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What do we mean when we say that journalism is the fourth pillar of democracy? Is journalism really the business of showing the world its mirror, or is it merely a rat-race of making the most out of that scoop that will eventually get you the TRPs and what not? A set of journalists motivated by the earlier idea set foot against a whole organised crime nexus ranging from underworld dons, powerful politicians, bureaucrats, corrupt police officers to the other set of journalists moved by the latter idea. This would probably be the most comprehensive synopsis of this Netflix original based on Jigna Vora’s book, Behind Bars in Byculla: My Days in Prison, created by the Scam 1992 fame, Hansal Mehta.
The six-episodes-long series makes no delay in getting directly on to the business in hand. In a show where each character is either loosely or strongly based on some real-life character, it becomes a bit too risky to tread the path of glory. But beginning right from the assassination of the senior crime journalist, Jaideb Sen, played by Prosenjit Chatterjee, the point where everything falls wide apart, to the point where the journalism world divides into two distinct divisions, the maker does not let any flaw come in the way of its artistic values.
The extremely realistic and meticulously crafted murder sequence of Jaideb sets the series on right foot and moves forward with tremendous performances by each character. In the lead of the cast, Karishma Tanna (Jagruti Pathak), Zeeshan Ayub (Imran), a memorable (this time) Harman Baweja (Shroff), newcomers like Tanmay Dhanania (Pushkar) and Inayat Sood (Deepa) do more than justice to their respective roles. Prosenjit, in his brief appearance as the stalwart of an investigative crime journalist, spells pure magic on screen. But besides the main cast, the minor characters played by some old, familial faces and other novel ones really stood out for me. A heated argument between Deepa and Shekhar, a fellow reporter (played by a talented Aalekh Kapoor) in episode 4, truly proves what surprises a minor character can bring to the story. Another such surprise was the chemistry between the couple, Pushkar and his wife, Anita (played by Ira Dubey) where the wife is a serial victim of gender discrimination at her workplace and the husband trying to motivate her to stay strong and stand up for herself whereas he himself is a party to the villainization of Jagruti in his own field. The show, very carefully, showcases many such complex philosophical dilemmas coming in one’s both personal and professional lives. The performances by the family members of Jagruti, including her son, is just beyond one’s imagination.
The scenes at the Byculla jail and Jagruti’s brief meets with her family members including her son are so carefully crafted that they will suffice to make you empathise with the victim. Zeeshan Ayub’s conviction to the role of Imran leaves you tattered in thoughts about the journalism scene in the nation in present times. The obvious amount of research that has gone into the making of this series is just mind-blowing.
Despite the few lows in the form of a somewhat whacky camera job just at times and a bit tedious last two episodes in terms of writing, the grand individual as well as collective performances and the overall direction by Mehta, the maestro himself, lead the way for the series to be remembered for a long time to come.
