These Parallels In Narcos’ Pablo Escobar And Mirzapur's Kaleen Bhaiya Will Leave You Stumped

Amazon Prime Video's and Excel Media Entertainment's 'Mirzapur' has been making the right noise ever since the trailer of the series has been unveiled. Actor Pankaj Tripathi who plays a pivotal character named 'Kaleen Bhaiya' in the series has received rave reviews for his performance in the series.

The first teaser introduced us to the world of Mirzapur that thrives on the business of guns and drugs under the disguise of carpet market, ruled by Kaleen Bhaiyya single-handedly. Interestingly, Pankaj's character, Kaleen Bhaiya, has striking similarities with Pablo Escobar of 'Narcos' series. 

For the uninitiated, Narcos is story of international cartels, while Mirzapur is the story of a drugs-and-arms gang in the heartland of India.

Here's a lowdown of the parallels both shows draw between two of their principal characters — Kaleen Bhaiya and Pablo Escobar.

Feared by Residents: Though Narcos is based on real-life incidents and Mirzapur is fictional, both shows dwell upon the stories of actual places that depict their residents to dreadfully fear the shows' antagonists, Kaleen Bhaiya and Pablo Escobar.

Entourage: Both Mirzapur and Narcos revolve around drugs, guns, and the politics of power. Narcos is a story of the Cali and Medelin cartels — the later headed by Escobar — while Mirzapur is a power struggle between Mirzapur and Jaunpur. Both cartels thrive on their loyal entourage, which often proves to be a point of twists and turns. While the first two seasons of Narcos deals with the story of the drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, who became a billionaire through the production and distribution of cocaine. Mirzapur is the tale of Kaleen Bhaiya whose world is replete with drugs, guns, and lawlessness, where caste, power, egos, and tempers intersect and violence is the only way of life. Kaleen Bhaiya and Pablo Escobar have their respective entourage of badass guys who has unquestionable loyalty towards both of them.

Family: Kaleen Bhaiya and Pablo Escobar have one more striking similarity, both of them love their family. Both crime lords can go to any extent to protect their family from heavy dangers. Despite both Kaleen Bhaiya and Pablo Escobar are ruthless and cruel but both have immense love and respect for their family and loved ones.

Drug Kingpin: While Mirzapur provides the perspective of the Iron-fisted Akhandanand Tripathi who is a millionaire carpet exporter, drug lord and the mafia don of Mirzapur. Narcos, on the other hand, is the story of Pablo Escobar and, later on, the Cali cartel, and their cocaine business and empire of power.

Created by Karan Anshuman and Puneet Krishna and directed by Gurmmeet Singh, Mirzapur is a thrilling and gripping crime drama and stars an ensemble cast of Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Vikrant Massey, Kulbhushan Kharbanda.