What Is the Story About?
Rangbaaz: Darr Ki Rajneeti is the third installment in ZEE5’s marquee franchise. The story, this time around, centres on Haroon Shah Ali Baig (Vineet Kumar Singh), a gangster-turned-politician from Bihar, his rise from humble beginnings to become the de facto power centre in his constituency of Dhiwan, and his subsequent fall.
Rangbaaz Season 3 is the creation of the same team that gave viewers Rangbaaz Seasons 1 & 2 – writer Siddharth Mishra, director Sachin Pathak, and producer Ajay Rai of JAR Productions. Navdeep Singh is showrunner on Rangbaaz S3.
Performances?
Rangbaaz Season 3 is Vineet Kumar Singh‘s show all the way. The story gives him ample scope to display his formidable talent, and the actor delivers spectacularly. Vineet Kumar Singh has rendered a nuanced performance as Haroon Shah Ali Baig, aka Saheb, in Rangbaaz S3. It will go down as one of the best in his already stellar body of work. Aakanksha Singh does well in her role of Sana, Saheb’s wife and pillar of support.
Prashant Narayanan, as SP Raghav Kumar, goes toe to toe with Vineet Kumar Singh in the performance department. His strikingly unique features, coupled with his no-nonsense acting style, lend gravitas to his role. Vijay Maurya does a cool ‘Lalu Prasad Yadav’ turn, dry humour and all. Rajesh Tailang, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Soham Majumdar, Saharsh Shukla are well cast in their respective roles.
Analysis
‘Rangbaaz: Darr Ki Rajneeti‘ is inspired from the life and times of a real-life personality, just like the two preceding seasons of the franchise. The cast and the makers of the series may go blue in the face denying the fact, but it is as clear as day that the character of Haroon Shah Ali Baig is modelled after the notorious Bihar politician-criminal, Mohammad Shahabuddin. Do visit Mohammad Shahabuddin’s Wikipedia page once you’ve finished watching the series. The events that take place in the lives of the real and reel characters are strikingly similar and too obvious to ignore.
However, though Mohammad Shahabuddin was an out and out evil person in real life, writer Siddharth Mishra has bestowed his Haroon Shah Ali Baig with a sensitive vulnerability, keen intelligence, a love for reading and books, and a gentle softness that is in sharp contrast to the hateful things he does. It seems as if the writer is torn between choosing to glorify his protagonist or demonise him – just like the previous two iterations of the series. It’s to his advantage that he’s got Vineet Kumar Singh playing his dubious protagonist – the man makes us root for Saheb against our better judgement. And that’s half the battle won in making Rangbaaz 3 an interesting watch.
That said, Rangbaaz 3 is easily the best of the three seasons of the popular franchise. The production values of the show are top notch, as are its technical aspects. The reasonably short runtime helps in keeping the narrative crisp, pacy and engaging. The storytelling is embellished with relentless action and the plot moves at a fast clip. All of the above helps win the other half of the battle.
The cherry on the cake is obviously the excellent casting, courtesy Mukesh Chhabra, casting director extraordinaire; and the realistic performances from the cast. The writer and director have also succeeded in perfectly nailing the ethos and character of the time period and place that the story is set in. The attention to detail in every frame is commendable.
If there’s anything that needs to be called out in Rangbaaz Season 3, it is the constant back and forth of the story between timelines – 2010, 1995, 1989, 2001 and so on. After a while of the non-linear style of storytelling, it becomes quite difficult and cumbersome to keep up with the era and time in which a certain event is happening. We understand that some part of the story needs to be told in flashback; but Rangbaaz: Darr Ki Rajneeti flogs the narrative device to death. Several draggy bits at different times in the narrative also take some of the sheen off the otherwise exemplary storytelling.
All said and done, Rangbaaz Season 3 is a good one-time watch for fans of crime dramas. If you enjoyed the first two seasons of Rangbaaz, then you’ll definitely like Rangbaaz Season 3 – it’s easily the best of the lot.
Music and Other Departments?
Sneha Khanwalkar has made crime dramas her favourite hunting ground. She excels in giving compelling, edgy background scores to equally edgy stories, and the music of Rangbaaz S3 is no different. The song at the very end of the story is eminently listenable, studded as it is with lyrics by Vineet Kumar Singh himself.
Arun Kumar Pandey’s cinematography is crisp and pleasing. The sharp, well-lit frames are a relief to watch – a far cry from the dark, lightless, indecipherable frames that populate dark dramas these days. Nikhil Parihar’s editing is efficiently executed, more so, given the propensity of the story to oscillate between multiple timelines.
Highlights?
Performances, led by Vineet Kumar Singh and Prashant Narayanan
Good technical aspects of the series
Good production values
Drawbacks?
Too much back and forth between timelines makes it a tad cumbersome to watch
Draggy sequences that could have been sped up
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes
Will You Recommend It?
Yes
Rangbaaz Season 3 Series Review by Binged Bureau
We’re hiring!
We are hiring two full-time junior to mid-level writers with the option to work remotely. You need to work a 5-hour shift and be available to write. Interested candidates should email their sample articles to [email protected]. Applications without a sample article will not be considered.
