Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre : Crime/Mystery
Year : 2023
Season: 1, Episodes: 8
Director : Reema Kagti, Ruchika Oberoi
Cast : Sonakshi Sinha, Vijay Verma, Gulshan Devaiah, Sohum Shah
Kid rating : PG-13
There’s a serial killer loose in India’s small towns. He prays on unsuspecting young women, women who see him as a way out of their desperate lives. He takes his time, spinning elaborate yarns for them, professing love and proposing marriage.
One such case makes it to the attention of Sub Inspector Anjali Bhaati, and she digs and digs until she sees a pattern. The killer hides in plain sight, and proving her case will be the tough part.
Dahaad is a series with an intriguing premise featuring as lead a female sub-inspector. And she is no ordinary police officer, but one buffeted by taunts about her caste and her background. And that’s the interesting thing about Dahaad – yes, it’s well-made, has an interesting storyline, with a tight script and great actors to boot, but it is Sub Inspector Bhaati i.e.; Sonakshi Sinha who ultimately makes it work.
She has to contend with the vagaries of the outside world – the casual misogyny, the casteist politics, the social norms which deem her an “odd girl”, and the ones within the home – the nagging mother who wants to see her sari-draped, domesticated and married. Anjali rebels, sometimes by avoiding the issue, and sometimes overtly, like the time she appears in full police regalia while meeting a prospective groom, instead of the un-threatening, feminine sari that her mother would have her wear.
While SI Bhaati is one of the big reasons you’d want to watch Dahaad she is not the only one. There’s Vijay Verma, who as the wily do-gooder Anand Swarnekar, does an amazing job here. Not a surprise if you have seen his earlier work – especially his role in Gully Boy.
And then there’s Gulshan Devaiah, who’s got to be one of the actors I’d like to see more of because he takes each role he plays and makes it his own, wide and varied though they may be. (his most recent filmi appearance was in Badhaai Do as Guru Narayanan, a gay lawyer). Devaiah as Bhaati’s boss is just perfect, a stolid yet smart family man, balancing the political needs of his job with solving actual crime, and then finding the time to stave off his wife’s jealous insecurities and her close-minded views on raising their daughter.
Dahaad is an atmospheric mystery, situated in and around rural Rajasthan. This is also a police procedural, with occasional forays highlighting several related ills – misogyny, casteism, politics and the general air of oppression for women and the weaker sections of society. We know who the killer is, almost from the beginning – the interest springs from the chase.
We’ve see the Zoya Akhtar-Reena Kagti combo in fantastic form before – Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Dil Dhadakne Do, Talaash, Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd and Made in Heaven (Series), to name a few – and this time with Dahaad they deliver the goods again!
Kidwise: Elements of (severe) violence; caution advised for younger kids.
