This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2021) |
Ek Thi Begum,[1] an MX Original Series, is a story of a stunningly beautiful woman played by Anuja Sathe. She plays the role of Ashraf aka Sapna, the loving wife of Zaheer played by Ankit Mohan[2] – a once confidant of Maqsood, the underworld don, but now an arch rival. When the rift between the rivals reaches ugly culmination Zaheer gets killed. Ashraf vows to overturn and destroy Masood’s illegal empire using her beauty, sensuality and acute intelligence. Ek Thi Begum is inspired by true events created,[3] written and directed by Sachin Darekar. It was made available for streaming on MX Player for free from 8 April 2020. On September 20, 2021, MX Player unveiled the full trailer for Ek Thi Begum 2 and on 30 September 2021, the second season was released on their platform.
| Ek Thi Begum | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Crime Thriller |
| Based on | Sapna Didi |
| Written by | Sachin Darekar |
| Directed by |
|
| Starring |
|
| Music by | Amitraj, Javed Ali, Sunidhi Chauhan |
| Country of origin | India |
| Original language | Marathi |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Manish Bhogate |
| Producer | Ninad Raikar |
| Production location | India |
| Running time | 434.46 mins |
| Production company | Times Studio |
| Original release | |
| Network | MX Player |
| Release | 8 April 2020 – 30 September 2021 |
Plot edit
Ek thi Begum is based on a real life ‘untold’ story of a stunningly beautiful woman – Ashraf Bhatkar, born to a poor family in Aurangabad and raised in Bombay.[4] She became the loving wife of Zaheer – a once confidant of Maqsood but now his arch-rival. Maqsood is the biggest mafia, underworld don who operates his giant drug cartel in India from Dubai. When the rift between Maqsood and Zaheer reaches ugly culminations, Maqsood succeeds in cunningly eliminating Zaheer. In a fake encounter, on 26 July 1986, staged by police officers, Zaheer is picked up from the airport by cops and taken away to a secluded location and finally killed. Ashraf fights hard to secure justice but fails against the might of the mafia and political bigwigs. She vows to overturn and destroy Masood’s illegal empire. Using her beauty, sensuality and acute intelligence, she meticulously plans and executes dramatic strategies undertaking the role of a police informer. Ashraf becomes the biggest informer for the police and the biggest thorn in the flesh for Maqsood. Blinded with vengeance she becomes a powerful force of domination and influence. She also marries a police officer Vikram Bhosle.
Ashraf acquires so much information and prepares a file that has names and proof, which threatens to expose the nexus between politicians, corrupt cops and the mafia. To avoid the ultimate expose, an attempt to kill Ashraf takes place and the file is however not found.
Ek Thi Begum is inspired by true events and all episodes went live on 8 April 2020.
Cast and characters edit
| Actors | Character |
|---|---|
| Anuja Sathe | Ashraf Bhatkar |
| Ankit Mohan | Zaheer Bhatkar |
| Shahab Ali | Shakeel Ansari |
| Mir Sarwar | Nari Khan |
| Vijay Nikam | Bhai Chavan |
| Sauraseni Maitra | Anita Surve |
| Hitesh Bhojraj | Ashwin Surve |
| Chinmay Mandlekar | Vikram Bhosale |
| Rajendra Shisatkar | Nana Mhatre |
| Resham | Anjali Dixit |
| Abhijeet Chavan | Insp. Tawde |
| Pradip Doiphode | Insp. Bhoir |
| Vitthal Kale | Iqbal Khan |
| Nazarr Khan | Rashid |
| Anil Nagarkar | Bhau Nare |
| Santosh Juvekar | Sawtya |
| Suchit Jadhav | Tandel |
| Ajay Gehi | Maqsood |
| Raju Aathavle | Bala Mama |
| Amitraj | Raghu Mhatre |
| Deepak Karanjikar | Commissioner Gokhale |
| Vivek Aapte | Dandekar |
| Advait Dadarkar | Rishi |
| Shivraj Walvekar | Ganpatrao Kadam |
| Vishal Kulthe | Shirodkar |
| Pratibha Goregaonkar | Zaheer Ammi |
| Ashok Sawant | Zaheer Abu |
| Amir Tadwalkar | Sulu Potya |
| Aashay Kulkarni | Victor |
| Abhijeet Jhunjaarrao | Adv. Deshmukh |
| Sagar Kale | Adv. Salvi |
| Apurva Choudhary | Reshma |
| Kalyani Vyakatesh | Sweety |
| Anjali Banarjee | Nisha |
| Suhas Deshpande | Dr. Sheikh |
| Kishore Pednekar | Judge Joshi |
| Ratnakant Nadkarni | Judge Gupte |
| Ritesh Bene | Bandya Jadhav |
| Vikas Sonawne | Hawaldar Rane |
| Pratap Kalke | Constable Shinde |
| Aslam Wadkar | Constable Pawar |
| Mahesh Rahale | Ravi Anna |
| Prashant Loke | Rokde Khabari |
| Deepti Dhotre | Sarika |
| Mitali Kalaagi | Maria |
| Asit Redij | Waman Joshi |
| Sanket Pathare | Yussuf Sayyed |
| Sajid Hussain | Linemen Mishra |
| Ashutosh Suryavanshi | Rangya |
| Raghu Jagtap | Baban |
| Vaibhav Ambekar | Manoj |
Marketing and Release edit
Promotion edit
The official trailer of the web series was launched on 6 April 2020, by MX Player on YouTube. On 20 September 2021, the official trailer of the second season was released on the official Youtube account of MX Player
Release edit
Ek Thi Begum was made available for free streaming on MX Player from 8 April 2020. On 30 September 2021, MX Player released the second season on their platform.
Critical response edit
The Scroll.in in a review of Ek Thi Begum, wrote, "Ek Thi Begum is hard-pressed to answer these questions despite 14 episodes at its disposal and the promise of a second season. Despite ample opportunities, Ek Thi Begum turns out to be a damp squib that ultimately adds little to the gangster canon in popular culture."[5]
References edit
- ^ Ek Thi Begum - An MX Original Series : Episodes, Seasons, Videos, Photos, Synopsis, Cast & Crew of Ek Thi Begum - An MX Original Series, retrieved 12 August 2021
- ^ "Ankit Mohan is enjoying the praise he is getting for 'Ek Thi Begum' - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
- ^ "MX प्लेयर पर लाइव हुआ रिवेंज ड्रामा - एक थी बेगम, जिसे मिस करना नहीं चाहेंगे आप". Navbharat Times (in Hindi). Retrieved 12 August 2021.
- ^ "Inspired From Real-Life Events, Here's Why MX Player's 'Ek Thi Begum' Needs To Be On Your Must-Watch List". IndiaTimes. 14 April 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
- ^ Ramnath, Nandini (8 April 2020). "'Ek Thi Begum' review: Revenge is an overcooked dish in web series set in the Mumbai underworld". Scroll.in. Scroll.in. Retrieved 18 June 2022.