Crooked Politics:
The show about an illiterate woman forcibly handed the position of chief minister of Bihar, by her incarcerated husband, obviously inspired by Laloo Prasad Yadav and Rabari Devi, created by Subhash Kapoor, set up the interesting journey of a woman thrown to political wolves. Over the subsequent two seasons, Maharani has ,with as much astuteness as a web series allows, explored the political mess that is the north Indian state, picking from real events to give it a degree of authenticity. Season 2, that depicted the formation of Jharkhand, was quite incisive, and then lost itself in a maze from which it does not emerge in Season 4
Alongside, shenanigans of men the corridors of power, the show charted the evolution of Rani Bharti (Huma Qureshi), who went from gauche woman who stumbled over words at the swearing in ceremony, to one who survived a jail term for the murder of her husband (Soham Shah) and then avenged his death. She was surrounded by her three kids, loyalists like the Malayali Kaveri (Kani Kusruti) and Mishra (Pramod Pathak), and a slimy opportunist Gauri Pandey (Vineet Kumar).
Till this season, Maharani still had some juice, even though the plots were contrived to give Rani a kind omnipotence—whatever she wanted was achieved. After the CM’s chair, the trouncing of her opponents and admiration of the people of the state, Rani now has to butt heads with a wily prime minister, Joshi (Vipin Sharma).
Joshi is as vain as he is unscrupulous—there are scenes of him dunking his head in ice water and applying gunk on his body for “glow” and reaching out for lip balm before a TV appearance. He also has a lady friend, Gayatri (Rajeshwari Sachdev) and an allegedly illegitimate son by her, an ambitious Nachiket (Saddam Hussain). His personal life is just padding in the eight-part series, that has little left to say.
Directed by Puneet Prakash from a script by Kapoor and Nandan Singh, there is a sense of randomness in the wheeling-dealing that goes on when Joshi – ruling with a precarious coalition of regional parties—finds his position threatened by the withdrawal of the CM of West Bengal. To hold on to his chair, he offers some sops to Bihar, which Rani Bharti turns down, and invites his wrath.
An old murder case is pulled out of dusty files, so Rani steps down and announces that her daughter Roshni (Shweta Basu Prasad) will be CM, angering her already troubled son Jaiprakash (Shardul Bharadwaj) and old warhorse Mishra. Kaveri has been sent to manage Delhi (with what exactly?), where she is wooed by Joshi’s aide, Murad (Atul Kumar).
The actor-turned-CM of Tamil Nadu, Sunderraja (N. Peru), with his two wives, multiple kids keeps both Joshi and Rani guessing about who he will support. Throughout the show, Rani looks pensive, issues vague commands, alienates her friends and doesn’t see a double cross coming. Her prime spot as the shrewd mover and shaker in Bihar is usurped by Jaiprakash’s scams and Roshni’s precarious hold over the CM’s post. The third son, Surya (Darsheel Safary) is studying in London, though mostly seen tinkering with his laptop and has no interest in the family ‘business’.
If politics in India were not riddled with nepotism, rampant corruption and horse trading, Maharani would seem too implausible. Still, throughout, Rani and Joshi keep trying to trip each other up—the credit titles have a chess piece moving slowly towards a seat of power– and it all does get monotonous. The woman on whom the show is based, is almost pushed into the background, mostly displaying her wardrobe of handloom saris and jackets; this is the default outfit (inspired by Sushma Swaraj) of female politicians it would appear—Kaveri and Roshni are also similarly dressed.
Season 4 shows all signs of having lost the plot, but the makers, not willing to give up when the going is still good, have a fifth season coming, with a revenge story already simmering, and a definite nod to The Godfather.
The performances are on point as always, Qureshi not showing signs of aging, except for some grey hair, but playing the not very likeable Rani Bharti with sincerity and grace—her scene with the unhappy Jai gives the episode some emotional heft. Bharadwaj as Jai and Prasad as Roshni bring out the complexity of their characters, and Sharma is suitably Machiavelian.
(This piece first appeared in scroll.in)