If you are a seasoned watcher of crime dramas you might pick a lot of American TV influences on Dahaad. The perpetrator in creators Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar’s delicious thriller is a teacher, a family man who roams around in an ‘EV’ (educational vehicle). Think Breaking Bad. He has a successful brother who he is jealous of and thus pushes him into a predicament. Think Fargo (first season).
The show also involves profiling a serial killer and understanding his motives. Think Mindhunter. “If I have to pick one, my all-time favourite would be Memories of Murder,” answers Reema when asked which are her go-to investigation dramas. Tough one, but, if one looks closely, the Bong Joon-Ho crime procedural has a looming presence over Dahaad. How the places the crimes occur in (a small town in South Korea in MoM; Rajasthan’s Mandawa in Dahaad) themselves become a character, a misogynistic serial killer who appears to be a good samaritan, faultlines between cops investigating the case, the similarities are brief yet poignant in both.
But beyond giving the palpable thrills of a cat-and-mouse chase and the sweet satisfaction of an unravelling mystery, Dahaad aims to explore the societal structures crimes germinate in. “There is a battle-of-wits... a chase on the surface of the show, but there are so many layers below which say a lot about who we are as people and as a society,” shares Reema. “While researching, we met policewomen who shared that they have been cat-called on trains, while in uniform. If we, as a society, allow the eve-teasing of a cop, where are we going to stop? Thus, we wanted to tell the story from the viewpoint of a strong female character.”
The series lead is Sonakshi Sinha who, incidentally, forayed into films as the love interest in the cop-comedy-drama Dabangg. Life seems to have come full circle as she dons the Khaki this time for her OTT debut. “I didn’t think of that, I was just on the lookout for good roles,” says Sonakshi. Describing the facets of her character, she shares, “I was told that Anjali Bhati is a no-nonsense person. She’s tough and doesn’t take no for an answer. But I didn’t have to do much to get into the skin of the character. When you wear that uniform, a sense of authority comes with it, and just changes the way you walk and talk. That’s what happened, I didn’t even have to try,” she adds.
If being a policewoman was a first for Sonakshi, contrastingly, the series antagonist Vijay Varma seems to know playing sexist psychopaths like the back of his hand. Recently, Vijay essayed the role of a chilling, abusive husband in
Darlings. Before that, he played a foul-mouthed flesh-peddler in the series, She. “As an actor, I believe it’s your responsibility to dwell in some dangerous stuff,” says Vijay. “Since not many actors do it, I take the challenge. I want these stories to be told and I play the characters as truthfully and as honestly as I can. I don’t like to look at characters as black and white. Life isn’t black and white.”
Treading in lighter shades of grey is Gulshan Devaiah, who plays Devilal Singh, a righteous cop being a feminist ally to her daughter but struggles to be objective while dealing with his conservative wife. “I would say he is a good guy,” says Gulshan. “He’s not necessarily able to do the right thing all the time but he tries. He asks himself what’s the correct thing to do in every situation and he tries his best to do that.”