Crime Beat

Crime Beat doesn't shout, it simmers. And that's its biggest strength.

Across eight taut episodes, this Hindi crime drama pulls you into the world of crime reporting, where ambition is currency, ethics are fluid, and power is rarely what it seems.

Saqib Saleem delivers his best work yet as Abhishek, a reporter chasing the next big story, often at the cost of his soul.

Rahul Bhat brings brooding menace as Binny, making every scene count without needing theatrics. Sai Tamhankar is superb, anchoring the emotional and intellectual heft of the series without overplaying a single beat. In contrast, Saba Azad occasionally veers into overacting, her performance landing just shy of the show's more restrained tone.

The show isn't perfect... dialogue can get self-important, and a few character turns feel scripted more than earned. But the direction by Sudhir Mishra and Sanjeev Kaul keeps things lean and tense, with just enough grit to feel grounded, not grim.

Unlike most Indian thrillers, Crime Beat respects its audience. It exposes - quietly, cleverly - how the news is made, twisted, and sometimes buried.

Rating: 7.5/10 - could have wrapped this up better, but I'm still on for Season 2.

Except for the actor portraying Binny Choudhary, most other actors in this show are terribly miscast. To add to the torture, bad dialogues and a terrible ending mar the whole show. If you want to watch a far better show using the same premise, watch Breaking News instead. Wish this had been better cast with a far better script, story and dialogue. Even most of the cast is pathetic at spouting their lines of dialogue. And whoever acts as Maya needs to go back to acting school to learn dialogue delivery as her poor diction takes you out of the scenes at multiple times during the show. Sad attempt at something different.

Evolution is unalterable reality everywhere. But should one swim with the tide or dare to make effort going against? This debate is of larger intensity. In the realm of cinema, this evolution is never ceaseless which is noticeable like other fields. But cinema can't teach, profess, propagate or manipulate. But this is also true that the way cinema earns is all about manipulation and this is where art matters and balance requires.

The New Hindi Web Series Crime Beat released in February, 2025 may be seen under this light. Although, the plot oscillates here and there, sometimes in India, at times in Afghanistan and Iran, the plot is about financial fraud and a struggle of an Investigative Journalist striving to a get a breakthrough. He can do anything for a page-1 news item. However, the reality is: the plot creates boredom while narrating things happening in Afghanistan and Iran. The plot becomes interesting as things begin to take place in New Delhi and the narrative makes it a cat and mouse race. This is nothing new. Then what is new here? The Crime Series focuses more on the approach of Media giants than police or criminals. The Web Series is mainly about the struggle between the Editors and ordinary reporters in Media Houses. Really, the Crime Beat 2025 unveils some biting realities of Media which are enough to initiate a debate about the credibility of Media itself. This indicates how Media has evolved. The Web Series narrates this convincingly. Naturally, the Web Series is a bit out of box.

But some unnecessary things have been included in this Web Series. Similarly; the Web Series has included too many unnecessary characters.

The characterization is good. Saquib Saleem has made excellent performance. But at some points Saleem seems lacking rhythm. Danesh Akhtar, Rajesh Tailong and others have performed as per expectation. But unfortunately, Rahul Bhat never looks impressive in the lead role. Anyway the Web Series has some good points and obviously worth watching.