What Is The Story About?
Prime Video’s new series ‘Indian Police Force’ is a new installment in Rohit Shetty’s touted “CopVerse”. When India’s capital city Delhi is rocked by a series of bomb blasts, the Delhi police’s special unit officers, Kabir Malik (Sidharth Malhotra), Vikram Bakshi (Vivek Oberoi) and Rana Virk (Nikitin Dheer), spring into action to catch the perpetrators, including mastermind Zarar (Mayyank Taandon). Their boss Jaideep Bansal (Mukesh Rishi), Gujarat ATS chief Tara Shetty (Shilpa Shetty), RA&W officer Jagtap (Sharad Kelkar) lend a helping hand as they launch an intercity cat-and-mouse chase to nab the terrorists.
Indian Police Force is created by Rohit Shetty; directed by him and Sushwanth Prakash; and written by Sandeep Saket and Anusha Nandkumar.
Performances?
The acting in Indian Police Force is bad across the board. Every actor seems wooden, stilted, awkward in their respective roles — as if performing according to some set template or instruction manual — yes, even the usually excellent Mukesh Rishi. The performances seem contrived and manufactured, rather than spontaneous and natural. Sidharth Malhotra is expressionless as ever, Shilpa Shetty too over-the-top. Vivek Oberoi and Sharad Kelkar seem too artificial; ditto for the rest of the bunch. Primary antagonist Mayyank Taandon is so lacking in personality and presence that he’s easily the most unconvincing and pathetic villain of recent times. The rest of the cast is a waste of resources.
Analysis?
Indian Police Force is one of the most insipid, unimpactful thriller series to hit the streaming space in India. The wafer-thin plot is outrageously uninventive and done-to-death. Do we really need yet another piece of content centred on Islamic terrorism, radicalised youth pulling off multiple bomb blasts, led by a diabolical handler, conveniently holed up in Iran/Syria/UAE/Pakistan or whatever godforsaken place unimaginative writers turn to for inspiration these days? Add to it clunky cringey dialogues, listless characterisations, silly subplots, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster on your hands.
For that’s what Indian Police Force really is – a mega-sized disaster. There’s nothing memorable or worthwhile in all of the runtime of the series. A few action sequences are watchable, but that’s about it. Rohit Shetty certainly has assembled a glitzy cast, shot at picturesque locations across the country, poured effort into the action sequences – all the bells and whistles of a high-budget, lavishly-mounted series. But after that, what? A deeper dive into the series makes you realise the obvious – that Indian Police Force is nothing but an expensive piece of mediocrity. Who writes drivel like that in these days of high quality content?
The writing of Indian Police Force is the main problem – it is laughably amateurish, with yawn-inducing predictability and run-of-the-mill plot devices. Added to that is the unremarkable storytelling. It lacks chutzpah and panache, leading to a series that is utterly devoid of sizzle and spark.
What really rankles is that the series invests no effort or time to endear any of the characters to the audience – not even the over-the-top leads. Not once do we root for or feel anything for them or their concerns, in the entire series – even when the bunch suffers an irreplaceable loss.
It seems that the writers of Indian Police Force have been given but one instruction – create a cut-and-paste clone of past successes in the same space. One can almost see the writers physically tick off a prepared check-list of tropes they’ve been ordered to include in the script — good Muslim, bad Muslim – check; bombastic nationalism – check; Batla House-style shootout – check; God-fearing youth afflicted with past trauma, radicalised by an evil Madarsa teacher – check; bomb disposal squad neutralising a bomb in the nick of time – check; overly-rousing music each time a key character spouts in-your-face dialogues – check. Phew! We’re bushed!
To sum it up, Indian Police Force ticks all the boxes of uninspired writing. There’s nothing remotely unique about it to distinguish it from tons of similar content we’ve seen a gazillion times before. It only serves to make the series a half-baked and not-so-satisfying watch. Our advice – avoid it like the plague! What’s even worse? The ending hints at a new season of the series — and God help us all!
Music And Other Departments?
Lijo George and DJ Chetas’ background music is needlessly over-the-top and on-the-nose. It starts to get on your nerves after a while. Girish Kant and Raza Mehta’s camerawork is average – there’s too much reliance on the ubiquitous drone shots. The editing is OK.
Highlights?
None worth mentioning
Drawbacks?
Hackneyed, done-to-death plot
Predictable sequences
Boring subplots
Lousy writing
Weak characterisations
Vapid antagonist
Did I like it?
No
Do I recommend it?
Only for die-hard Rohit Shetty fans
Indian Police Force Series Review by Binged Bureau
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