Mirzapur

Mirzapur is a crime drama series with a small town of Uttar Pradesh in its centre.

Season 1 Episode 1 takes us to the life of The Tripathi's, a dynasty of gangsters who control the town of Mirzapur.

The show opens when Munna (Divyendu) fires a gun in the middle of a wedding procession that causes the groom's death. 

Impulsive and difficult to understand are the defining qualities of Munna's character, and we are made aware of those from minute one itself. Say what you will, starting Season 1 Episode 1 with a cold blooded murder is definitely a great way to get the viewer's attention.

We find out that Munna is the son of Akhandanand Tripathi (Pankaj Tripathi), affectionately known as Kaleen Bhaiya-the town's biggest gangster who supplies guns and opioids across the state. But to the world, he simply owns a carpet business (that explains the name "Kaleen"). 

The next morning we see the other side of town, where we meet Guddu Pandit (Ali Fazal) and Bablu Pandit (Vikrant Massey). Guddu and Bablu are college students. While Bablu is the Accounts topper of the college, Guddu is repeating the semester for the third time, because he doesn't have much interest in academics (maybe he is the Jhandu). Guddu dreams to win the Mr. Purvanchal Competition and enter the world of modelling. 

Guddu is a fan of Munna bhaiya. He just wants to be in his good books, which is why he kicks the student who is opposing Munna in the college elections. The student falls down and Munna and his goons thrash him until he is black and blue. 

Oh also, all of this is happening in the middle of a lecture...while the teacher turns a blind eye? It is rightly said that the rich and mighty can get away with anything. To me, it was a shock to see Munna control every aspect of the college, but again, it was a great way to get viewer attention. 

After a few foul abuses are hurled here and there, everyone decides to ignore the incident and get ahead with their day.

Another parallel sub-plot is about Panditji—Guddu and Bablu's father—who is a lawyer with a strong moral fibre. He decides to take on the legal case on behalf of the groom's family. Remember the groom who Munna casually killed in the beginning? Yes, that one.

But again, the rich and mighty have their ways. The local police officer rushes to Kaleen Bhaiya and tells him all about his son's actions. Akhandanand has a strong moral fibre too. He doesn't want innocent people to get killed. Well, it's mostly because that can be bad for business, but still, that shows a strong sense of ethics. (Right?)

Again, abuses are hurled all over the house and Munna decides that he is going to take care of the issue. Munna heads over to Pandit residence to threaten Panditji into dropping the case. When he doesn't agree, Munna's goons start insulting his daughter Dimpy. Guddu and Bablu, come running and try to control the situation. 

Despite his immense respect for Munna bhaiya, Guddu does not shy away from beating him up for showing up at their house unannounced. 

Panditji hasn't agreed to drop the case and his sons have further escalated the situation by assaulting the Prince of Mirzapur. And this is just the first episode! 

Things could only get worse from here. How? We'll find out soon enough.