Bambai Meri Jaan Star Cast/ Actors: Kay Kay Menon as Ismail Kadri, Avinash Tiwary as Dara Kadri, Kritika Kamra as Habiba Kadri, Nivedita Bhattacharya as Sakina Kadri, Amyra Dastur as Pari Patel and Saurabh Sachdeva as Haji Maqbool.
Bambai Meri Jaan Director: Shujaat Saudagar
Bambai Meri Jaan Release Date: 15 September 2023
Bambai Meri Jaan Available On: Amazon Prime Video
Bambai Meri Jaan Released/ Available In Languages: Hindi
Bambai Meri Jaan Season: 1
Bambai Meri Jaan No. Of Episodes: 10
Bambai Meri Jaan Release Pattern: All episodes released
Bambai Meri Jaan Episode Duration: 45 minutes
Bambai Meri Jaan Critic Review:
Haji Mastan, the coolie turned smuggler. Karim Lala, the Afghan Pathan. Varadaraj Mudaliar, the white dhoti don of Dharavi.
A story by journalist-turned-author Hussain Zaidi who has the Bombay underworld at his fingertips, brings together all three dons who once ruled the city. Armed with several names in the writing department, director Shujaat Saudagar recreates the crimes of the trio while sketching the rise of Dawood Ibrahim, Dara Kadri (Avinash Tiwary) in this series.
Fact is mixed with fiction but comes off looking credible because the criminal history of the trio of dons and of Dawood, their successor, has been documented and reprised so often on celluloid and in newspaper headlines. It’s also known that Dawood’s father Ibrahim Kaskar was a police constable. And so Dara’s dad, Ismail Kadri (Kay Kay Menon) brings in his share of authenticity too.
Shujaat casts Ismail as the upright police officer who won’t bend. But bend he must when he compromises his integrity by helping his junkie brother-in-law escape the law. The fall of the upright is quick, his helplessness compounded by the growth of his own son Dara, wayward from birth, into the next big figure in Bombay’s underworld.
The spotlight is less on the crimes of the older trio and more on Dara’s conflict with his god-fearing, namaz praying father while mother Sakina (played by Kay Kay’s real life wife Nivedita Bhattacharya) is caught between the two. And so it is a balance between crime and a family drama, lingering on Dara’s equations with his siblings and his parents.
By setting his focus on the Kadris, Shujaat brings glimpses of the Muslim way of life. Ceremonies like aqeeqah (on the birth of a child), an engagement, nikkah, even a full-scale funeral according to Islamic rites, are woven in.
Interestingly, as the old order gives way to the new, there’s a brief entry by Chhota Babban (Aditya Rawal). “Like Haji got Dara, Dara has got Chhotu,” runs Ismail’s commentary. And Dawood’s sister Haseena Parkar (who got a full Hindi feature film to herself a few years ago) takes birth as Habiba. Kritika Kamra, the Kareena Kapoor of Indian TV, plays saucy Habiba who ruled in Dawood’s/Dara’s absence.
Crooked cops who are on the take but play their own games by setting one gang against another, shootouts, killings and family showdowns are topped with revenge, that never-ending emotion which ensures that crime never stops.
“Shaitan ko bhi Allah ne hi paida kiya. Main toh sirf ek baap tha” – Ismail’s comment sums him up.
It’s curious casting as Kay Kay Menon, usually full of fire in all his roles, plays a broken bystander of a father, too helpless to control his kids.
There’s a lot of rap in the background. ‘Tel…jail, zindagi ek picture hai, keechad hai’ and noises in the score that sound like RD Burman’s ‘Monica, oh my darling’.
In short, put all the films and books on dons and the D-Company, and voila, there’s another crime series ready to be filmed. Crime does pay.
PS: With Avinash Tiwary leading the cast of Bambai Meri Jaan and Kaala (streaming simultaneously on Hotstar), and Jiten Gulati playing Dara’s brother Saadiq here and a wicked transgender in Kaala, it’s a double dose of both actors this week.
Bambai Meri Jaan – Watch Or Not?: One time watch
Bambai Meri Jaan Review Score Rating: 2.5 out of 5 (i.e. 2.5/5)
Bambai Meri Jaan Official Trailer:
Also Read: Kaala Review: It’s Black At The Bangla Border