Rudra, Review: Drastic crimes call for Rudrastic punishments

How important is the name of a TV programme or a web series? Should the name convey something about the programme, or anything that sounds good is good enough? Some names that come to mind are Sacred Games, The Family Man, Delhi Crime, CID, Crime Patrol, Crime Watch and Special Ops. Whereas the iconic Sacred Games gives no hint about its content, The Family Man is misleadingly titled, being about a family man who is into tackling terrorist acts. The others merely tell you that the show is based on crime. Rudra-The Edge of Darkness, the new web series which comes on as a special on Hotstar+Disney, three years after rights were acquired by Applause Entertainment, is named after Rudraveer Singh, played by Ajay Devgn, the protagonist, who is a Special Unit Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), and the best in the business, because he has “a criminal brain”. Besides programming on other platforms, Rudra will compete with Special Ops, the Kay Kay Menon starrer, on the same platform, Disney+Hotstar, and it will be a tough act to follow.

Adapted from the BBC One series Luther, Rudra has Devgn essaying the role enacted by Idris Elba in the original. It marks Devgn’s web series debut. Luther has run for five seasons, with four episodes each, beginning in 2010. It is a combination of a thriller and detective stories, usually involving some crank criminal with a twisted brain, who can pass off as John/Jane Doe, when not up to his/her no good deeds. Writer Neil Cross described the process of inspiration for story ideas thus, “Usually the idea of a crime or criminal in Luther will come to me in one of two ways: One of which is when I’m sitting with my wife watching TV and I’ll suddenly burst out laughing, then she’ll know that I have just had a really scary idea. The other way springs from events in my own life and the fact that I’m a very anxious and scared person. The experience of existing in London, although nothing has ever happened to me here, gives rise to these genuine moments of terror, which are exaggerated by my nervous and anxious demeanour. Every time I ride on a night bus, every time I hear a tap-tap-tapping at the window, every time I’m walking down a long empty street and the trees are blowing in the darkness, I mentally step into Luther land. All of my fears of the worst thing that could possibly happen to me or to my loved ones, that’s the origin point of where the Luther killers lurk.”

After rescuing a kidnapped girl and letting then kidnapper fall to his possible death, suspended Rudra is reinstated, to investigate a double, or rather a triple murder. A couple is found dead, and so is their pet dog, all of them shot. Their daughter, Dr. Aliyah Choksi, an only child, who informed the police, tells them that she was out shopping when the crimes occurred. Rudra finds no lead, and, after questioning, begins to believe that the girl killed her parents herself. His boss, a lady cop, warns him to be very careful in his investigation, lest the media take the police to task and he be suspended again. The media was shown three episodes, and each of them focused on a different criminal, while the Choksi murder case remains unsolved. We find a series of kidnappings and disappearings, caused by a blood-thirsty criminal (take that literally, in one of them, and a crazed man who lures and kills only policemen, in another. Naturally, all of them are nabbed by none other than our ACP, who lives on the edge of darkness, and often resorts to Rudrastic measures to punish the guilty. His personal life is a mess, with his wife leaving him, but he has great support from his colleagues at the Special Unit. However, one day, he goes too far, and this brings the Joint Commissioner to conduct an inquiry.

Writing credit, in terms of story and screenplay, must go to Neil Cross. For the Hindi version, they would obviously need a translation or an approximation. Seceral writers are credited for this, but omnly two could be identified so far: Upen Chauhan and Jay Sheela Bansal. Whether they have added some punches of their own, or were they even allowed to do so, remains speculative territory. Upen is an actor, a voice-over and a writer. Jay Sheela wrote the TV series Poison and collaborated with Upen on Bhaukaal. In Rudra, the dialogue is largely functional, with moments of brooding leading to some profound one-liners.

Making his writing and directional debut with Ferrari Ki Sawaari, director Rajesh Mapuskar wrote and directed the Marathi language film Ventilator, which won him accolades, including the National Film Award for Best Director. Given the scale on which Rudra is mounted, it should be relatively easy sailing for Mapuskar. He is not able to do much with the persona of Ajay Devgn, whose blank yet poker-faced look may be just right for the job. Other characters, many of them unknown to this writer, have all been well cast, except for Esha Deol Takhtani as his wife and Ashwini Kalsekar as Rudra’s immediate boss. Mapuskar fails to extract worthwhile performances from these two. Coming to the detection of crimes, there are a few loopholes, but listing them will result in spoilers, so I shall leave them at that. It must be remembered that in any detective story, the crime, the motive and the solution must be explained in some detail. In Rudra, there are occasions when you wonder how did particular developments come about? Was it merely convenient or were the clues/evidence handed over on a platter?

For Ajay Devgn, it’s ‘been there done that’. In fact, you could ask him to walk of the set of Rudra and walk on to the one where Gangubai Kathiawadi is being shot, and he would not need to do much homework. Oh, he fits the role alright! In a poorly written role, Esha Deol Takhtani, as his wife Shaila, struggles. Like Ajay, she too is making her web debut. There is no solid reason for the couple’s separation, and there is little chemistry when they meet. A surprise packet is Raashii Khanna as Aliyah. She can look Ajay in the eye in close-ups, with the confidence of a veteran. Actually, she is a veteran, having made her debut nine years ago, in Madras Café, and working in several films down south since then. Rudra will bring her more Hindi offers. Atul Kulkarni as Rudra’s colleague Gautam has a small role so far, and does it quite effortlessly. Ashwini Kalsekar as Deepali Handa merely goes through the motions, bogged down by cliché-ridden dialogue. A surprise packet is Ashish Vidyarthi, as the Joint Commissioner. We only saw him in some 2-3 scenes so far, but it looks like he will be back.

Others in the cast are Satyadeep Mishra as Shaila’s new love, Rajeev Dattani, Milind Gunaji as jailed army-man Yeshwant Nikose, Vikram Singh Chauhan as his son Ashok Nikose, K.C. Shankar (watch out for this thatre-trained actor; of late, he is having a home run, with films like Heropanti, Typewriter, Wild Dog and Loop Lapeta) as artist Siddheshwar Kumar, Rajesh Jais as the Commissioner, Amaara Sangam as Shehnaz Daruwala, Chandresh Singh as Inspector Kamlesh Pandey (the name rings a lot of bells), Rajeev Kachroo as Mandar Naik, and Saad Chaudhary as an SCU Officer. The series has music by Siddharth Pandit and Japjisingh Valecha, and it is edited by Antara Lahiri. Photography credit could not be traced when this was written, but one source named the person as Sanjay K. Memane. Photography captures the various angles and moods effectively, giving an overall sombre tone to the proceedings, which are nothing if not sombre. Music, photography and editing are all of an above-the-mark standard.

Tales of super-cops, with less than happy family lives, nabbing criminals, getting foul of the law, for using unconventional or unacceptable methods, suspended as a result, reinstated, living on to fight another day, are getting passé. Unless they challenge the intellect and get the adrenaline really pumping, they tend to become déjà vu. And with so many of them on your laptop, PC, phone, tablet or TV, you are spoilt for choice. It follows then that only the best will survive, and Rudra is not the best we have seen in recent times. Recommended for Adults, on account of gory subject matter and some swearing, it might just remain on the edge of success, without the ‘Rudra’ sun shining on it.

Rating: ** ½

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZxYQu4FwSU