Writer Saurabh Bhave, who has made his series directorial debut with the third season of Maharani 3, says the biggest challenge in directing the Bihar-set political drama was to live up to audiences' expectations. The series, starring Huma Qureshi as an accidental chief minister who has to fight political rivals, her own husband, caste and gender dynamics to stay in power, is currently streaming on Sony LIV. In the new season, Qureshi's Rani Bharti is in jail for three years while her political rival, Navin (Amit Sial) is the chief minister. "The biggest challenge was to live up to expectations because previous seasons were so successful. It's the second most watched series on Sony platform," Bhave told PTI in an interview. The filmmaker admitted he was nervous when the project initially came to him, but show creator and writer Subhash Kapoor held his hand throughout. Maharani 3 Teaser: Huma Qureshi's Rani Bharti Challenges Rivals From Jail in SonyLIV's Gripping Series (Watch Video).

"Primarily, it was 'How am I going to live to the success of its first two seasons'. But we had a great team, so I was pretty confident about it, and Subhash sir gave me a free hand to express," he added. Bhave, who directed Marathi film Bonus and wrote films such as Hapus, Hrudayantar, Unaad, and Surajya, said the third season was shot in different locations and on a bigger scale. "The entire purpose behind it was to have more interesting locations than previous ones. We have added Chanderi, and we have shot extensively in Jammu and Kashmir. We add more flavour to it. We completely changed the look, the technical aspects and other details to make it different from the seasons before.

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"We have very distinct worlds -- the first one is of Navin. He has been enjoying his CM shift for the last three years, and Rani has been in jail for three years. So you have two characters poles apart right now. One is caged, and one is free, so how do you design both worlds specifically?" he said. Having worked on both films and now a series, Bhave said working on a series is more time-consuming than working on movies, where one has to deal with one plot. "You can grasp an entire story of one film in your mind at one particular time. For example, you know exactly what the beginning is, what the start is, and exactly where it is going to end, and you have limited subplots. In a series, there are too many subplots and too many tracks. You know there is a possibility of another season, so you do not have a very particular end like the one you have in movies," he said. The story of "Maharani" may be fictional, but certain elements in the story are based on events that have actually happened. "Season one itself was a great blend of what is happening around, what we read, what has happened to the past and the politics, not just of Bihar, but in the country. The first season made people think of it as taken from real-life instances, but as it has progressed, it has become clear that it is the work of fiction," he further added. Maharani Season 3 OTT Streaming Date: Here’s When and Where To Watch Huma Qureshi’s Terrific Return As Rani Bharti Online!.

Praising his lead actors, Bhave said they both were dedicated and quick to grasp character nuances. "What struck me the most, especially about Huma, was how she made that character her own. When the first two seasons were shot, I was not involved. I watched both seasons just as an audience. I am so surprised by the fact that she is not from a rural part of India, not from Bihar. She picked the language and those mannerisms so well, and off camera, she is again Huma Qureshi. It was lovely to work with both of them."