Sonakshi Sinha Has Finally Arrived With ¡®Daahad¡¯; Strongly Bats For Women¡¯s Safety And Casteism
From ¡®Thappad se darr nahi lagta, pyaar se lagta hai¡¯ to ¡®Chup bhutnike, ek rapta maroongi lotata phirega¡¯, Sonakshi Sinha has truly arrived!
When it was announced that Sinha was to anchor a web series created by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, fans were dubious due to no fault of their own. It had to do with the past disappointments that were somewhat not able to display the Dabangg actress¡¯ true potential.?
After a long wait when the show finally premiered on OTT, many were taken by surprise. Not only did the show deal with social evils but it was elevated by some fabulous performances including Sonakshi¡¯s.?
In the era where cop shows are a dime a dozen, Dahaad stands out the most due to its theme and treatment of our society¡¯s biggest evils - Casteism and crime against women.
Right from the first episode, the show means business. Without going over the top, viewers are made privy to a small village in Rajasthan where the sword of marriage still looms over young girls and the concept of finding a life partner on their own is considered taboo.
As if this isn¡¯t enough, the women are chastised if they fall for a man from a different caste or religion. On discovering any such affair, the families ensure that strict action is taken to refrain the couple from tying the knot.?
Politicians use this as a base to further their chances of winning control by carrying out protests and pressurizing the police to take action. Amid all this ruckus, we are introduced to strong-willed cops of Mandawa police station:
SHO Devilal Singh played by Gulshan Devaiah, who is sincere and progressive yet he's caught in a taxing marriage
SI Anjali Bhaati played by Sonakshi Sinha, who belongs to the lower caste and is battling discrimination
SI Kailash Parghi played by Sohum Shah of Tumbaad fame, who is not-so-honest as he is dealing with a lot personal and professional conflicts.
These cops are presented with a mysterious case of women disappearing one after the other and becoming untraceable. While family members are certain that they have fled with their lovers, cops are suspicious that there¡¯s another angle to it.
Sonakshi aka Anjali Bhaati is made in charge of this case. Going by her back story, a premise is set that her father¡¯s wrongdoings have brought a bad rep to her. During the course of 8-episodes, the exact story has not been revealed.?
Additionally, Bhaati is also habitual of caste discrimination but that has made her stronger. She is fearless in her pursuit of the man behind the disappearance of women. She runs from pillar to post to get into the depth of the mystery and is certain that the man behind this racket targets only poor and lower class females.?
Interestingly, there¡¯s pushback from the SP but her boss and SHO Devilal Singh encourages her to solve the case.?
As a performer, Sonakshi has outdone herself in Daahad. The resilience and determination is pretty evident and her demeanor of a tough female cop who is just not ready to give up is applause-worthy.?
Once the bodies of said missing females are discovered one by one, her resolve to find the serial killer becomes stronger. She is also shown to be standing up against her own mother who is pushing her to settle down and get married with questionable guys because they are ready to accept Anjali even though she is of a lower caste.
In one powerful scene, she and her mother are having a serious conversation where the mother shows her another suitable boy for marriage. In response, Anjali says that she needs to show her mother some more photographs. That¡¯s when she flings the photos of all the deceased females in front of her mother and goes on to say how these girls had to battle pressure from their families and that¡¯s the reason they trusted a perpetrator who sweet-talked them into running with him and eventually murdered them. It's a sort of realisation for the mother that instead of pressurising her daughter to get married to any boy, she needs to support Anjali in her cause.
Meet Anand Swarnkar, a soft-spoken and helpful Hindi teacher who does charity by going around in his mobile library van and trying to educate the poor kids on his off days.
After Darlings, Vijay Varma turned an antagonist once again for this Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti creation. Instead of playing the dominating devil, he is shown to be a sweet man who can do no wrong. He¡¯s married to a working woman and has a son. He doesn¡¯t make as much money as his younger brother who is a jeweller?but he¡¯s satisfied with his life and believes in imparting education by going an extra mile.
During Bhaati¡¯s investigation, she raises suspicions over Anand but is shushed by everyone as they can¡¯t look past his good image. However, she is relentless in her pursuits and goes to extremes to prove her doubts right.
The gruesome modus operandi is soon unveiled by Bhaati and her colleagues and we are made privy to Anand¡¯s heinous acts of trapping innocent girls in love, convincing them to flee with him, having sexual intercourse and the next day ensuring that they take cyanide-laced contraceptive pills so that they die an instant death.?
Without getting into the finer details, once the mode of operation is discovered, Anjali and her team then gears into action to catch Anand who had been evading his arrest by fleeing to Mumbai and then Goa. The duo then has a face-to-face interaction where Anand completely lets go of his act and confesses his true thoughts about the girls he murdered.?
He blames them for being loose-charactered as they trusted him, a stranger, and ran away with him in the name of love. Furthermore, they slept with him and therefore they deserved this fate. He then attacks Anjali by saying that he knows that she¡¯s evil just like him as she has feelings for the SHO who is a married man.
The last shot shows Anjali in a government office submitting an application for changing her name back to her original surname which signified her caste. It¡¯s symbolic of how she is no longer afraid of discrimination and is ready to take on the world with her real name without any shame, fear or inhibitions.
How did Dahaad change the game for Sonakshi Sinha?
The entire cast of the show has performed fabulously. Period. However, for Sinha this show is definitely a game changer as we get to see her acting prowess in all its glory.?
Over eight hours of her performance has proved the fact that she knows her craft and if given the right script and role she will deliver a jaw-dropping performance. In the past, she has mostly played supporting roles in hero-centric films which couldn¡¯t bring out her best on the silver screen. In Dahaad, she¡¯s the hero who is running the entire show. There¡¯s no masala entertainment, just pure performance.?
Dahaad is a women-centric show in true sense as it not only features one but is also created by a supremely-talented female duo - Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti. Even though the story revolves around a notorious killer which is inspired by true crimes of Cyanide Mohan, the larger theme revolves around the struggles women face in a regressive society. Sonakshi has truly represented this aspect with grit and zeal. Throughout the show, one cannot help but root for her to get to the bottom of the case.
Even her stunts albeit less in number will leave you in awe. More so, because she invested time in training herself to perform them with conviction and it really does show in those scenes.?
Having said that, of course there are loopholes in the show but then nothing in the world is perfect, right? Overall the show has a binge-worthy appeal and it has definitely clicked with the audiences.?
As for Sonakshi Sinha, she has finally found her space. If she keeps at it, there¡¯s nothing stopping her from becoming one of the most-sought after actors and building a phenomenal legacy.??
Daahad is available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
(To?read more such stories related to movies and shows released on OTTs, keep reading?Indiatimes BINGE)
