Being an official remake of the British Crime Show "Luther"; Rudra already had a lot on its plate. Contrary to popular beliefs, It's not that easy to adapt to a foreign series through an out and out Indian Lens and that too while keeping the essence of the original project untouched.
Now, I haven't seen Luther, nor do I plan to anytime soon. But I have heard Rudra as the Indian counterpart had tried its best to emulate. Good for them I reckon, However, if you want my take; I'm not sold on it, yet! Looking at how it ends, there's a great possibility that further seasons may follow suit, until that, I would like to withhold my absolute judgement.
As you guys might have guessed from my tone, I'm disappointed, even if slightly. And part of the reason for my discontentment is the show's inability to maintain a certain kind of mood that was otherwise expected. The Screenplay is conspicuously indolent, almost dull at times.
There's hardly any thrill, any sense of urgency in it. While on one hand, the Cinematography, the Sound, the all-around set-up very much gave me the impression of a dark and gloomy approach with some unsettling undercurrents; on the other, the loud pitch of the dialogues and caricaturish performances (not all) were telling something else.
There are six episodes in total, with each one of them dealing with different cases and some personal tragedies of our lead characters. Now, the individual cases are fine, they indeed are well executed with the fourth episode being my utmost favourite of the bunch. However, I'm afraid, the personal dynamics on the other end didn't come out as expressive as intended. Nothing but the Script is to blame for the multitude of drawbacks in here.
Nevertheless, the whole ensemble did well enough for themselves, I guess. Nothing too flamboyant, nor too subtle. While other people may applaud Devgan for his apt portrayal as D. C. P. Rudraveer Singh; for me, it's Raashi Khanna as Aliyah Choksi who stands out the most.
It's quite difficult for me to find the exact reason, the specific rationale behind my preference; but one thing is for certain, her demeanour, her across-the-board get up as one psychopathic genius had won me over, and I have absolutely no regrets admitting the same!
