Dahaad

In a small village in Rajasthan, Sub-Inspector Anjali Bhaati (Sonakshi Sinha) comes across a peculiar case where twenty seven (27) women have been disappearing without a trace, yet the locals seem unfazed by the situation. However, everything changes when Bhaati finds a common thread connecting all cases, leading her to suspect that a serial killer may be on the loose. This revelation completely changes her perspective on the inquiry, shifting her attention from unexplained disappearances to a well-planned and calculated scheme.

Anjali is in her thirties and is rebel in all ways possible for the traditional background of village she lives in. Her mother finds it difficult to get her married because of very same reason. She also faces discrimination from entire village due to her caste. Which does not stop her from being strong headed of a cop that she is.

There are two parallel cases we see intertwined by fate. One brother from scheduled caste reports his sister missing since a month or so. She left a note that she is getting married to a boy of her choice however brother is very concerned about her not calling back even once as they both were close to each other.

In second case inter caste love blossoms between daughter of quite influential person of that village and a muslim boy. Anjali helps muslim boy escape with help of her senior and concentrates on the other case.

She finds a pattern in that case of girls from scheduled castes, age above 25, could not get married on time due to poverty and not able to give dowry and emotionally weak. She traces the phones to be connected to previous victim. And this pattern helps them understand that there are 27 such girls who were killed after they ran away with the person and that too very next day due to cyanide poisoning.

While others believe it must be a gang, Anjali feels it must be only one psychopath considering he has never deviated from his plan and has not made a single mistake ever in the process. She believes if it was a gang at least chances of errors increase which has not happened in this case.

Anand Swarnakar is a lecturer in college who has a beautiful wife and a son. He also teaches kids on weekends who do not have resources to study in schools. Anand's wife Vandana works in a hotel and has an extra marital affair with a guys called Jai who also works in the same hotel.

Anand also has a brother who is jeweler named Shiv. One day Kapish finds a phone from his father's van, which he was not allowed to enter, and that phone traces the police to Anand. His profile matches as per the data received by the police. He is questioned by the police but no evidence was found. Shortly after all the evidence start pointing towards Shiv, he was arrested. Shiv realises it was Anand and helped the police. Thereafter, everyone gets to know it was Anand and he flees Rajasthan.

Anand manages to escape and start a new family with Mariam in Goa. He starts his pattern of serial killing there but Anjali was able to arrest him before he gets away with another murder.

In the end, Anjali asks Anand what was the purpose behind all this. He replied that a girl who talks and flirts with a stranger is not an innocent girl and hence deserves to be punished. He also said he could see through Anjali's skin as she was a backward class and knew how she looks at her boss.

Anjali decides to change her surname from Meghwal from Bhaati paving way for Season 2.

• Sonakshi Sinha as SI Anjali Bhaati/Anjali Meghwal
• Gulshan Devaiah as SHO Devi Lal Singh
• Sohum Shah as SI Kailash Parghi
• Vijay Varma as Anand Swarnakar
• Zoa Morani as Vandana Swarnakar
• Mikhail Gandhi as Harry
• Jayati Bhatia as Devki Bhatti, Anjali's mother
• Manyuu Doshi as Shiv Swarnakar
• Yogi Singha as Murli
• Sanghmitra Hitaishi as Miriam
• Rajiv Kumar as SP
• Ratnabali Bhattacharjee as Renuka
• Nirmal Chiraniyan as Journalist
• Vijay Kumar Dogra as School principal
• Abhishek Bhalerao as Mhatre
• Waris Ahmed Zaidi as Altaf
• Rytasha Rathore as Lata
• Varad Bhatnagar as Kaasim

The shooting of Dahaad was set in a small village of Rajasthan.[8]

The trailer of Dahaad was released on May 3, 2023.[9][10]

The web series premiered at 73rd Berlin International Film Festival, Germany on February 22, 2023.[11][12] [13]

Dahaad released on 12 May 2023 on Amazon Prime Video in 240 countries.[14]

Bollywood Hungama rated 4 stars out of 5 and wrote "On the whole, DAHAAD is one of the finest shows to have come out in the Indian digital space. It boasts of powerful performances, a taut script and terrific direction, and most importantly, it also makes an important comment on caste and gender discrimination."[15]

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated Dahaad 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "The eight-part show, created by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti and produced by Excel Media and Tiger Baby, is devoid of the visceral and the explosive. It has no major action scenes, no chase sequences and no playing to the gallery by the law enforcers on the trail of a psychopath. What the series does have is the spark to make the most of a classic crime-and-punishment tale rendered as piercing, rooted social chronicle."[16]

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express wrote "Net net, Dahaad starts off with a great deal of promise (the first two episodes are zingers), ensnaring us with its stunning locations, but finally it comes off only intermittently engaging."[17]

Shilajit Mitra of The Hindu wrote "I found the deliberate middle episodes of the series to be the most engaging. Varma, calm and methodical as he goes about his job, is an entertaining foil to Sinha. The series has fun with Anjali reining in her textbook feistiness and learning to work with evidence and clues. Gulshan Devaiah—cast against type as a reassuring voice of reason—and Sohum Shah as a slimy, repentant officer are excellent on the sides. It all goes to pot in the climax, which felt rushed and underwhelming for a series of this caliber. Did ideas suddenly dry up on the page? Were the makers going for a second season before budgets were pulled?"[18]

The Times of India wrote "Dahaad brings up something we’ve seen in various Indian dramas like Raveena Tandon’s Aranyak and Dhrashti Dhami’s Duranga, among others. Like these shows, many characters are introduced and seen across the first few episodes, simmering in their own worlds until they are brought together."[19]

A critic from Hindustan Times praised Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar and wrote "Dahaad is controlled and superbly orchestrated, never giving way to the sensational tone of serial killer crusades and dramatic monologues with wide-eyed close-ups."[20]

Sukanya Verma for Rediff.com wrote "Predictable as these machinations may be, Dahaad soaks in the method to the madness. Ditching suspense for study, the offender's identity is never really a secret."[21]

India Today wrote "All in all, Dahaad is a treat to all those who are a fan of cop thrillers and have been complaining of not watching a good one of late."[22]

Vijayalakshmi Narayanan for The Free Press Journal wrote "Created alongside her frequent collaborator Zoya Akhtar, 'Dahaad' borrows a leaf from Kagti's 'Talaash' and delves into the frailties of men and women in uniform, painting a refreshing cut-away from the 'Singhams' and 'Dabanggs', we have been largely accustomed to."[23]

Scroll.in praised performance of Sonakshi Sinha and Gulshan Devaiah and wrote "Stripped of its virtue signalling-scaffolding, Dahaad works best as a dispassionate game about hunters and the hunted. The show is most alive in the moments when Anjali and her posse get closer to the actual killer, or when the murderer manages to scalp yet another victim."[24]

A critic from WION wrote "Dahaad wins not only for the way it deals with multiple societal issues but also because of its casting done brilliantly by casting agent Nandini Shrikent. Sonakshi Sinha, Gulshan Devaiah, and Sohum Shah are brilliant in their respective roles - never overstepping and keeping it restrained."[25]

Zoom TV rated the series 3.5 stars and wrote "If you are someone who enjoys watching crime dramas with added mystery, Dahaad is an ideal choice for you. But it is much more than a story that runs behind finding the psychotic killer. The beauty of this show is that it highlights the negative parts of society, which makes one think deeply as to where we are going wrong as humans."[26]

A critic from OTT Play wrote "Dahaad is better than what we have seen in recent times in terms of web series. It's the women's storytelling that makes the series usual yet unique given the backdrop it has been set in. Who doesn't enjoy crime thrillers? However, the writers' choice of a narrative focus is more on the "why" side of the crimes than who committed them. Well, that has worked well for me."[27]

• Dahaad at IMDb 
• Dahaad at Berlinale
• Dahaad on Amazon Prime Video