Mirzapur (TV series)

Mirzapur is an Indian crime thriller web television series on Amazon Prime Video produced by Excel Entertainment.[1] The series is primarily shot in Mirzapur, with some shots in Jaunpur, Azamgarh, Ghazipur, Lucknow, Gorakhpur and Varanasi. It revolves around drugs, guns and lawlessness. It depicts the putrescence, governance and rule of mafia dons and the rivalry and crime prevailing in the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh.[2] Its first season consists of 9 episodes in total.[3] The series has been renewed for a second season which will release in 2020.

Mirzapur
Promotional poster
Genre	Crime Thriller Action
Created by	Karan Anshuman Puneet Krishna
Directed by	Karan Anshuman Gurmmeet Singh
Starring	see below
Country of origin	India
Original language(s)	Hindi
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	9 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Ritesh Sidhwani Farhan Akhtar Bhaumik Gondaliya
Running time	44-53 minutes
Production company(s)	Excel Entertainment
Release
Original network	Amazon Video
Original release	16 November 2018 (2018-11-16) – present

The series is Amazon Prime Video’s third fiction Indian Original after Inside Edge and Breathe. It stars Pankaj Tripathi,[4] Divyendu Sharma, Ali Fazal, Vikrant Massey, Shweta Tripathi, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Rasika Dugal, Harshita Gaur and Kulbhushan Kharbanda.[5][6][7]

Cast

• Ali Fazal as Govind "Guddu" Pandit
• Vikrant Massey as Vinay "Bablu" Pandit
• Pankaj Tripathi as Akhandanand aka "Akhanda"
• Tri/Kaleen Bhaiyapathi
• Divyendu Sharma as Phoolchand "Munna" Tripathi: Akhandanand's son from his first wife and Satyanand's one and only grandson.
• Shriya Pilgaonkar as Sweety Gupta: Parshuram's elder daughter and Guddu's wife
• Rasika Dugal as Beena Tripathi: Kaleen Bhaiya aka Akhandanand’s second wife, Satyanand's daughter in law and Munna’s stepmother.
• Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Satyanand Tripathi: Akhandanand’s father whom he fondly calls 'Akhanda' , Beena's father in law and Munna's grandfather. He is very strong headed man and the actual dictator and owner of the business and patriarch of the family
• Rajesh Tailang as Ramakant Pandit: Guddu, Bablu and Dimpy's father
• Shweta Tripathi as Gajgamini "Golu" Gupta: younger daughter of Parshuram
• Shubrajyoti Bharat as Rati Shankar Shukla: Bahubali of Jaunpur, Firstly Satyanand and now also Kaleen Bhaiya's rival
• Shahnawaz Pradhan as Superintendent of Police Parshuram Gupta, Golu and Sweety's father
• Amit Sial as Senior Superintendent of Police Ram Sharan Maurya, Special Officer assigned to Mirzapur
• Shaji Chaudhary as Maqbool Khan, First Satyanand and now also Kaleen Bhaiya' aka Akhandanand's trusted henchman
• Sheeba Chaddha as Vasudha Pandit, Ramakant Pandit's wife, Guddu, Bablu and Dimpy's mother
• Prashansa Sharma as Radhiya
• Harshita Gaur as Dimpy Pandit, Guddu and Bablu’s sister
• Abhishek Banerjee as Subodh aka Compounder
• Manu Rishi as Police IG Dubey
• Mukesh Bhatt as Haseena
• Anjum Sharma as Sharad Shukla, Rati Shankar's Son
• Pramod Pathak as J.P. Yadav, political patron of Akhandanand Tripathi aka Kaleen Bhaiya
• Anil George as Lala, Supplier of Opium to Akhandanand Tripathi aka Kaleen Bhaiya
• Abutalha as Lion of Mirzapur
• Santosh bhokare as Police Pandey
• Aasif Khan as Babar Khan, Maqbool's nephew

Episodes

Season 1 (2018)

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"Jhandu"	Karan Anshuman and Gurmmeet Singh	Puneet Krishna, Vineet Krishna and Karan Anshuman	16 November 2018 (2018-11-16)
Munna Tripathi, son of powerful Akhandanand Tripathi known as Kaleen Bhaiyaa, mistakenly shoots a groom while dancing. The groom's family takes the case to honest lawyer, Mr Pandit. Pandit has 3 children, Guddu, Bablu and Dimpy, all three study in the same college. Guddu has a major crush on Dimpy's close friend Sweety. When Munna gets to know about Pandit taking the case, he goes to Pandit's house to threaten him. When he refuses to comply, Munna points a gun at him. This leads to a fight where Guddu beats up Munna badly. Munna feels insulted and Tripathi calls the Pandit brothers to his place. The brothers get shocked when Tripathi offers them to work with him. Aside from this, Beena is the second wife of Akhandanad Tripathi but is not happy with her sex life.
2	"Gooda"	Gurmmeet Singh and Mihir Desai	Puneet Krishna, Vineet Krishna and Karan Anshuman	16 November 2018 (2018-11-16)
The brothers agree to work for Tripathi. They are given a bike and are sent to talk their father out of the case. Munna is angry with his father for not punishing Guddu and Bablu. Pandit refuses to listen to his sons and asks them to leave. It is revealed that Sweety has a nerdy sister, Golu, and that their father is a corrupt cop who takes bribes from Tripathi. Munna is interested in Sweety, who refuses him constantly, despite his friend's threats and jibes. Guddu and Bablu force the dead groom's father to withdraw the case. Initially, they refuse, but when Guddu hangs the brother in law from balcony, he agrees to withdraw the case. Rati Shankar, an old rival of Tripathi, sends a man to kill Munna. Munna survives and kills the man. Rati's son Sharad suggests his father to take revenge when Tripathi isn't at Mirzapur.
3	"Wafadar"	Gurmmeet Singh	Puneet Krishna, Vineet Krishna and Karan Anshuman	16 November 2018 (2018-11-16)
A generation-old rivalry between Kaleen Bhaiya, his father and Rati Shankar is rekindled. Sharad refuses to join his father Rati Shankar's business. J.P. Yadav demands election funds from Kaleen Bhaiya so he meets Lala to ask for extra supply of resham (opium) and on the way back gets ambushed by Rati Shankar's assassins. He captures two of the assassins and questions them. He gets to know Rati Shankar is targeting his family. Kaleen Bhaiya/Tripathi gives control of his gun ring to Guddu and Bablu asking them to expand it. Tripathi's wife, Beena, has sex with someone other than Tripathi.
4	"Virginity"	Gurmmeet Singh and Karan Anshuman	Puneet Krishna, Vineet Krishna and Karan Anshuman	16 November 2018 (2018-11-16)
Beena has sex with the house servant, Raja. The principal of the college asks Golu to stand for the upcoming college elections as Munna is very violent. After refusing Munna's approaches, Sweety asks Guddu out on a date. Munna gets Guddu steroids for body building through the compounder, who is loyal to Munna. After Munna expresses that he wishes to take over Mirzapur as soon as his father lets him. The compounder offers to even kill Tripathi. Although, Munna is initially angry, he considers it. Guddu and Bablu kill for the first time (a reference to the title).
5	"Bhaukaal"	Karan Anshuman and Mihir Desai	Puneet Krishna, Vineet Krishna and Karan Anshuman	16 November 2018 (2018-11-16)
Munna takes a cut in an opium deal without his father's consent. Guddu and Bablu hatch an ambitious plan to increase the gun trade, but for this, both the cops and criminals of Mirzapur must cooperate. Guddu tells Sweety that he is a gangster. Lawyer Pandit writes frequent letters to the chief minister regarding the matters at Mirzapur. Guddu and Bablu sell drugs through eunuchs. Violence in the city shoots up and the gun sales also increase impressing Tripathi. The state capital sends a police officer to Mirzapur to control the violence.
6	"Barfi"	Gurmmeet Singh and Mihir Desai	Puneet Krishna, Vineet Krishna and Karan Anshuman	16 November 2018 (2018-11-16)
A meet up of the mafia heads of Purvanchal (Kaleen Bhaiya, Rati Shankar and others) and their political patron (J.P. Yadav) masquerading as a Holi Party ends up in a fracas which threatens to transform all equations. J.P. Yadav, feeling insulted at the hands of Kaleen and Munna Bhaiya, offers to help Rati Shankar gain control of Mirzapur if he can provide him with funds for elections.
7	"Lions of Mirzapur"	Gurmmeet Singh and Karan Anshuman	Puneet Krishna, Vineet Krishna and Karan Anshuman	16 November 2018 (2018-11-16)
Guddu and Bablu have mixed up their private and professional lives as gangsters but are they going down a rabbit hole?
8	"Tandav"	Gurmmeet Singh	Puneet Krishna, Vineet Krishna and Karan Anshuman	16 November 2018 (2018-11-16)
Guddu and Bablu go to Jaunpur to meet a party. The party reveals to be Shukla, the enemy of Tripathi. He asks the boys to join him. After refusing, a fight begins where Guddu shoots Shukla. This news goes to the ears of Tripathi who becomes furious that the boys did not consult to him before shooting. Meanwhile, Guddu marries Sweety and the day after the wedding, takes part in bodybuilding competition. Compounder shows his true friendship to Munna by trying to kill Tripathi when Munna asked him but he failed. Munna unwantedly kills Compounder in front of his father so that the latter does not discover his lies. He feels sad and depressed for some days. He then tries to frame Guddu for the attack on his father. Tripathi thus causes Guddu to lose the competition. Guddu becomes aggressive on stage. Tripathi hands over a gun to Munna, Munna then says that now it's time for "Tandav" and he will rule as from now.
9	"Yogya"	Gurmmeet Singh	Puneet Krishna, Vineet Krishna and Karan Anshuman	16 November 2018 (2018-11-16)
Golu wins the election. The family goes to Dimpy's friend wedding, who turns out to be Lala's daughter. Sweety is pregnant and Guddu shows side effects because of steroids intake. Munna looks for the brothers everywhere to kill them. On the other hand, police beats the eunuchs to disclose who the brothers work for. Munna hijacks the wedding and kills Sweety, Bablu and injures Golu and Guddu. Tripathi kills the policemen somewhere else to keep maintaining his fear among people. Tripathi's father gets to know about Beena and Raja's affair and blackmails Beena to have sex with him and later to cut Raja's penis off. Guddu instructs Golu how to use a gun and tells her to shoot Munna, she misses it but the bride's father's bodyguards aim at Munna. People manage to run from the wedding place, including Golu, Guddu and Dimpy. In the ending scene, Munna is shown to take his gun to fight back; Beena looks for a gun; Sharad is shown shaving his head and remembering that his father wanted Mirzapur.

Reception

The show has received mixed to good reviews from critics. Rohan Naahar of the Hindustan Times, rating it 2/5, calls it "a needlessly violent Anurag Kashyap rip-off has the maturity of an ill-mannered teen - loud, obnoxious and aimless", saying it's "a show without a moral centre, which is problematic - not only ethically, but narratively. Without a single character to latch on to, the show is left with no option but to revel in the violence, which is often needlessly over-the-top."[8] Sampada Sharma of The Indian Express also considered it "a washed up Anurag Kashyap universe that is trying too hard to please longtime Kashyap loyalists" and that "the show tries to surprise the audience with some anti-climactic twists in a few scenes but you can already see them coming."[9] Ektaa Malik, also of The Indian Express, terms it "a tedious watch, and even its top-notch cast can’t save this mammoth show from sinking. The show creators wished to create a multi-layered, complex narrative, replete with backstories, but it all ends up in a big muddled heap. The relentless violence and gore doesn’t scare you, rather it makes you cringe. The abundant profanity doesn’t add to the story, it distracts you instead.The writers and show creators have tried to imbibe current socio-political and cultural references but nothing really stands out."[10] Saraswati Datar from The News Minute talks of a "brilliant cast of actors led by Pankaj Tripathi is let down by an inconsistent script and indulgent direction."[11] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rates it 2/5, and, while also highlighting the performances of Tripathi, Fazal and Massey, talks of the show as "a crime series that never ventures beyond familiar terrain. Its trite narrative template undermines its ambition to be the web's answer to Gangs of Wasseypur. With nothing to say, it inevitably flubs its lines."[12] Stutee Ghosh from The Quint gives it 2.5/5, also saying how the performances "save" a "weak drama."[13] Rahul Desai of Film Companion rates it 3.5/5, calling it "a choppy but fearless crime epic."[14] Ketna Mistry of Biz Asia gives it 4/5.[15]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result	Reference
2019	iReel Awards	Best Actor -Drama	Pankaj Tripathi	Won	[16]
		Best Supporting Actor	Divyendu Sharma	Won
		Best Supporting Actress	Rasika Dugal	Nominated
		Best Drama Series	Mirzapur	Nominated

References

1. "Move over Sacred Games, Mirzapur memes are now the rage". The Indian Express. 2 December 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
2. "Decoding the women of Mirzapur: Why Vashudha, Golu and Beena stand out in the web series".
3. "Mirzapur: Amazon Prime Video reveals banner of upcoming series starring Shweta Tripathi, Ali Fazal". FirstPost. 17 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
4. "Pankaj Tripathi debuts on Instagram with Mirzapur 2 teaser: Internet welcomes Kaleen Bhaiya". India Today. 16 November 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
5. "Amazon's 'Mirzapur': A Formidable Kaleen Bhaiyya In New Poster". TheQuint. 22 October 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
6. "Mirzapur Introduces Guddu Pandit In The New Teaser". Mid Day. 17 October 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
7. "Mirzapur teaser: Pankaj Tripathi, as Kaleen , sounds menacing". Times Now. 10 October 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
8. Rohan Naahar (17 November 2018), "Mirzapur review: Even Pankaj Tripathi can’t save Amazon’s hyper-violent Anurag Kashyap rip-off", Hindustan Times. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
9. Sampada Sharma (16 November 2018), "Mirzapur first impression: A washed-up Anurag Kashyap universe does not make for interesting drama", Indian Express. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
10. Ektaa Malik (17 November 2018), "Mirzapur review: A tedious watch", The Indian Express. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
11. Saraswati Datar (19 November 2018), "'Mirzapur' review: This Amazon Prime original gets you interested but leaves you wanting", The News Minute. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
12. Saibal Chatterjee (17 November 2015), "Mirzapur Review: Pankaj Tripathi, Vikrant Massey And Ali Fazal Can't Inject Life Into This Dreary, Flabby Story", NDTV. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
13. Stutee Ghosh (19 November 2018), "‘Mirzapur’ Review: Shining Performances Save Otherwise Weak Drama", The Quint. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
14. Rahul Desai (13 November 2018), "Mirzapur Review: A Choppy But Fearless Crime Epic That Sways Between Movies And Madness", Film Companion. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
15. Ketna Mistry (25 November 2018), "Digital review: ‘Mirzapur’", Biz Asia. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
16. "iReel Awards 2019: Pankaj Tripathi Beats Sacred Games 2 co-star Nawazuddin Siddiqui to win Best Actor (Drama) for Mirzapur". News18. Retrieved 23 September 2019.

External links

• Mirzapur on IMDb