Bad Cop Review: The Hotstar Series Is So Bad, Even Gulshan Devaiah And Anurag Kashyap Couldn’t Save It! (Episodes 1 To 6)
Bad Cop Review: The Hotstar series was a bad version of a generic crime drama with a really bad Karan-Arjun reference!
2 / 5
Bad Cop Review: The one thing I have learnt to keep in mind before watching anything directed or acted by Anurag Kashyap is- zabardasti ki gaaliyan aur over-acting toh hogi hi. Aditya Datt’s directorial, Bad Cop is yet another testosterone-driven, massy Hindi masala series which could not have been saved because of the real bad cop–which is the plot. On paper, the series has everything going on for it– a mysterious murder, borderline creepy villain, not one but two heroes in the lead and (almost) strong female leads. But the main ingredient of the Anurag Kashyap starer Hotstar series–the script, is rotten! This review is only for episodes 1 to 6
Gulshan Devaiah has a double role of twin brothers whose mom and dad die mysteriously but guess what the best part is? Their names. Which are, surprise surprise! Karan- Arjun. Gulshan Devaiah’s convincing acting couldn’t save both Karan and Arjun’s poorly-written characters. Anurag Kashyap on the other hand, plays the creepy, does-nothing, villain Kazbe. The director has tried really hard to keep the audience engaged but that in turn made the series look hurried and not well constructed. Disclaimer: The series will make you roll your eyes every now and then!
The Plot
The story focuses on the lives of Karan Arjun, twin brothers without parents living in an orphanage, completely different from one another. While Karan is a sincere, brother-loving-responsible kid, Arjun is the troublemaker who is the “khota sikka” in Karan’s life. Soon enough, Karan gets adopted by a well-to-do family while Arjun gets left out at the orphanage because of his notorious nature. While Karan grows up to be a cop with a wife and kid, Arjun becomes a crook with his partner/girlfriend Kiki stealing money from people by luring them into hotel rooms with the help of Kiki and pretending to be her husband and asking for a big sum. As things go south, Arjun finds himself as a prime suspect of the murder of a famous journalist. He goes to find help from Karan who dies while saving this guy from goons. But now, Arjun dresses up as Karan and lives his life with his wife and kids (so well it will make you question if this is his first time?) to find the murderer of his brother.
Anurag Kashyap on the other hand is supposed to be this scary-looking villain involved in illegal dealings of elephant tooth. All he does is make food with extra spice, yell at his nephew, and sings inappropriate Hindi songs at inappropriate times. Things take a turn when one of his trucks disappear. The mad villain is supposed to be unstoppable when it comes to his family.
How Arjun finds his brother’s murderers, and what he discovers about him through this forms the plot of Bad Cop.
The Good Cop: What Worked
Every actor in the series shines out with the limited scope they had. Gulshan Devaiah plays both Karan and Arjun’s character seamlessly, leaving no space for improvement. While Anurag Kashyap does add the wit needed in the story, Saurabh Sachdeva plays the role of the detective who just lost his best friend perfectly. The grief in his eyes supports his agenda of finding the killer effortlessly. Actresses Harleen Sethi and Aishwarya Sushmita did well with whatever was given to them. The wit also works in a few places such as the “Alia Bhatt reference.” Cinematography and background music enhanced the rather mediocre project.
The Bad Cop: What Didn’t Work
The script is the bad cop here, something that didn’t work for me. There was too much happening without context in the first episode itself. From Arjun and Kiki’s failed attempts at stealing to a murder to a bad marriage to a villain with a stupid nephew, a detective’s emotional background, to gunshots and one brother dying. Do you wish for me to continue with the drama? Well, the whole series looked hurried and under-whelming. Bad Cop remains a generic Hindi masala series with nothing new.
Everything had to be a revelation with Karan’s character, from his bad relationship with his wife because of the power dynamics to his emotional past with his brother. Because how else would you hook the audience?
Even Anurag Kashyap’s character becomes strange every time the camera pans on him. In an early sequence, Kazbe is seen dancing weirdly sitting on top of a sex worker on ‘Bedardi Raja,‘ next to him inside a bathtub in daylight and then sitting on the toilet seat scolding his nephew. It’s like this need for him to look gross because he is the villain of the story. Not needed sir!
The treatment of the side characters was a definite red flag for me. You have such great performances from the women characters especially Kiki who was reduced to a weird side-kick of Arjun and nothing more. She just keeps yelling “Arjun come” in the entire series just like Alia Bhatt screaming “Shiva” in Brahmastra. Even Harleen Sethi’s character who was supposed to be this smart inspector didn’t shine out and was shown rather emotion-driven in the series.
Dialogues And Action Sequences
It’s a series of people trying to speak different accents of Maharashtrians because why not? The ill ‘Bambaiya accent’ with the worst dialogues. When Karan drowns, and Arjun is freaking out his brother, Kiki legit says, “Wo bhi gaya, tu reh gaya.” I mean, what? The dialogue and humour are not even as good as a generic crime series. The characters even say dialogues like, “Mai bohot fair hu, itna fair ki raat ko chamakta hu.” The random placement of Marathi dialogues also doesn’t help much. The action sequences, despite having good spaces in Mumbai seem very under-constructed and random cut-out shots. It doesn’t make you twitch your nose even a little.
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Verdict
Bad Cop despite its poor dialogues and weak plot, does have its moments with wit and heartwarming performances by the actors. The 8 episode series failed to spark interest in me. Watch the series if you are a fan of the actors or are fans of the genre or you are one of those who like the “It’s so bad, it’s good,” kind of genre. Otherwise, Bad Cop does not offer anything different than your usual cult classic crime dramas. The series knows it’s bad, if not worse and only ravels in that sphere!
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First Published: June 21, 2024 2:08 PM
