Indian entertainment industry has upped its web series game in the past few years and Mirzapur came in as the icing on the cake. Given the plot and the cast, it wasn’t a wonder that it was an instant hit among both action loving and story loving audiences because it balances pretty much all aspects of storytelling with great skill. Undoubtedly, the creators assembled a wonder team of writers, cinematographers, action directors, editors and of course, actors, to narrate the tale of who gets to ‘rule’ the rather sad city of Mirzapur. And they’ve told a tale so grave yet so enticing that it gets you hooked to something that you’d never even want to witness from a distance in real life.
The ‘Game of Thrones style’ screenplay where the macabre things like intestines flowing out of a dead body and an eye gouging out through a bullet wound sure got the Indian audiences impressed with ease. Other than that, Mirzapur seems to be elevated the realistic approach in storytelling through highly convincing setups, costumes, makeup and dialogues; but has combined with it a knack for shock element. Throughout the series, (I’m only getting started with season 2) there are instances that make you gasp, cringe and laugh out loud with pretty much no indication of what’s coming next. The infusion of humour into a plot that is necessarily brutal is the work of some highly talented writers who deserve recognition – Karan Anshuman and Puneet Krishna.
It is admissible, however, that it’s nothing ground-breaking or new. Mirzapur’s success is as much a work of marketing as it is of storytelling. The first step to success was to cast a seasoned actor in the lead role for whom the character of Akhandanand Tripathi is more or less a cakewalk. And then there are the usual elements of a compelling adult story – crime, violence, sex, betrayal, love, etc woven generously into the series.
While the technical elements are done brilliantly, on a personal level, Mirzapur offers a glimpse into a world that we’ll never want to be a part of, but is quite real nonetheless. We live in a country that has endured through such times and instances in certain states and all we can feel is gratitude for not being born there. It’s all very compelling to watch it in the form of entertainment but there’s no fathoming what its like to live a life controlled by a bunch of gangsters. In that regard, Mirzapur holds a mirror to the ignored realities of the country and draws our attention towards victims of a failed system. There’s no telling what can be done about it, but at least, awareness is the first step towards betterment.
The series has sure been a part of the drastic shift that the Indian audiences are feeling towards mass content. The more realistic, raunchy and adrenaline driven content with good stories have taken the OTT world by storm in the past few years. While it may not be appealing to everyone, it sure is better than the hyper-realistic crap that we were so far being fed. A step in the right direction, if anything.
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