Murder and Violence in Television Series Dahaad (2023): A Reflection of Post Lockdown Angst

Second Writer-

Dr. Tripti Tyagi

Assistant Professor

Department of English

School of Media Studies and Humanities

Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies, Faridabad.

The global COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown significantly reshaped the entertainment industry. One striking trend that emerged after the lockdown was the rise in popularity of crime thrillers, particularly those focusing on murder and violence. Post – lockdown crime series have delved into complex and agile human nature, their psychological motivations for violence, and the complexity of murder mysteries, offering gripping plots, thrilled background, and dark atmospheres.

During the lockdown, audiences were confined within their homes, watched news related to rising death tolls, diseases, loneliness, uncertainty, and fear. Pandemic heightened a collective awareness of morality and vulnerability, leading to a surge in interesting murder stories and violence focused shows. These shows allowed viewers to confront their own anxieties in a controlled environment, where the tension was scripted and the resolution promised.

The television series Dahaad, released in 2023, is a series in which violence and murder are the main themes, the series made a significant impact not only for its narrative but also for its portrayal of violence, particularly murder, in the post- lockdown world. Set against the backdrop of a small Indian town, the show unravels the story of a serial killer who targets women, leaving their death staged as suicides in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, the portrayal of murder and violence in Dahaad resonates with the emotional and social unrest prevalent in the post lockdown era, highlighting deeper should societally issues while reflecting the psychological scars left by the pandemic. The character criminal in Dahaad is inspired by the serial killed Mohan Kumar from Karnataka who preyed on spinster women.

Dahaad is a police procedural crime thriller series that intertwines gender politics, caste dynamics, and the stark realities of life in rural India. The plot centers on a female police officer who takes on the case of multiple women’s mysterious deaths, initially documented as suicides but eventually uncovered as murders committed by a strange man. The violence, especially gender-based, mirrors the growing anxieties of the post-pandemic world.

Moreover, the rural Indian setting adds another layer to this theme of control. The victims belong to marginalized communities, and their deaths reflect the intersection of violence, where caste, gender, and socio-economic status converge to render them invisible to larger society.

The post-lockdown world has been marked by a noticeable increase in psychological distress, leading to a rise in domestic violence, mental health crisis, and a sense of societal fragmentation. In the series, a serial killer targets women who hail from marginalized communities, echoing real-world incidents where systemic violence against women, especially in rural and underserved areas, often goes unnoticed or is diminished as a personal tragedy.

In many ways, Dahaad becomes a reflection of how societal tensions, particularly those involving gender and caste, have deepened in the wake of the pandemic. The show captures these nuances through the portrayal of the victims’ vulnerability and the system’s initial failure to recognize their deaths as acts of violence. For example, only those women are targeted by the prosecutor who are from lower caste and have crossed 25 and yet have not got married. These are poor women and they have dreams to get better grooms, unfortunately in this fascination, they get trapped.

Dahaad is not just a crime thriller; it is a commentary on the post-lockdown world, showcasing how existing societal cracks have widened, allowing for exploration of themes like violence, crime, and psychological unrest. The post-lockdown era has given rise to crime series that not only entertain but also explore the darker aspects of human nature and society.

There are also several television series and movies released in the post-lockdown phase that explore themes as seen in Dahaad. The central purpose of highlighting Dahaad in particular is to help readers connect more deeply with universal themes of bloodshed, violence, societal injustice, murdering, impatience, criminal mind, and the search for accountability.

Therefore, audiences can better understand the social issues that persist in both fictional stories and real-world experiences by watching these series imbibed with showing rise of intense criminality, thus makes the relevance of such series more significant in today’s socio-political climate.