Far from the hullabaloo that precedes the release of shows, PI Meena went under the radar, with little to no promotion before it dropped online. Was it a deliberate move, we ask Tanya Maniktala as we sit down to discuss the mystery thriller. “We wanted the story to sell for itself, we wanted an organic draw towards the show. While some people have loved it and are asking for another season, there is always someone with a different opinion,” says the leading lady.

The Amazon Prime Video offering sees Maniktala play Meenakshi Iyer, a private investigator navigating the bylanes of Kolkata and Littnong in her pursuit of a killer. What she stumbles on is a conspiracy way above her pay grade. One of the show’s biggest critiques is that despite having a talented cast—from Parambrata Chattopadhyay and Jisshu Sengupta, to Vinay Pathak and Harsh Chhaya—the characters weren’t given a clear arc. “I found the story interesting because there were multiple tracks and they were all connected somehow. [When I was reading the script], I wanted to finish it all in one go,” says Maniktala. Point out that some characters don’t meet a justifying end, she reasons, “There is a constraint of time and number of episodes. While writing, you can delve into these stories as much as you want to. However, when it comes to executing the scenes, you don’t have that much freedom. So, some things have been removed from the show. Hopefully, they will be tied up together in the second season, if we [have one].”