In the third episode of Lootere, Vikrant reached the shores of Harardhere to take his consignment out of the hands of the pirates. That was where he noticed Ismael, i.e., Jamilah’s long-lost son. So, Vikrant wanted to get the consignment as well as Ismael off the ship because he was feeling very ambitious. But, call it fate or bad luck, Vikrant’s ballooning ego was deflated when the container containing Faizal’s (one of the leaders of the Al Muharib) guns sank to the bottom of the ocean. Of course, he lied to Faizal about it, and instead of informing Ajay Kotwal about this mishap, he and Bilal decided to use the pirates to blackmail the Kotwals and get the money that’d make the pirates, the Al Muharib, and themselves very happy. Things got complicated on the ship as Ayesha got captured by the pirates. It wasn’t looking good on the personal front for Vikrant, as Avi was doing her own investigation into Ismael’s disappearance, and Vikrant responded to that by sending Gupta to put her and Arya under house arrest. Let’s see if the situation improves or deteriorates for the characters in today’s episode.
Spoiler Alert
Captain AK Singh Talks About His Deceased Brother
Episode 4 of Lootere opens with Kumbe torturing Ayesha. Things get so bad that Barkhad has to intervene and tell him to back off. Ruhaan pays Satwinder a visit, gives her some food and water, and tells her to not lose hope. But when he tries to reconvene with the rest of the crew, he gets recaptured. I don’t know why Ruhaan doesn’t put up a fight here like he did before. The pirates won’t fire in a corridor where they can die in the crossfire. Ruhaan has a knife. However, he just swings it around and then drops it. Yes, the character acts that way because that’s how the showrunners want him to act. That said, wouldn’t it be better to see characters act in a realistic way and face their consequences instead of doing what’s convenient for the progression of the narrative? Anyway, Bilal reintroduces Vikrant to Barkhad because he is now paying him to prolong the hijack.
The first thing that Vikrant does after meeting Barkhad is go to the crew of the ship, notice that all of them are South Asians, and assure them that he is going to get them home safely. Singh points out that he has noticed Vikrant shaking hands with Barkhad, which means that he isn’t there to save the crew; he is there to do business with them. Vikrant deflects the critique with some tall talk. By the way, this is where Vikrant learns that Mudit has died, and he goes off on Bilal and even threatens to walk out of this whole deal because the death of an Indian in foreign waters will have huge repercussions. Bilal gives him a reality check by reminding him about Faizal, and it apparently works on Vikrant. On Walid’s orders, Bashir gets more active than he was ever before and starts helping Jamilah and Avi find Ismael. He deduces that it’s possible that Ismael and seven other missing kids are in a potentially dangerous area of the country. Avi decides to go there, but Bashir says that it’s a pretty hostile area, especially for women. Captain AK Singh narrates a story about his deceased brother to his crew and how he killed himself because he got depressed after getting captured by pirates. He promises not to repeat that act, and he says that he’ll stay with his people till the very end.
Avi Thwarts Gupta’s Security System
Vikrant calls Avi and gives him an earful about paying the ransom that the pirates are asking for so that his crew can walk out of this situation without facing any more losses. He proceeds to quarrel with Bilal regarding how this deal with the pirates can hurt his election campaign. I don’t know what the point of yelling at Bilal is. He is the one who has at least come up with a solution. It seemed like a bad character trait the first few times Vikrant reprimanded his subordinates for his own mistakes, but the trope has become stale, and we are in the fourth episode of Lootere. The focus shifts to Avi, who is planning to go with Bashir and search for Ismael. Jamilah tries to stop her because she is afraid that Avi will get hurt. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Avi doesn’t get too far because Gupta stops her and tells her to get back into the house because that’s what Vikrant wants her to do. Avi is left with no other option but to return to the pavilion for the time being. When Vikrant calls Avi, they obviously get into a big fight. And this is where we run into the same old problem of misogynist writing.
Vikrant doesn’t tell Avi that he has found Ismael and is trying to get him out of the pirates’ clutches. So, when Avi starts to whine about Vikrant not doing enough, it seems like she is an idiot for underestimating her husband and misinterpreting his actions. Avi seems like the antagonist in this case, while Vikrant comes off as this misunderstood messiah. And there’s no reason for this other than misogyny. This is a trick that writers employ all the time. It’s just that it is so blatant in this show that it is noticeable. Arya intervenes and tells his father how disappointed he is with him for acting like that with his mother, thereby making Vikrant look like the only person in the show who is worthy of the audience’s sympathy. The following day, Vikrant sits down with Captain Singh to tell him how the negotiations are going to go. Singh reiterates the fact that he doesn’t trust Vikrant, and he also tells Vikrant to prepare for the long haul because Vikrant is overestimating himself too much. Gupta is shocked when Taufiq reveals that he is the one, not Yakub, who is running for the post of president of the port authority. Taufiq offers Gupta a position on his team, but Gupta disrespectfully declines it. Elsewhere, Avi dresses up in Jamilah’s clothes and leaves the house, thereby thwarting the security system established by Gupta to find Ismael. Do you understand how stupid this subplot is? It’s literally a wild goose chase because we all know that Ismael is on the ship. But this is the path the writers of Lootere have chosen to give Avi some screen time.
Has Gupta betrayed Vikrant?
Vikrant learns that Avi has left the house. He calls up Gupta and orders him to go look for Avi. Gupta tries to tell Vikrant that Taufiq has turned against them, but Vikrant is so angry that he doesn’t listen to what Gupta has to say. When Gupta gets to Vikrant’s palace, he unloads his anger (which is an amalgamation of the frustration around Taufiq’s betrayal, the mistreatment by Vikrant, and Avi running away) on the security guard and kills him. Back in Kyiv, Desai says that the pirates are probably going to ask for around $5–6 million. Since it’s manageable for the Kotwals, Raman gives Desai the green light to begin negotiations. The demand that they get from Barkhad (on Vikrant’s instructions, of course) is $50 million. Ajay mocks the confident Desai and indirectly laughs at his father for trusting Desai to get the job done.
Late at night, the crew of the ship talk about Vikrant and whether or not he is doing the right thing, but it turns into a blatant character description of Vikrant. It seems like writers are afraid that viewers won’t understand what they are watching. So, they have constructed this scene to tell the viewers what they should think about the protagonist. At the end of Lootere, episode 4, Gupta decides to change sides and start working for Taufiq as soon as the latter says that Gupta won’t be his employee but his partner. Gupta has always been a loyal dog to Vikrant, and before him, Vikrant’s father-in-law. He has been reminded of his place all the time. He has been slapped and scolded for no fault of his own. So, it makes sense that he is seduced by the notion of equality. That said, decisions like this usually don’t go down well in a world of crime, and Gupta’s betrayal is probably going to cost him heavily. We have to wait till next week’s episode arrives to see how Vikrant reacts to Gupta’s backstabbing.
