ends up doing all of them. Lines of coke are snorted, joints are rolled and heroin mainlined. And yet, the ‘bhaiya’ lives.
What does ‘Bhaiya’ Signify in Mirzapur?
Almost single character in Mirzapur, the new Indian series on Amazon Prime Video produced by the same team that created its predecessor, has the word ‘bhaiya’ in their name. And, as a convenient example of the intricacies I’m alluding to, no two characters’ ‘bhaiya’ have the same level of respect.
‘Bhaiya’ is a heavy word in Hindi. It translates literally as ‘big brother’. However, depending on where you are in India, particularly in Mirzapur, the interpretation may differ greatly. In the north of the country, it is used (and accepted) as a polite respect phrase. We refer to autowallahs as ‘bhaiya’, just as we do to our actual brothers. Your local shopkeeper and the man who delivers your Amazon shipment are both known as ‘bhaiya’.
However, further south, particularly in a few regions, calling someone ‘bhaiya’ is equivalent to insulting their sister and then setting fire to their home. Even in Maharashtra, where immigrants from states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were once addressed as such, the name had derogatory connotations.
What’s Mirzapur about?
Mirzapur portrays the story of Hindi heartland violence, which connects with politics, law enforcement, and middle-class India. It unfolds with absolutely little nuance and features more deaths.
Under more capable hands, this subject would have made for necessary dissection, but Mirzapur lacks the intelligence and sensitivity to make any meaningful remark about this very real and very upsetting situation. Instead, it commits the most heinous error of glorifying certain aspects of UP gangland life.
Mirapur Location
Mirzapur is located in Uttar Pradesh, a northern Indian state known for communal and physical violence. It was recently stated that eight women are raped every day in the state. According to the same data, almost 11,000 FIRs for crimes against women are registered each year.
Mirzapur Cast Performance
The entire cast in Mirzapur is nearly completely made up of psychopaths. There’s Kaleen Bhaiya, a local criminal boss portrayed by the famous Pankaj Tripathi, and his impulsive son, Munna Bhaiya (Divyendu Sharma). Their dynamic is identical to that of Tripathi’s character and his son in the fantastic Neo-noir Gurgaon.
Then there are the brothers Guddu and Bablu, portrayed by Ali Fazal and Vikrant Massey, who are both in fine form as the aspiring sons of a local (and critically, straight-laced) lawyer. Kaleen Bhaiya sees them as the ideal combination of brains and strength, and, detecting potential, employs them to join his gun-running organization, much to Munna’s resentment and their father’s dismay.
Then there is Divyendu Sharma, Shweta Tripathi, Shriya Pilgaonkar, and Rasika Dugal who are also seen playing intense roles.
Mirzapur 3 Storyline
Even before the opening credits in episode one, a gang of goons in their Scorpio (a vehicle whose reputation has been permanently tarnished by the hoodlums who drive it, drive over a severed finger. A man’s rifle backfires, destroying his dominant hand. And a groom perched on his ‘ghodi’ gets accidentally shot in the eye.
All of this occurs during the first ten minutes. The remaining nine episodes seem to argue, with scary nihilism, that being awful is good. Everyone is corruptible when enough money is dangled in front of them, and because standing up for what is good is pointless, one might as well make some money doing what is wrong.
Mirzapur 3: Overall Review
Guddu and Kaleen Bhaiya return, along with Rasika Dugal as Beena Tripathi and Shweta Tripathi as Golu. However, Munna Bhaiya’s absence is felt profoundly. Eager fans binge-watched the new season almost immediately, only to discover that, while the program does not shy away from violence, the cruelty frequently appears overdone, without the effective storytelling of prior seasons. Fans have commented about the the series’ that prior charm was found in its peaceful moments amidst the chaos—a delicacy that is lost from Season 3.
Mirzapur doesn’t strive high, but it still misses the mark. If there were to be a next season, it would be immensely enhanced by a more sophisticated handling of the violence and a more concentrated storyline.
