On a recent podcast, Sudip Sharma, creator-screenwriter of acclaimed shows like Kohrra and Paatal Lok, lamented the dire state of Indian streaming as it currently stands. He pointed out how, in a bid to churn out shows faster and cheaper, platforms are adopting what he called the ‘BPO model’ of storytelling. “It’s the lack of ambition which is the most disheartening part of it all,” Sharma rued.
You can watch a bit of Bad Cop — two episodes of which are currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar (six were available for review) — to successfully ascertain what Sharma is getting at. This isn’t a terrible show; it’s got a pulpy premise and intermittent bursts of frantic action. Yet it all feels — true to the ethos of a BPO call centre — dispiritingly phoned in. The ambition is missing.
When Mumbai cop Karan is fatally injured in a hitjob, his estranged twin, Arjun — this is that kind of a show — winds up taking his place. Both brothers are played by Gulshan Devaiah, the actor continuing his waggish two-facery from the 2022 series Duranga. Arjun is a conman on the run, an accidental suspect in a murder case. Until the switch-up, he is presented as a lowlife criminal running minor schemes with his girlfriend (Aishwarya Sushmita). In a blink, however, he’s a near-immaculate facsimile of Karan, a faster transformation than the one Amitabh Bachchan undergoes in Don (1978).
Bad Cop (Hindi)
Director: Aditya Datt
Cast: Gulshan Devaiah, Anurag Kashyap, Harleen Sethi, Saurabh Sachdeva, Aishwarya Sushmita
Episodes: 2 of 8
Runtime: 30-35 minutes
Storyline: Arjun, a conman, takes the place of twin brother, Karan, a cop with the Mumbai police
The wide-ranging plot takes in slain journalists, a nefarious poaching racket, betting scams and corruption in the Mumbai force. Written by Rensil D’Silva, Bad Cop is adapted from the German television series of a similar name. I haven’t watched the original, yet can confidently wager that Wolfgang Becker or Werner Herzog do not turn up in it as a pugnacious crimelord pulling the strings from jail. Yet something of the sort happens in this Indianisation, with filmmaker Anurag Kashyap as the rotund, rowdy Kazbe. Kashyap has fun chewing scenery in outlandish scenes: a bit where he sits on the pot while yelling manically at his underlings appears to reverse the fortunes of his own Bunty Bhaiyaa, who sat pleading in similarly indisposed fashion in Shagird (2011).
This is such a second-hand series even the songs are second-hand. The performances, likewise, feel second-guessed. Gulshan Devaiah had demonstrated, in his previous outing with director Aditya Datt, Commando 3 (2019), that he can do twirly, fast-paced action. There are a couple of chases and firefights in Bad Cop where Devaiah more than holds his own. Less involving (certainly less plausible) are his domestic scenes with Devika (Harleen Sethi), Karan’s wife and boss —especially after the switch-up. It is too much of a narrative convenience that someone as sharp as Devika wouldn’t sniff out major or minor changes in her husband’s behaviour. Even after it’s established that Karan was in contact with his twin brother, who’s got the central agencies on his heels — Saurabh Sachdeva nurses a headache as ‘CIB’ officer Arif — she’s unable to put two and two together. Look, I don’t mean to play logic police here, but then Bad Cop flashes the handcuffs.
Two episodes of Bad Cop are currently streaming on Disney+Hotstar