Blood and Guts in Purvanchal

Mirzapur Season 3 | Cast: Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Shweta Tripathi Sharma | Director: Gurmmeet Singh | Hindi | Prime Video

CONTROL. POWER. Izzat (respect). That is what Guddu Pandit (Ali Fazal) wants as Season Three opens. Towards the close, he is a different man, as is his morally upright father. “I taught you how to fight,” he tells his son. “I should have taught you to love.” It comes after beheadings, throttlings and assaults with unusual objects (from gym implements to even a pencil). Everyone wants the power that flows from being the king of Mirzapur, which for the most part of the season is vacant because Kaleen Bhaiya (Pankaj Tripathi) seems to have gone missing. There are many claimants to it, from Sharad Shukla to the Tyagis to Guddu Pandit and Golu Gupta. But it is the women who stand out this time, each trying to carve out a place for themselves in an unforgiving world. There is Madhuri, Munna’s widow, the chief minister, trying hard to keep her cabinet of elderly wolves together, played with steady calm by Isha Talwar. There is Kaleen Bhaiya’s second wife, Beena, played cunningly by Rasika Dugal, slinking and lurking behind doors trying to play queen maker. There is Golu, hoping to be the brains behind Guddu’s brawn, with Shweta Tripathi proving small can be feral. And then are women like Zarina (Anangsha Biswas), the Bhojpuri star, who is willing to do anything to gain control of her life, even if it s few thumkas to lewd lyrics. And the mother and sister, left behind by two adamant men, to fend for themselves, but with dignity and grace. This season the contours of Mirzapur and the relationship with Bihar and Nepal are also explored. Between Bhasmasur, who destroys himself; Bakasur, who has an endless appetite for everything; and Bheem, who will kill all evil, who will survive and how? Despite its usual tendency to dwell in excess, the new season is a return to form.

Why watch it? Once you enter the world of Mirzapur, of betrayals, double crosses and deceit, it is like Hotel California, difficult to check out

Anti-History in Olde England

My Lady Jane | Cast: Emily Bader, Edward Bluemel | Creator: Gemma Burgess | English | Prime Video

WE’VE HAD inter-faith, inter-caste, inter-continental love stories but rarely, if ever, does one come across an inter-species romance. Until now that is, with My Lady Jane. The series subverts every historical fact to come upon the conclusion that Lady Jane Grey did indeed outlive her factual execution after nine days on the throne of England. They give her a scheming opponent, Princess Mary, who doesn’t like to bathe, and her ally, the smooth as baby skin, Rasputin-like Lord Seymour played with relish by Dominic Cooper. There is Lady Jane’s mother, the monumentally delirious Anna Chancellor; Lady Jane’s conniving father-in-law Lord Dudley played by Rob Byrdon; and most importantly Lady Jane’s would be-cannot be husband, Lord Guildford Dudley, played by Edward Bluemel. There is an air of enigma about him with good reason and in true romantic fiction style Lady Jane cannot decide whether she loves him or hates him, even as her kingdom is at war with Ethians, humans who take animal form (yes, please, this is a fantasy). Based on the work of Cynthia Hand, it is entirely nuts but also distinctly delightful, with Bader and Bluemel gamely taking their kits off in the pursuit of giving the audience vicarious pleasure.

Why watch it? Not for its history lessons but perhaps, er, anatomy tutorials

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