Jehanabad: Of Love And War authentically captures Bihar's political skullduggery and caste violence, observes Deepa Gahlot.
The idea of youthful radicalism and armed struggles against an unjust establishment has been with Sudhir Mishra since his first film, Yeh Woh Manzil To Nahin (1987).
He returned to it with his best known film, Hazaaron Khwahishen Aisi (2003).
Now, he is the show-runner for Jehanabad: Of Love And War, set in the Naxal belt of Bihar.
It is 2005, and Jehanabad is still a backward, caste-ridden town.
Naxal leader Deepak Kumar (Parambrata Chatterjee) is lodged in Jehanabad jail and is a headache for the tightly-wound Superintendent of Police Durgesh Pratap Singh (Satyadeep Mishra) and genial jailor Tripathi (Ramakant Daayama).
Even from behind bars, Deepak keeps in touch with his group, with the help of prison staff, sympathetic to his cause of fighting for the upliftment of their caste.
As violence simmers in the background, chirpy college student Kasturi Mishra (Harshita Gaur), fed on a diet of romantic movies, falls in love with the new English professor, Abhimanyu Singh (Ritwik Bhowmik). She is so persistent in wooing him that he falls in love with her too, and this sets off a chain of unfortunate events.
North India, Bihar in particular, is a tinderbox of corrupt, caste-based politics, and in this charged atmosphere, Thakur Shivanand Singh (Rajat Kapoor) is hoping to win back his seat from the sitting lower caste MLA (Nirmal Kant Chaudhary).
The ruthless Shivanand Singh, who is pleasant and approachable on the surface, is a close friend of Kasturi's father Rajendra Mishra (Rajesh Jais), who runs the prison canteen.
Kasturi's mother Kumud (Sonal Jha) has trouble accepting an inter-caste marriage for her daughter, but once she is persuaded, she dotes on Abhimanyu, who has just an uncle (Suneel Sinha) as family -- the charming academic with a secret identity.
As preparations are on for Kasturi and Abhimanyu's wedding -- she slips easily into the wife role, choosing his clothes and bringing him food -- plans are afoot to attack the town and rescue Deepak.
Even though political skullduggery and caste violence have been the subject of many serials, writer Rajeev Barnwal, who co-directs with Satyanshu Singh, has captured the ethos and language of small town Bihar in an authentic, low-key manner.
The main characters are well-developed and some of the supporting characters have been given an adequate number of scenes -- like the fiery Naxal fighter Laxmi Uraon (Paulomi Das), Shivanand's all-purpose henchman Dubey (Raju Bisht) and a dutiful cop Subodh Singh (Shashi Bhushan).
The pace of the show is unhurried but there are frequent and unpredictable turns that serve as hooks for the next episode.
Rajat Kapoor, who usually plays suave city characters, fits right into the role of the mofussil leader, who has quirks like recording every big moment with a Polaroid photograph, and treating visitors with sweets, saying, 'Ghar ki gai ke doodh se bana hai.'
The lead pair, Kasturi's parents, the devious uncle and, of course, Deepak Kumar, as the screen-scorching revolutionary, are well cast.
Jehanabad is based on a real-life jail break in 2005, when the series is also set.
It was just before the telecom boom, when mobile phones were in use, but not social media and biometric security measures, which made faking identities easier.
If there is something disappointing about the show, it is the unconvincing end, just so that a path could be laid for a second season.
Jehanabad: Of Love And War streams on SonyLIV.
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