Nagesh Kukunoor steers clear of splatter and shock, crafting a sober, twist-laden crime series that draws on moral unease and Madhuri Dixit’s reinvention as a genial, comely-looking but feared serial killer
Madhuri Dixit, who felled her fans with her dazzling smile in the 1990s, is back decades later with another kind of a ‘killer’ smile. This time, her signature smile is meant to evoke menace and uneasiness, as the actress — who once dominated Hindi cinema — after her foot-tapping number ‘Ek do teen’ set hearts racing in the 1988 film Tezaab, now portrays a feared, convicted serial killer in Nagesh Kukunoor’s new series, Mrs Deshpande, on Jio Hotstar.
Interestingly, Kukunoor, whose oeuvre includes heart-warming, wholesome films like Iqbal, Dor, Dhanak and Rockford, ventures into serious killer territory for the first time. (If you don’t take his 3 Deewarein in 2003 into account, which focuses more on the prison life of three murderers and the matter of redemption). Also, this six-episode series, Mrs Deshpande, comes after his well-received political thriller, The Hunt: The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case, which indicates that Kukunoor, who made his debut in films with the light-hearted indie, Hyderabad Blues (1998), is purposefully journeying into unchartered waters. However, his firm grip on the director’s wheel ensures that his experiments with genres never sway off course.
Mrs Deshpande is based on an acclaimed 2017 French thriller La Mante (The Mantis), a series, which author Stephen King was smitten by, enjoying the “unexplored realms of gruesomeness”. Particularly, he wrote on X that he had not ever seen a “man slowly drowning in an industrial washer before”. Kukunoor, however, adopts a more sober approach, avoiding scenes involving gruesome gore, blood-splattering violence, and neither does he turn to any chilling, sinister theatrics like Anurag Kashyap did in Raman Raghav 2.0.
A well-wrought whodunit thriller
Not falling under the ‘splatter film’ category, (thankfully, we have enough of that on OTT), the series briskly gets down to telling the story. At times, the pace turns sinister, as there are sub-plots involving child sexual abuse, transgender violence, and moments when masks dramatically drop. In the end, however, it largely remains a tautly-woven whodunit thriller.
A notorious convict, Mrs Deshpande serving her sentence in Hyderabad Central Jail, reaches out to the Mumbai Police offering to help them nab a copycat murderer, who is imitating murders committed by her 25 years ago. “It takes one to catch one,” blithely quips senior cop Arun Khatre (Priyanshu Chatterjee), repeating what we have been hearing from the time Anthony Hopkins created sheer panic in the Silence of the Lambs.
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The Mumbai police commissioner Khatre may be wary of Mrs Deshpande and her deceptively genial smile, but he needs her before the media catches wind of the serial murders. However, the comely-looking Mrs Deshpande, who cooks delicious modaks and mutton curries for the cops guarding her, has her own devious reasons for being helpful. Before she sets out to find the killer, she lays down one condition, and the police agree to it.
Priyanshu Chatterjee (left) as solid police commissioner Arun Khatre is a treat to watch.
The detective, Tejas Phadke (played by Marathi actor Siddharth Chandekar), who is overseeing this highly ‘risky’ operation, distrusts Mrs Deshpande. He believes that her smiling visage hides a lot more than what she is willing to share. But she slowly wins Phadke over with her quick understanding of the serial killer’s next moves and they team up “working well together”. Phadke and others on the special police team, however, cannot help speculating whether Mrs Deshpande is somehow orchestrating the copycat murders?
Like any crime thriller, it is packed with sharp twists and turns. You anticipate one or two surprises, but when the copycat killer’s identity is revealed — with a backstory that feels a bit stretched — you are left stumped. But, isn’t this how murder mysteries unravel: you dig up the most unlikely person in the room and give them a past that hurts like hell. And, they are prepared to unleash mayhem in an unjust world.
A monster on a rampage
There’s another final turn of the screw and more ugliness surfaces to explain the sheer evil nestling inside Mrs Deshpande. She cannot stop herself from killing people, she cries out to the one who had set her on this path. But she is at pains to explain that she never targets innocents, it is only the child molesters, violent fathers, rapists and the like that she is after. This angle is probably woven in to placate the actress’s fans, who may not be able to stomach Madhuri as a monster on a rampage like a Hannibal Hector.
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Written by Nagesh Kukunoor and Rohit Banawlikar (who also wrote The Hunt), the murder mystery keeps you completely invested till the final sixth episode. It is largely due to Kukunoor’s assured direction that keeps the series moving well despite some flaws.
Madhuri Dixit works hard to sink her teeth into the role and mind of a serial killer. She displays the same determination her character, Mrs Deshpande shows while doing her Surya Namaskars (to dislodge bad childhood memories) and her krav maga moves. But her death stares and her cold smiles that dissolve into a snigger doesn’t quite stir up the chills. It is ironic that the song she hums after strangling her victims stems from one of her most popular films, Dil To Pagal Hai.
The song, ‘Bholi si surat, ankhon main masti’, sung by her co-star Shah Rukh Khan about his dream woman, only creates nostalgia for that peppy Madhuri! Yet, conversely, Mrs Deshpande draws eyeballs because of Madhuri, as she manages to centre the series with her sheer star presence.
Chandekar as Phadke, who has a key role in this series, holds his own most of the time but at a crucial turn, he fails to convey the deep angst and shock over a discovery he makes midway through the serial. Priyanshu Chatterjee as the solid and affable police commissioner, the guiding force behind this operation, is a treat. Truly, Indian cinema should use him more often and maybe he can easily slip into the shoes of Iftekhar, Hindi cinema’s classic police commissioner. The other prominent actors include the dusky Nimisha Nair, perky Diksha Juneja (who plays Tejas’ wife) and the veteran Marathi actor Pradeep Velankar, who adequately support the narration.
