The basic purpose of independent films or TV series produced by online portals is to exploit the unexplored, innovative ideas which are not commercially viable or too risky for a feature film released in the theaters. In fact that is the reason we get to see so many worth watching TV series in the west, boldly experimenting with new, unheard of plots, receiving huge appreciation from the audience watching all over the globe.
However here in our part of the world, we are strangely still beating around the bush, working on the same kind of scripts even in the mega TV series as MIRZAPUR which is nothing but a spirited, hard worked imitation of the cult GANGS OF WASSEYPUR series directed by Anurag Kashyap.
Yes at times, a filmmaker can certainly come up with his own mesmerizing world working on the same seen before premise with some exceptional, novel merits. But that essentially has to be really extraordinary by all means which sadly cannot be said about the latest series MIRZAPUR created by Karan Anshuman, Puneet Krishna and directed by Anshuman, Gurmeet Singh and Mihir Desai.
Yet again set in UP, trying to exploit the local dialect full of unnecessary cuss words, the series (shot on location) displays some kind of weird, enjoyment in glorifying guns, gangster culture and brutal killings with a lot of bloodshed on screen. As a result, we never find any justification behind the various crimes committed by the key characters behaving more like a psychopath instead of a common man retaliating as his only choice left.
Putting it more specifically, everything in MIRZAPUR begins from the count of 5 instead of 1 and hence it always seems to be a bit over the top and deliberately forced than required. Whether it’s the heartless manslaughter, use of cuss words or sex acts between the odd pairs, nothing seems to be having any natural, realistic flow which honestly remains the major reason why it becomes a tedious watch post a few initial episodes. As a viewer you already know what is going to be there next, presented in a more at your face or annoying manner. Besides, I don’t know why our makers always tend to add a side-plot of unusual or incestual relationships in their scripts, while making their TV series. May be they are more relying on such insertions to get them the viewership instead of any novel and impressive content or execution.
To be fair, an interesting and admirable cast and the performances become the only inviting feature of MIRZAPUR with names such as Pankaj Tripathi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Ali Fazal, Divyendu, Rasika Dugal, Vikrant Massey, Rajesh Tailang, Sheeba Chaddha, Shweta Tripathi and many others (as the lesser known supporting performers). The actors give out their best, but it’s the clichéd writing which never allows them to excel moving out of the routine. As usual, Pankaj Tripathi outshines them all, though his act strongly resembles or reminds of his recent performance in GURGAON. Both Ali Fazal and Vikrant successfully keep you engaged in a fast paced script with events happening one after another, also offering some worth praising sequences at intervals. But the lack of novelty and repetitive feel seriously hinders the series to make any kind of significant impact on the viewer.
Overall, this is just a time-pass series with actors trying to express a lot more than written on the paper. And since no one watches a long TV series just to pass his time, this frankly cannot be recommended to be seen as a must. At the most you can simply watch its first two episodes (that also remain the best of the 9), to get the complete idea of an all familiar storyline.
In short, every such imitation makes Anurag Kashyap’s GANGS OF WASSEYPUR an even bigger cult representing the new age cinema. And we have already seen a lot of them since GOW release back in the year 2012.
Rating : 2 / 5
