It all began with Singham for Rohit Shetty’s golden run in Bollywood.
Ever since he has not only enhanced the Singham franchise but also created his own cop universe with films like Simmba and Sooryavanshi.
The ace director has now made his debut in the OTT arena with Indian Police Force, streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
The crime thriller show has seven episodes and runs for around five hours. Is it worth your time? Here’s my review.
Indian Police Force Synopsis
A series of bomb blasts takes India’s capital by storm and Kabir Malik is assigned the task to bring the terrorists to justice. Can he follow the trail to find who’s behind the deadly attacks?
Directed by Rohit Shetty and Sushwanth Prakash, Indian Police Force features Sidharth Malhotra (Kabir), Vivek Oberoi (Vikram), Shilpa Shetty (Tara), Mukesh Rishi (Jaideep), Mayyank Taandon (Zarar), Shweta Tiwari (Shruti), and Nikitin Dheer (Rana) in lead roles.
Sharad Kelkar plays a cameo in the series.
What Works for Indian Police Force?
Memorable things for the show, unfortunately, arrive too late i.e., the fourth episode onwards. You will be reading more about the first half in the latter part of my review.
Talking about the positive aspects, the action scenes, which aren’t too many in number, are shot beautifully.
The actors shine in their own way carrying the fights assigned to them, helped by astute camera angles.
Moreover, all the encounters with gunfights are on the bright side as well. The background score is expectedly loud, which is something Rohit Shetty is known for.
He tries to fill the gaps in the narration using high-end sound effects. While not an ideal solution, this strategy prevents the series from spiraling into an extreme downturn.
The emotional hold of Indian Police Force is much better in the last three episodes. That’s when the show captures your attention to the zenith.
The well-paced drama comes alive, the screenplay faces no adversities, and the plot finds a way forward as well.
Sadly, that’s about it for the pluses of the series.
How are the Performances?
Sidharth Malhotra, portraying Kabir Malik, exhibits commendable proficiency in emotional scenes.
However, the character demands a level of intensity that is somewhat lacking in Malhotra’s demeanor.
Despite occasionally resorting to raising his voice for dramatic effect, the absence of a natural grasp of the character’s essence results in sporadic shortcomings.
Malhotra truly shines when he authentically embraces the character, whether in action sequences or moments of levity.
However, deviations from his genuine self become visible, impacting the quality of his performance.
Vivek Anand Oberoi, in the role of Vikram, generally maintains his accustomed caliber.
Yet, there are instances where he burdens himself with additional responsibilities, leading to moments of a slightly straggling performance.
Shilpa Shetty, as Tara Shetty, leaves a lasting impression with her stylish portrayal of a female cop in Indian Police Force.
Her fiery screen presence is a notable highlight, complemented by a commendable delivery of dialogues.
However, an increased allocation of screen time for her character in pivotal scenes would have elevated the overall impact of her performance.
Despite these considerations, Shetty’s delivery stands out as the most impressive among the cast.
What Doesn’t Work for Indian Police Force?
The storyline offers nothing fresh in this already ‘cooked a million times’ idea. Indian Police Force is just an extension of what we have been watching on Disney Plus Hotstar for the last 2-3 years.
Only the packaging has changed. Here, you have cops doing the talking rather than secret agents.
Rohit Shetty doesn’t need any introduction when it comes to films but doing web shows is a different league altogether.
His typical style of crashing cars, providing stylish visage to police officers, and evoking sympathy for their hard work doesn’t make the desired impact.
The reason is simple: we have had enough of this formulaic approach in his cop universe.
Furthermore, problems for Indian Police Force do not stop there.
The show’s VFX falls short of expectations, with discernible scenes that highlight the artificial blending of real and digitally rendered elements.
The initial warm white lighting could have been better controlled.
Additionally, the narration appears underdeveloped for a story of such magnitude, resulting in a patchy execution that fails to sustain engagement over the seven-episode arc.
Indian Police Force grapples with unjustifiable twists, excessive melodrama, lackluster dialogues, and unrealistic ambitions stemming from convenient writing.
Some of the plot’s meanderings don’t make any sense at all.
Also, in hindsight, one might want to question whether the show suffers from miscasting.
Most of the performances lack conviction and the supporting cast is like a bunch of segmented artists coming and simply delivering their lines without emotional acuity.
The insertion of flashbacks could have been done in a better manner to cover for the lost ground.
If I had to pick one factor that Indian Police Force needed to ace, it would be the ‘build-up of tension.’
Shows like The Family Man, Special Ops, or even Shetty’s films became hits, for they were able to arouse the viewer. They used the buildups to great effect.
You actually felt the anxiety the characters were going through.
It’s this connection that’s missing from this Rohit Shetty directorial. As a viewer, I can only give my time and attention to a story. The rest of the things have to come from the creators.
Sadly, the show falters in coming good on expectations.
Another feeble downside is the dubbing of the series. The actors’ voices do not sound authentic.
They completely dump the natural environment and focus squarely on the audio of the dialogues.
A bit of poor sound engineering there? Yeah, maybe?
Stream or Skip?
You might want to skip this one as the makers have nothing fresh to offer. Moreover, whatever there is also doesn’t work on expected lines.
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