Zee 5’s Crime Beat has given us a great political drama to both enjoy and ponder over, with a handful of crime thriller elements. There’s always risk when a show begins explosively, but Crime Beat continues to keep you hooked throughout. The ending of the show is pretty definitive, which I thought was a good creative decision. In this article we’re mainly going to discuss that, along with the possibility of the show getting another season.
Spoilers Ahead
What’s the show about?
Crime Beat opens with wanted criminal Binny Chaudhary getting shot by someone when he’s about to surrender in Indirapuram, Delhi. Then the story takes us back to a while ago, and we now follow crime journalist Abhishek Sinha, who’s struggling to find a good story (and a big break). Binny is hiding in Afghanistan, and thanks to a treaty between the Afghan and Indian governments, he is about to fall into India’s hands. Minister S.K. Rawat is closely monitoring the “Binny situation” and taking an active interest in the operation. It’s evident that he has a personal stake in the matter. Meanwhile, contractor Ritesh Bansal’s wife, Nisha Bansal, gets kidnapped and then released in exchange for a huge ransom. The kidnapping was orchestrated by Heroine, aka Archana Panday, a washed-up actress, and more importantly, Binny’s closest associate and (possibly) paramour. The money taken from the Bansals is showered over the Indirapuram area, from where Binny hails. Following the story, Abhishek lands himself in The Express, the leading news daily, and compels his idol, editor Aamir Akhtar, to hire him in the investigative journalism segment of the newspaper, called Crime Beat. Akhtar appears to be a no-nonsense man who doesn’t listen to anybody. Abhishek does find allies in photojournalist Pashupati, aka Pashu, a middle-aged man who has a grudge against Akhtar, and lifestyle journalist Maya, who’s looking to find a place in Crime Beat. Maya is the daughter of industrialist Vijay Mathur, whom we only see in the final episode (we’ll be getting there later). Abhishek and Maya take a liking to each other, although that doesn’t particularly serve any purpose.
What’s the deal with Binny?
In Afghanistan, Binny manages to evade arrest thanks to his alliance with the fringe rebel group, the Moradis. To make matters even worse for Rawat and his government, he arrives in Delhi and manages to sneak past the airport security and Delhi police, including DCP Uday Kumar. Akhtar and Uday are longtime friends who have personal vendettas against Binny for an incident that happened years ago. Binny kidnapped a little boy, Viraj, who was the son of a businessman, Kishore. Despite the boy’s father paying the ransom money, Viraj died in crossfire between Binny’s men and the police, which probably wouldn’t have happened had Akhtar and Uday—representing the media and the police—not been part of the rescue operation. Much later in the show, it is revealed that Vinny had an informant in the police, Constable Balram, whom Uday killed in cold blood after he found out about the betrayal. Interestingly, Balram was the late father of Uday’s current deputy, ACP Mayank, who’s the most honest, righteous police officer you see in the show. Mayank and Abhishek also form a camaraderie between them, which is one of the high points of the show.
What Does Binny Really Want?
Let me simplify the matter. The plan is to expose people who were involved in the Commonwealth Games scam. That’s a real thing, by the way, which happened during the year 2010. Rawat, Bansal, another contractor, Devendra Mahajan, and industrialist Vijay Mathur, who’s Maya’s father; are all part of the whole thing. Binny’s motive is not entirely selfish, though. He’s in cahoots with opposition party leader Sharma. With Rawat and company’s wrongdoings out in the open, the government is going to fall, and then Sharma wants to form a new government. Given this can’t happen without Binny’s assistance, Sharma has promised the guy a reduced jail sentence as well as a party ticket. As he is hailed as a Robin Hood in the Indirapuram area, it is all but certain that Binny Chaudhary is winning the seat when the election comes.
How does Abhishek reach Binny?
It becomes abundantly clear that for Abhishek, Binny is the ticket to success. Our man is persistent about it, as no amount of threats can prevent him from pursuing the Binny Chaudhary story. When Akhtar blatantly takes the credit for one of Abhishek’s stories, our guy has a ‘never meet your heroes’ moment, but it also makes him determined to establish himself. He doesn’t have it easy, though, as there are not many in the media industry who would stand up against someone like Akhtar. Thanks to Pashu, Abhishek finally gets his way into BTN. What further helps him is Binny himself bringing him into the fold, wanting to do an interview. For Binny, he has a journalist who’s hungry for an exclusive at his disposal, and for Abhishek, it’s like his goal is being served on a platter. This creates a rift between Abhishek and Maya, though that’s hardly consequential in the larger scheme of things.
Does Binny Chaudhary die?
Rawat trying to eliminate Binny from the scene was a long time coming, and who better than Uday Kumar for the job? Thanks to ACP Mayank bringing up what Uday did all those years ago—including murdering Mayank’s father—Uday gets rightfully suspended and turns into a full-time executioner (for Rawat). Except he fails to do the job this time around as well. But Binny still pays the price for the sin he committed all those years ago, as Kishore decides to avenge his dead son by shooting him. Before dying though, Binny exposes the whole scam and gives Abhishek his exclusive. Our gutsy journalist also proves to be bold enough to ask his own questions of Binny, not the ones given by Binny’s minions.
Will there be a second season?
Now, with Binny dead, the possibility of this story having another season is practically zero. But given the show is called “Crime Beat,” there could very well be a new season where Abhishek follows a new story. Akhtar, Pashu, Maya, ACP Mayank, and those who are not dead can also reappear. Given how much I’ve enjoyed watching Crime Beat, I would love to watch more of it.
