In Rangbaaz : Darr ki Raajneeti, director Sachin Pathak deeply observes how fear and power motivate the people in the realm of politics through the graph of his protagonist, Harun Shah Ali Baig(played by the talented Vineet Kumar Singh) who transforms from a local gangster to a politician in a small town of Bihar.
Set in the 90s and spanning through a period of over 20 years, the 6-episode series, created by Navdeep Singh( of NH-10, Manorama Six Feet Under fame), is inspired from real incidents and evokes the memories of Anurag Kashyap's classic Gangs of Wasseypur - in terms of its treatment and milieu.
Pathak displays a nuanced understanding of the setting and is in complete tandem even when the narrative moves back and forth in the timelines to describe the events in Harun's life.The solid writing by Siddharth Mishra is fleshed out competently by Pathak in form of the characters.
He stages the conflicts - the physical and the mental - effectively. Under the lenses of of DoP.Arun Kumar Pandey and impressive production design, Rangbaaz gets more and more involving with its punchy screenplay and explosive drama. Curtailed within a runtime of 40 minutes, each episode is a heady cocktail of drama and emotions.
Depicting a layered personality, Vineet Kumar Singh does a terrific job and communicates his resentment and defiance through a simmering rage. Each of his expressions is worthy - be it the perpetual smirk, the innocence embedded in his smile or the crucifying guilt of his best friend's killing enshrouding his psyche. It is a difficult part but Singh navigates the chronology of Harun's life with consummate ease.
Pathak surrounds him with a solid ensemble - Award-winning actress Geetanjali Kulkarni playing the hapless mother of his bestie with an unflinching grit and determination to punish him, Prashant Narayan as the sombre cop, Vijay Maurya and Rajesh Tailang playing the shrewd politicians. I wished to see more of Tailang - his talent and range is not effectively utilized. Aakansha Singh plays Harun's wife, Sana, with conviction and earnestness.
I enjoyed the current season of Rangbaaz.With the influx of writers' talent and good directorial skills, the franchise is definitely going to get bigger and better.
Going with 4 stars out of 5. The series is streaming on Zee5.
Ahwaan Padhee, is an IT Techie/Business Consultant by profession and a film critic/cinephile by passion, is also associated with Radio Playback as well, loves writing and conducting movie quizzes.
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