Like the retired gangster who gets back into the game, Murshid wants to revive the Mumbai gangland genre. Shravan Kumar Tiwari’s series for ZEE5 goes down a path so well-trodden that the marks left by previous shows and movies haven’t faded yet.
The Hindi show is led by Kay Kay Menon, who previously played the father of a hoodlum modelled on Dawood Ibrahim in Bambai Meri Jaan. Murshid Pathan (Menon) is the kind of noble criminal found only in fiction. His reign over Mumbai is absolute, but nobody has a bad word to say about him.
A personal tragedy compels Murshid to leave the underworld behind. His son’s involvement with the current don Farid (Zakir Hussain) brings Murshid back into the crosshairs. Murshid gets to work with the help of the policeman Kumar (Tanuj Virwani) and a politician who wants to contest an upcoming election against chief minister Babu Rao (Anang Desai) and Rao’s ambitious son Jayant (Rajesh Shringarpure).
Several actors duly pick up pay cheques for predictable and dated material. About the only new element in the cheaply produced series is the suggestion that Maharashtra’s ruling party needs to go beyond communal politics and focus on development instead.
At least Murshid doesn’t want to be anything more than the kind of series that can be devoured while stuck in a traffic jam. Murshid is salvaged by a few sharp performances and a welcome intent to wrap up matters with seven episodes.
Zakir Hussain is suitably odious as Farid. Kay Kay Menon does a fine job of enacting the long-haired, fakir-like Murshid who just happens to be a gangster. Appearing saintly even when killing his adversaries and positively god-like after he resumes bloodletting, Murshid is actually the most interesting when he reveals just how ruthless he is.
