Rangbaaz 3 Darr Ki Rajneeti OTT Review: Chilling Political Crime Thriller

The third season of the successful Zee5 franchise, Rangbaaz is back with a more chilling and ominous six-episode flourish. The 'based on true events' narrative of 'Darr Ki Rajneeti' takes us through familiar times set in Bihar from 1990 thereabouts to a world of politics and crimes, incessantly unleashed in an attempt to grab power and position in the state where law and order were entirely dependent on who held sway at the turnstiles.

This current series bears witness to the rise of yet another heinous criminal, to a position where reigning over Bihar becomes easy meat.

Haroon Shah Ali Baig (Vineet Kumar Singh) from Dhiwan, gains power and money through his monstrous exploits and uses the resources he gains to help people who come to him for succour. He obviously begins to believe his own image of a saviour and sees nothing wrong in flushing out the lives of others (including his best friend Deepesh) in his attempt to keep his power and sway over the hapless intact.

Haroon's image as a Bahubali who has the influence to topple and form governments can only last for so long though.... Loved or hated, his motto to rule the masses by using fear is followed to this day.

This story, presented by Navdeep Singh, reflects the rise and the subsequent fall of this man referred to as 'Saheb.'

The pointers to real life politics are obvious in the dramaturgy here. The caste and religion politics, political murders, the chara ghotala, the gang wars unleashed, the booth capturing during elections, are all remnants of a past that most of us are conversant with.

There's also a shade of present day political re-organisation in the 'Mahagathbandhan' victory that heralds Saheb's downfall.

Treatment and Performances

For those having watched 'Rajneeti' and several other OTT series on crime and politics, Rangbaaz may sound altogether familiar but that's where you might be wrong. The treatment here is what makes this series unique.

Sachin Pathak's restrained helming allows the actors space to dig deeper into character refinement and present individual personas with grit and resourcefulness.

Every character here whether Machiavelli, righteous or in-between comes across as true and believable. Pathak doesn't resort to graphic displays of violence to score brownie points. The violence is visual only when there is a need for it, otherwise it's largely implied.

The scripting by Siddharth Mishra is sharp, the pace is measured while the tone is altogether unnerving.

All these are aided by terrific performances from the entire cast (especially Geeta Kulkarni and Vineet Kumar Singh), realistic camerawork by Arun Kumar Pandey, incisive editing by Nikhil Parihar, sound design by Sanjay Maurya and Alwin Rego and a non-intrusive beseeching background score by Sneha Khanwalker, which keep you immersed, engaged and breathlessly entertained throughout.