Maharani (2021 TV series)

Maharani is an  2021 Indian Hindi-language political drama streaming television series created by Subhash Kapoor. Three seasons of the web series have been released with Huma Qureshi portraying the title character.

Season 1 of the series is directed by Karan Sharma, Season 2 by Ravindra Gautam and Season 3 by Saurabh Bhave.

The series stars Huma Qureshi as the protagonist along with Sohum Shah, Amit Sial, Kani Kusruti and Inaamulhaq.

The multi-seasons political series is partly inspired by events in Bihar in the 1990s when Lalu Prasad Yadav made his homemaker wife Rabri Devi his successor. The story of season 1 is from 1995 to 1999 and is inspired by real-life events and characters like Ranvir Sena, left-wing militants, Naxalite groups, the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation, 1997 Laxmanpur Bathe massacre, Fodder Scam, Brahmeshwar Singh.

The first season premiered on SonyLIV on 28 May 2021.

The story of season 2 is from mid-1999 and is inspired from real-life events and characters like Shilpi-Gautam Murder, Sadhu Yadav, Rajiv Goswami, Shibu Soren, Mohammad Shahabuddin, Prashant Kishor, Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) and 2000 Bihar Legislative Assembly election.

The teaser of the second season was launched on 16 July 2022 and the trailer was released on 1 August 2022. The second season was released on 25 August 2022 on SonyLIV.

The third season trailer been released on 19 February 2024. And the season was released on Sony LIV on 7 March 2024. It is again inspired by and related with many real life events, including the Jitan Manjhi episode.

Plot
This is a fictional story, where Rani Bharti is a homemaker and the wife of Bihar's chief minister Bheema. All she cares about is her house and her husband. She wants to pack her bags and go back to the village after her husband resigns from the post of Bihar's CM. But her life takes a turn when her husband and Bihar's CM is made to announce the name of his successor. While his party members look excited to hear who has been appointed, he makes Rani his successor, leaving everyone surprised.

Season 1
After being shot, the Bihar CM Bheema Bharti unexpectedly names his wife Rani as his successor. An uneducated woman who was content with her simple ways of living and her regular family life has to now deal with government files she could not read, corruption, and caste massacres within the state. With the caste arithmetic, traditional satraps, and the emerging voices of dissent, will an illiterate woman, Rani Bharti survive this?

Season 2
As Bheema Bharti runs a proxy government from prison, CM Rani Bharti is accused of misgovernance while Bihar fights anti-incumbency, jungle raj, and corruption. Lawlessness has gripped the state of Bihar and the opposition holds Rani responsible for the state's ‘jungle raj’.

Facing a constant turmoil of opposition from her own party and dealing with a husband and political enemies who are obstinately plotting to overthrow her government, she is forced to make some moves that will disrupt the whole political scenario. With elections right around the corner, will Rani's acumen turn victorious, given her own husband is her greatest enemy?

Season 3
Step into the gripping world of Bihar politics, where Rani finds herself unjustly imprisoned for three long years. Navin Kumar grabs the CM seat. With Bheema Bharti eliminated, the blame falls on Rani and a chilling tale of vengeance unfolds in Season 3.

Prepare for a relentless pursuit of justice, intertwined with personal vengeance and political motives.

Cast

 * Huma Qureshi as Rani Bharti, wife of Bihar's chief minister Bheema character inspired by Rabri Devi
 * Sohum Shah as Bihar's chief minister Bheema Bharti character inspired by Lalu Prasad Yadav (Season 1–2)
 * Amit Sial as Navin Kumar Character inspired by Nitish Kumar, chief of Bihar People's Party
 * Kani Kusruti as Kaveri Sridharan, Rani's secretary
 * Pramod Pathak as Satyendranath Mishra, RJSP chief secretary
 * Inaamulhaq as Parvez Alam (Season 1)
 * Vineet Kumar as Gauri Shankar Pandey
 * Anuja Sathe as Kirti Singh
 * Tanu Vidyarthi as Khyati
 * Harish Khanna as Shankar Mahto
 * Mohammad Aashique Hussain as Prem Kumar Chaubey
 * Sushil Pandey as Kunwar Singh
 * Kannan Arunachalam as DGP Siddhant Gautam
 * Atul Tiwari as Governor Govardhan Daas
 * Pankaj Kashyap (Pankaj Jha) as Diwakar Jha
 * Neha Chauhan as Kalpana Kaul, director of political consultancy firm I-ACT (Season 2)
 * Anushka Kaushik as Shilpa Agarwal (Season 2)
 * Sukumar Tudu as Dulari Yadav (Season 2)
 * Robin Das as Ekkal Munda (Season 2)
 * Ansha Sayed as Sanjana Dutt, a TV news reporter (Season 2)
 * Danish Iqbal as Dilshad Mirza
 * Leysan Karimova as Zehra Shaikh
 * Dibyendu Bhattacharya as Martin Ekka (Season 2)
 * Kumar Saurabh as Sanyasi Rai (Season 2)
 * Pranay Narayan as Kamta Prasad
 * Agasthya Shanker as Jagganath Tripathi
 * Vishwa Bhanu as Hemraj
 * Alok Chatterjee as Mukhiya
 * Neeraj Kashyap
 * Divyashekhar Jha as Shrawan Kumar a.k.a. Shaun (Season 2)

Production
Sohum Shah gained a 12 kg to get look of the politician Bheema, which has been modelled on the basis of Lalu Prasad Yadav. In November 2020, some portions were shot in Kachnariya Kothi, Bhopal. In April 2021, the shooting for web series was also done in Legislative Assembly (LA) Jammu complex of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state and Govt. Gandhi Memorial Science College, Jammu. Around 250 local artists from the theatre and cultural department in Jammu and Kashmir were brought in for the web-series. Some drone shots of J.P. Setu and Buddha Smriti Park were also shown in the web series. The shooting of Maharani was completed in seven months.

Season 1
Writing for The Firstpost, Prathyush Parasuraman gave the series 3 stars and stated that Huma Qureshi shines in a sanitised portrayal of Rabri Devi. Rohan Naahar stated in The Hindustan Times that the series is over-plotted yet underwritten. Archika Khurana wrote in Times of India that the web series is engaging at most times.

The Times Of India described it as a "well-structured screenplay", while Biz Asia pointed out how the show brings the importance of virtue to the forefront. Actress Twinkle Khanna praised the performance of Huma Qureshi in the web series. Actor Shatrughan Sinha also praised Maharani and said that Huma Qureshi has the potential of becoming a role model for other artists.

Rishita Roy Chowdhury of India Today said the series is about Saheb, Biwi aur Bihar. Rohit Vats of News18 gave Maharani 2.5 stars. Aditya Menon in The Quint wrote that the web series trid to invert the ‘Jungle Raj’ tag that was put on the Lalu Yadav-Rabri Devi period in Bihar. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV wrote that Maharani is a passable account of a state fighting steady decline and seeking regeneration.

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express stated that Huma Qureshi flourishes in a web series with banal writing.

Subhash. K.Jha called it a taut political drama with surprising twists and turns. Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in wrote that the cast of Maharani has brilliant performances.

Rony Patra from LetsOTT stated that strong characters and an authentic Bihari milieu coupled with "bombastic dialogues" made the series a gripping watch. Rishita Roy Chowdhury of India Today went on to applaud Huma Qureshi's performance saying" she brings nuances and emotional gradients to her character.

Bollywood Life called it a sensational and intriguing game of political chess. Kriti Tulsiani from ZoomTV wrote that the show boasts of a captivating premise but falls victim to the makers’ linear storytelling approach.

BINGED called it a well-crafted chronicle of a story that needed telling.

Spotboye made the parallel with Scam 1992, calling it another big winner for SonyLIV.

Season 2
The Times of India gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 while stating that it is "An enthralling political drama with compelling performances." Shashank Pandey of Dainik Bhaskar also gave the series a 3.5 out of five and hailed it as, ‘Emotion aur entertainment ki Maharani.’ ABP News, with its 4 stars out of 5, mentioned that ‘Maharani continues to rule the world of OTT’.

Abhimanyu Mathur of Hindustan Times remarked ‘Huma Qureshi reigns supreme in a show that is a lesson in how political thrillers should be made.’ Namrata Thakur of Rediff said, ‘The second season of Maharani 2 is bigger, better, and far more brutal’.

TV9 said that the second season was ‘Full of Unexpected twists and turns and gave it 4 stars out of 5.

Zoya Bhatti of ThePrint gave the Huma Qureshi starrer a 3.5 out of 5, commenting "Maharani 2 sees Rani Bharti go from political pawn to queen bee."

Nandini Ramnath from Scroll called the series "Another, more focused, round of self-serving politics." Koimoi’s Shubham Kulkarni also gave the second season 3.5 stars out of 5 and said, "Huma Qureshi Continues To Reign."

Season 3
Aditya Sagar of Republic World gave the show a 3/5 rating and an excerpt of his review read - "For someone who is drawn to the thrills of conspiracy, revenge, and drama, packaged as an edge-of-the-seat experience, Maharani 3 makes for a wholesome streaming experience."

Prabhatha Rigobertha in South First wrote- "Maharani Season 3 is a must-watch for those who like political thrillers."

Yatamanyu Narain in News18 said -"In a nutshell, Maharani 3 is a vicious take of revenge and regaining power once again, not quite on the lines of a conventional political drama, quite atypical and insidious even, but quite honest to its unique treatment. The talented bunch of actors adds grittiness to the plot."

Controversy
After the release of first trailer on 9 May 2021, the Yadav community protested over a dialogue in the web series and filed FIR. The makers of web series later apologized and removed that dialogue from the web series.