Rudra Review– Rudra – The Edge of Darkness’, Ajay Devgn starrer series is immersive and gets quite close to the British series ‘Luther’ as Ajay slips effortlessly into Idris Elba’s shoes as an intense, obsessive police officer.
The story is set in Mumbai, and Devgn plays the role of a police office DCP Rudra Veer Singh, who is totally dedicated to his work. He is smart, cunning and solves crimes with his sharp mind but he has to pay the price of loosing his personal family life.
The chemistry between Ajay Devgn’s supercop Rudraveer and Raashii Khanna’s master criminal Aliyah is impressive and is among the highlights of the series.
Director Rajesh Mapuskar engages the audience into the life of Rudra with each episode showing the battle between intelligent criminals vs the police. The first episode quickly reveals all the main faces of Rudra’s life – his estranged wife Shaila, portrayed by Esha, his co-worker, his boss played by Ashwini Kalsekar.
Rudra Review: A series that has good moments and slow moments, yet it is enjoyable
Then there is Raashii Khanna who makes her OTT debut with the complex yet the intriguing character of Dr Aliyah Choksi, a criminal and super-intelligent person who builds an unusual bond with Rudra.
In Luther, we have seen Idris Elba plays the smarty British detective whose criminal ways of thinking and penchant for bending rules help him track down the most feared criminals as swiftly as one could imaging. Rudra’s episodes on the other side is slow.
The major storyline in Rudra change lies in how Devgn plays the titular character. While Elba’s John Luther was a volatile and loud man, Devgn’s Deputy Commissioner of Police Rudraveer Singh is sombre. Devgn is terrific in roles where he just lets his quiet masculinity do the talking.
The screenplay is not as intriguing as we expected but we must add that the story is simple and is an smooth to watch. It grips the audience without having to take a break from the episodes. There are some low point in this old-school hero drama with the story being stretched more that required calling for viewers’ time with stretched out dialogues.
Rudra – The Edge of Darkness – Rashi Khanna makes a strong debut on OTT, Atul Kulkarni Shines
The casting must be applauded. Ajay Devgn, who has established his place in the industry for his body of work, manages to lead the series with his brilliant style and screen attitude, and his Rudra version is as good or even better than his on-screen cop roles like ‘Singham’ series and ‘Gangajal’. Rashi’s role is smart, her eyes are shiny and grab your attention every time she comes in the frame, but somewhere her character lacks depth and feels like something is unfinished.
Atul Kulkarni as a cop and Ashwini Kalsekar as a boss and KC Shankar have played their part impressively. Meanwhile, Esha, who has made her way back to acting, leaves you dissappointed.
To sum up Ajay Devgn starrer series Rudra is truly an Indian version with good dose of drama, emotion, thriller. But, the slow screenplay, stretched episodes and flaws, does make you feel a tad bit bored, but the good casting saves the series.
‘Rudra – The Edge of Darkness’ is currently streaming on Disney+Hotstar is worth watching.