CAST: Vineet Kumar Singh, .Aakanksha Singh , Prashant Narayanan, Vijay Maurya, Rajesh Tailang, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Soham Majumdar, Saharsh Shukla 

DIRECTED BY: SACHIN PATHAK

Rangbaaz: Darr Ki Rajneeti is the third installment in ZEE5’s marquee franchise. The story, this time around, centres on Haroon Shah Ali Baig (Vineet Kumar Singh), a gangster-turned-politician from Bihar, his rise from humble beginnings to become the de facto power centre in his constituency of Dhiwan, and his subsequent fall. 

Inspired by the life and times of a real-life personality, just like the two preceding seasons of the franchise, the character of Haroon Shah Ali Baig seems to be modelled after the notorious Bihar politician-criminal, Mohammad Shahabuddin. Mohammad Shahabuddin’s Wikipedia page will validate this as the events that take place in the lives of the real and reel characters are strikingly similar.

However, though Mohammad Shahabuddin was an out and out evil person in real life, writer Siddharth Mishra has written his Haroon Shah Ali Baig with a sensitive vulnerability, keen intelligence, a love for reading and books in contrast to the real character.

The writers seem to be torn between choosing to glorify his protagonist or demonise him – just like the previous two iterations of the series. It’s to his advantage that he’s got Vineet Kumar Singh playing his dubious protagonist – the man makes us root for Saheb against our better judgement. And that’s half the battle won in making Rangbaaz 3 an interesting watch. 

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The production quality, technical pecs, perfect run-time, keep the series paced and engaging. The momentum of the edits matches the energy of the events on screen making the hooks sink.

 Mukesh Chhabra, casting director of this show has out-done himself through the casting. The performances are so brilliant that they elevate the story-telling.

The writer and director have also succeeded in perfectly nailing the ethos and character of the time period and the demographics The attention to detail in every frame is inspring.

The constant back and forth of the story between timelines – 2010, 1995, 1989, 2001 etc ae quite a mess to take care of.

Rangbaaz 3 is easily the best of the three seasons of this franchise

Sneha Khanwalkar’s edgy background score makes the story more than an average crime drama.Arun Kumar Pandey’s cinematography is crisp

Vineet Kumar singh makes all the difference to this story with his honest performance and precise attention to details. It is his show all the way.