4 minutes of readingUpdated: January 30, 2026 10:14 am IST
Daldal Review: Serial killers are flooding Mumbai. Just a couple of months ago, Madhuri Dixit was hot on his heels in the web series ‘Mrs Deshpande’. Now it’s Bhumi Satish Pednekkar’s turn to do the same in ‘Daldal’. Both women have dark pasts, both face their demons while navigating the shifting sands of the present, in which the good, the bad and the bad intentions wallow: at this point, these stories, despite the differences in plot and setting, seem almost patterned.
Newly appointed DCP Rita Ferreira (Pednekkar) He jumps into his first big case as soon as he takes over. A dog feeder he has a chance encounter with is found with his wrists cut and his mouth full of raw meat. His team, which seems to consist mainly of a good-natured junior officer (Geeta Agrawal Sharma), begins to find traces of similar murders. All men, all seemingly respectable, all killed in the same way: a ritual cut and stuffing.
The seven-episode series, created by Suresh Triveni and directed by Amrit Raj Gupta, has an intriguing opening. In an unusual move, the murderer is revealed from the beginning, so we know we’re on top of it. Ferreira faces not only a deranged serial killer, a trope within and outside of herself, but also a bad-tempered colleague (Chinmay Mandlekar) who feels cheated by her promotion, and a higher-up boss (Sandesh Kulkarni) with his own reasons for supporting her.
Until the show, based on Vish Dhamija’s book Bhendi Bazaar, stays within the lines of a police procedural, it remains believable. A pair of characters – a journalist (Samara Tijori) who seems to know more than anyone, and a drug addict (Aditya Rawal) who has old connections with the former – take the plot and start executing it.
Pedophilia and drug abuse raise their ugly heads. The same goes for a chapter in the red light area, involving an ‘encounter specialist’ and a Russian sex worker and her progeny. Some parts, one of which shows us how dissatisfied women (Vibhawari Deshpande) can cause immense harm to their daughters, and another in which a good man wants to solve irreparable drug addiction problems, are impactful. But more and more, as we go along, the extraneous elements start to take over and it’s time to roll your eyes.
Daldal Trailer:
Pednekkar, who directs the show, is too moody. Her conflicted cop has good reason to feel the way she does, but creating nuance is the job of both the writer and the actor, and here’s a note: Only in one place is she given a chance to break down and explode, and that’s when we see the actor emerge. Both Tijori and Rawal, the former more than the latter, have been given more opportunities to be interesting, as has Sharma, and in a small role, Deshpande, and they all make the most of it.
Daldal cast: Bhumi Satish Pednekkar, Samara Tijori, Aditya Rawal, Chinmay Mandlekar, Geeta Agrawal Sharma, Sandesh Kulkarni, Ananth Mahadevan, Vibhawari Deshpande, Prateek Pachauri, Rahul Bhat
Director Daldal: Amrit Raj Gupta
Daldal Rating: 2 stars