'Maharani Season 4' Web-Series Review: Huma Qureshi's political drama is entertaining but overlong

Cast: Huma Qureshi, Vipin Sharma, Shweta Basu Prasad, Mukesh Bhat

Director: Puneet Prakash

Language: Hindi

Huma Qureshi was one of the finds of Anurag Kashyap’s classic two-part gangster drama Gangs of Wasseypur back in 2012. And that is the year where the actress’ show Maharani Season 4 is based in. Qureshi might be knowing her fictional character inspired by a real life character inside out now. It all began in 2021. Only few web shows have been able to drag their feet for four years and four seasons in India. Creator Subhash Kapoor has the penchant for carving out characters that are flesh and blood and fascinating. And he loves to weave his narratives around the underdogs, the unlikeliest people to do the job. He did that with Say Salaam India, the Jolly LLB franchise, and now Maharani.

The filmmaker follows the same template that Yash Raj Films does. Create a franchise out of a gripping story and take different men to go behind the camera. So if Season 1 of the series was directed by Karan Sharma, Season 2 by Ravindra Gautam and Season 3 by Saurabh Bhave, the new one is helmed by Puneet Prakash. Four different voices, one vision- To keep the essence and complexities of the story intact. The motivations of these flawed people shouldn’t be at odds with the previous seasons in the fresh ones. And this time, Rani Bharti is visibly aging, we see her daughter Shweta Basu Prasad take the legacy forward. This is one actress that needs more meaty roles. She has been a remarkably gifted talent ever since the days of Iqbal and Makdee. And even in recent times with outings like Jubilee, Criminal Justice, and now Maharani, she displays courage of steel. And the screen presence adds cherry to the cake.

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Subhash Kapoor also has the knack for casting actors instead of stars to convey his message to the audience. He gave Saurabh Shukla the role of a lifetime as Judge Sunderlal Tripathi. Right? But we have a problem. The problem is the filmmaker’s indulgence. Kapoor may have got carried away after the success of the first two Jolly films that when he brought Akshay Kumar and Arshad Warsi together in part three, it came nowhere close to the first two films in the franchise, neither in terms of meat nor merit. The feeling of fatigue is creeping in for this web series too that enters its round four. Huma Qureshi, a fine actor, also caricaturizes her role in some scenes with forced accent.

Making anything around politics isn’t easy. And Prakash Jha and Madhur Bhandarkar are veterans in the genre. But the makers should be aware when to stop even if they know the story can be taken forward. It not only kills the essence of the franchise but also the goodwill of the characters that made an impression the first time we met them. Maharani Season 4 is better than most of the series floating around on the OTT landscape, it’s now getting overlong and overstaying its welcome. But the way things are looking, they may drop in a new season by the time we reach 2026. Prakash Jha taking charge this time?

Rating: 2.5 (out of 5 stars)

Maharani Season 4 is now streaming on SonyLIV