Bad Cop Review: Cops and criminals butting heads are always interesting to witness because the notion of good versus evil has been hammered into humanity for years. Thus, Hotstar Special Bad Cop, with twin brothers fighting against a deadly villain will raise anyone’s expectations!
- The thriller series is directed by Aditya Datt and written by Rensil D’Silva & Venika Mitra.
- The dialogues for the show are written by Hussain Dalal.
- The series stars Gulshan Devaiah, Harleen Sethi, Anurag Kashyap, Saurabh Sachdeva, Aishwarya Sushmita and others.
- The series has 8 episodes, each with a runtime of around 35 minutes.
- The cop thriller is based on the German series Bad Cop: Kriminell Gut, which was streamed on RTL Television in 2017 and is adapted by Rensil D’Silva.
– No Spoilers –
Plot
What is better than one Gulshan Devaiah? It’s two Gulshan Devaiahs and one Anurag Kashyap in a cop thriller about raging gangs and the drug underworld. In Bad Cop, twin brothers Karan and Arjun, who are on two opposite sides of the law, find themselves in a pickle when they face off with dangerous underworld boss Kazbe after a devastating incident changes the course of their lives forever. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, will the brothers be able to bring Kazbe to justice and protect everything that is dear to them?
Bad Cop Review
Characters & Acting
Twins are always an interesting connection that a lot of shows tend to try and explore. In Hotstar’s latest cop thriller, it’s no different, with Karan and Arjun’s relationship taking centre stage and adding an emotional twist to an otherwise grim story. Devaiah is no stranger to playing the role of a man close to the law in some form or another, as we have seen in his latest release Duranga as well as in Guns & Gulaabs and Dahaad. In Bad Cop he is both – both against and for the law, bringing out an interesting situation all around.
Devaiah’s Arjun, whom we end up following for most of the runtime, is full of rage and revenge as he runs from the law but also with it, trying to pay back Karan for everything that he has done for him for all his life. Devaiah’s Arjun is troubled but there are moments of goodness that keep audiences locked to him. His revenge saga is believable and even aspirational sometimes and the brief showcase of brotherly love and the context for it adds to the charm of the relationship that Karan and Arjun share as twins.
On the other hand, we have Anurag Kashyap as Kazbe, who is a feared criminal only interested in making money and thus, saving his consignment from the police’s hands. Of course, that gives rise to him butting heads with Karan, who is dead-set on catching him in his illegal acts. Unfortunately, Kashyap, who feels right at home playing a morally corrupt character, is not given enough time to showcase his truly devilish side. Although the story wants you to believe he is a quirky sadist with a soft side to him, we don’t see him as a sadistic psychopath much, leaving us a little confused about whom we are expected to fear. Plus, Anurag Kashyap’s new series has his character emulating the same character over and over again, losing some of its charms.
Lastly, we have Harleen Sethi as Devika and Saurabh Sachdeva as Aarif Khan. Sethi is a strong female cop who is no-nonsense but still sensible in her own way. Her fraught relationship with Karan forms an interesting point at first but is abandoned not long after, only to be eventually mentioned fleetingly here and there. Even then, Sethi is an inspirational character and she plays her well. Meanwhile, Sachdeva’s Aarif is reeling from the murder of his friend and is dead set on finding the perpetrator. Of course, that gets him to come in contact with Karan and Arjun, resulting in a cat-and-mouse chase. There’s not much to talk about Aarif because his character is not given much to go on – he is not scary but his dedication is interesting.
Story
There’s something missing in Bad Cop that will make audiences constantly question why everything feels so odd. I think it’s because we already know who the antagonists are and what they are up to from the first episode that takes away the thrill of the chase. The story flows without any hindrances on the way, with smooth-sailing situations that are thoroughly cliched and forgettable action sequences that will bore you after a while. For those who have watched such shows in the past, you will be able to figure out what is about to happen after the first episode or two and the series makes no effort to do anything different.
The problem is that such shows have become so common that we have seen all the different iterations that the storyline can have and almost nothing comes as a surprise. Bad Cop, thus, feels like something we have previously watched. The twin storyline, however, is explored somewhat well and the little twist, although expected, plays well into the storyline and adds a layer of thrill to it. I am not going to mention how since that’s a spoiler, but it does work for the story quite well. You constantly anticipate something going wrong in every episode, but it’s (almost) always a fluke, making you sit on the edge wondering when things will go wrong.
That being said, Arjun’s rivalry with Kazbe is the most disappointing part of the story as, in spite of multiple crimes being investigated at the same time, everything seems really lukewarm at best. The threats that Kazbe gives aren’t really scary or interesting and he doesn’t come out as a thrilling villain who can end anyone at any time; if anything, he feels like a warm uncle into shady stuff! The most interesting part of the story is Karan and Arjun’s connection and towards the end of episode 6 is when the most interesting twist finally kicks in as things move into high-octane action.
With only 30 minutes per episode, the series isn’t too long but it does drop the ball on being tight and engaging from its first episode. Sure, there are bursts of suspense and action here and there but it does take too much time to get to the point. Post episode 6, things do look up in a way and we are left hooked to the action that comes up after but it becomes difficult to wait for something to happen for the first five episodes. In a way, the series takes its time to set the scene, which isn’t the worst thing, but it would’ve been better to kick things into motion an episode or two earlier.
Final Thoughts
In the end, Bad Cop is a lukewarm thriller whose human and moral dilemmas are what keep it together. Audiences are left to wonder where Arjun’s loyalties lie and how to solve this tangled mess of a situation while getting deeper and deeper into his brother’s life. The latter is an interesting dissection and makes us peel back some of Arjun’s layers. The most disappointing was Kashyap’s Kazbe, who is not shown enough to be remotely scary and thus his absences don’t have that thrill or looming sense of dread that you’d expect. The storyline sometimes feels a little disjointed but for those who like cop thrillers and don’t have too much time to invest, this one might not be that bad of an investment.
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