Mirzapur Season 3 arrives after a long wait of four years but it’s anything but a cracker of a show that one was hoping for. The Amazon Prime Video series set in the lawless hinterland of Mirzapur brings back Ali Fazal and Pankaj Tripathi in their iconic roles of Guddu and Kaleen Bhaiya, and yet leaves you not quite satisfied.

A recap of where the characters stand

Produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar’s Excel Entertainment, Mirzapur Season 3 begins with a detailed prologue reintroducing us to the characters and their current situations. The first season (2018) revolved around businessman-cum-don Akhandanand Tripathi, aka Kaleen Bhaiyya (Pankaj Tripathi) who calls the shots in Mirzapur, and his impulsive son Munna (Divyenndu) whose ambitions far outstripped his abilities. Their reign faced threats from rival mob bosses and upcoming gangsters like Guddu Pandit (Ali Fazal).

Season 2 (2020) showed how the Tripathis’ stronghold began to weaken as Kaleen Bhaiyya’s foes multiplied, both inside his mansion — with his wife Beena (Rasika Dugal) disgruntled with Kaleen in bed — and outside where Guddu and his ally Golu (Shweta Tripathi Sharma) championed the law of the jungle: whoever holds the gun holds power. Season 2 ended with a prolonged shootout that left Munna dead, Kaleen Bhaiyya severely injured, and Guddu and Golu empty-handed.

Season 3 casts the net wider…

Written by Apurva Dhar Badgaiyann, Avinash Singh Tomar, Vijay Narayan Verma and Avinash Singh, the focus of Season 3 remains the familiar turf of Mirzapur with its gang wars and political shenanigans. But the scope is expanded to include the entire state of Uttar Pradesh, with the ganglords of Pashchim demanding more than what the leaders of Purvanchal are ready to offer.

Mirzapur’s power dynamic has shifted dramatically — Guddu has laid claim to the mafia throne while Kaleen is reeling under the loss of his son and recovering from his gun injuries. Meanwhile, Munna’s wife Madhuri Yadav (Isha Talwar) leverages her husband’s death to rally support for her party and undermine the opposition. Sharad (Anjumm Shharma), the Bahubali from Jaunpur, is plotting revenge against Guddu and his gang for the murder of his father. He frequents the corridors of power in Lucknow to win Madhuri’s trust in order to finish off Guddu’s reign with her help.

…But fails to live up to the previous seasons

Mirzapur Season 3 doesn’t shy away from violence but the brutality feels an overkill at times without the impact that defined the earlier seasons. The beauty of Mirzapur often lay in the quiet moments that punctuated the bloodshed — a quality that is largely absent in Season 3.

The power struggle reaches a crescendo but there are way too many characters and numerous narrative offshoots to juggle with, which takes a toll on the pacing. Keeping track of the various players in the fray and their motives often feels exhausting. The high points are also pretty predictable, which dampens the excitement, and some plot twists simply fail to deliver the desired impact.

Season 3 concludes without an explosive finale that Mirzapur fans have come to expect from the show. With the relentless movement from one plot point to another, there’s little room for emotional resonance. And while the ground may have been prepared for the fourth season, the resolution feels underwhelming.

Characters: hits and misses

The performances are a saving grace, with Ali Fazal, Shweta Tripathi Sharma and Anjumm Shharma turning in exceptional performances as Guddu, Golu and Sharad. Ali and Shweta’s screen chemistry is spot on, effectively conveying the complexities of Guddu and Golu’s relationship.

Though fans have been craving a face-off between Kaleen Bhaiyya and Guddu, the third season largely relegates Pankaj Tripathi to the sidelines. This shift in focus has allowed the younger actors to take centrestage but who wouldn’t have wanted more of Pankaj Tripathi?

Isha Talwar is fantastic as a steely chief minister, while Rasika Dugal doesn’t have enough to do as Beena Tripathi though her screen presence is electrifying. Similarly, Priyanshu Painyuli’s Robin, who showed promise in Season 2, is disappointingly underdeveloped.