From creatorsReema KagtiandZoya Akhtar, Prime Video’s new police drama seriesDahaadpits a small-town cop against a menacing serial killer of women. The eight-episode show starsSonakshi Sinhain the lead role of a tough-as-nails cop, whileVijay Varmaplays the killer.Dahaad(meaning “roar” in Hindi) is set in the heartland of India, a favorite sandbox forcrime storytelling in the country.
The drama unfolds whenseveral women are found deadunder mysterious circumstances. While it is initially assumed that they died by suicide, after having eloped with their partners, sub-inspector Anjali Bhaati (Sinha) discovers patterns that tie the deaths together. Suspecting the worst, she sniffs out clues that lead her to Varma’screepy antagonist— an unassuming-looking “family man” named Anand, whom she describes at one point as a “demon.” He appears for the first time midway through the trailer, apparently teaching very young children a lesson on morality. “God is watching,” he says quietly, warning the children to be good.
The trailer doesn’t simply set up the stakes and leave the rest to the imagination; it actually shows Anjali confronting and arresting Anand. But she’s met with pushback from her partner (played byGulshan Devaiah) and other naysayers, who refuse to believe that sucha regular person, a teacher, could be capable of such terrible crimes. The show also appears to address small-town Indian sexism, when a couple of youths mock Anjali, and shegives it back to them. But all references to caste discrimination and right-wing nationalism, both of which were alluded to inan earlier descriptionof the show, are completely absent from the trailer, which ends with a rather sinister scene in which Anand repeatedly tells a woman to “smile.”
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Varma is coming off of arguably the most acclaimed performance of his career, in Netflix’s dark comedyDarlings. Incidentally, he played a similar monster in that film as well. The up-and-comer previously appeared inNetflix’sA Suitable BoyandShe. He will next star in the Bollywood adaptation ofThe Devotion of Suspect X. Sinha, on the other hand, needs a win. Having gotten her start on the biggest scale possible — she debuted opposite the superstarSalman Khanin 2010’s blockbusterDabangg— her career has been marred by a series of unsuccessful attempts at playing leads.
Creators Kagti and Akhtar Have a Strong Track Record
The very rusticDahaad, which premiered in the Berlinale Series section at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, marks a change of pace for Kagti and Akhtar’s Tiger Baby Films, the production house behind glossy titles such as the hit Prime Video seriesMade in Heavenand the upcoming Bollywood adaptation ofThe Archiescomics. But Akhtar and Kagti have a glowing track record as filmmakers with a particularly strong voice. Their most acclaimed project remains the rap dramaGully Boy, which was selected as India’s official entry to the Oscars in 2019 after premiering, likeDahaad, in Berlin. The film essentially introduced Varma to the world. OnDahaad, Tiger Baby is collaborating with Excel Entertainment, a production house known for more populist entertainment, co-owned by Akhtar’s brotherFarhan Akhtar.
The series is co-directed by Kagti andRuchika Oberoi, and will debut on Prime Video on May 12. you’re able to watch the trailer here, and read the official synopsis down below.
Dahaad is an eight-part crime drama that follows sub-inspector Anjali Bhaati and her colleagues in a small-town police station. It all starts when a series of women are mysteriously found dead in public bathrooms, and sub-inspector Bhaati is tasked with the investigation. At first, the deaths appear to be clear-cut suicides, but as the cases unravel, Bhaati begins to suspect that a serial killer is on the loose. What follows is a riveting game of cat and mouse between a seasoned criminal and an underdog cop, as she pieces together evidence before another innocent woman loses her life.
