Maharani: With a better climax, it could have been a genre favorite

• Platform: Sony Liv
• Release Date: 28/05/2021
• Cast: Huma Qureshi, Sohum Shah, Pramod Pathak, Vineet Kumar, Inaamulhaq, Mohd Ashique Hussain
• Creator: Subhash Kapoor

I started watching Maharani at about 8 pm on 28th May and thought that I would watch 4-5 episodes on the night and complete the rest on the following day. But as I moved from one episode to another, I found myself perpetually wrapped in the intrigue and drama of the story of Rani Bharati (Huma Qureshi) and a gamut of colorful characters populating her world and impacting her story. It is a fact that I would have loved for the series to have culminated stronger with a more realistic finale but that cannot take away all the good that the makers and the actors do in the rest of the 9 episodes of the series. I couldn’t bring myself to sleep without learning how the story of Rani would end and that in itself is no less of an achievement. For that and a whole lot more, I believe that Subhash Kapoor has finally delivered on the promises that he made when he made the film Jolly LLB but then followed it up with some lackluster offerings and hit rock bottom with Madam Chief Minister.

Bheema Bharati (Sohum Shah) is the first lower cast Chief Minister of Bihar and his accession to the throne feels like an anomaly to many and a boon to the lower cast. In his party, there is also Navin Kumar (Amit Sial), a man who is from the upper cast, and has tremendous clout in the party ranks and was slated to become the chief minister but was pipped by Bheema in an unthinkable twist of fate. Navin wants to overthrow Bheema and would go to any lengths to do so. The communal violence between the upper and lower classes erupts in Bihar and Navin tries to use the same for his political benefits. It is also at this juncture that Bheema Bharati almost falls to an assassination attempt. His life is saved but he sustains such grievous injuries that it becomes apparent that he will not be running the state for 6 months at least.

The situation is ripe for Navin and his supporters to stake claim to the throne. Even people like Gauri Shankar Pandey (Vineet Kumar) believe that they have a crack at the CM’s chair. Bheema understands the flow of the wind and with the assistance of his loyal supporter Mishra Ji (Pramod Pathak) installs his simpleton and illiterate wife Rani Bharti as the CM of Bihar. The idea is to ensure that the CM is someone who he can control and while he is recovering, he can still run state from the comfort of his bed. However, fate had other plans. Once in the chair, Rani Bharati quickly learns to juggle between her duties as a CM and a wife and then grows a conscience and audacity large enough to unearth a scam of 958 crores in the state. What happens next forms the crux of the narrative of the series.