Web Series Review: ‘Bad Cop’ is based on the formula of the 90s, but Gulshan Devaiah has put his/her heart and soul into it

My Karan-Arjun will come… This dialogue is still a superhit even after twenty years. Shahrukh and Salman Khan are equally iconic ‘Karan-Arjun’ of cinema, but now a new ‘Karan-Arjun’ has emerged on OTT. This is Karan-Arjun (Gulshan Devaiah). The twin lookalike brothers of the new web series ‘Bad Cop’, which is a desi adaptation of the German TV series of the same title.

Story of ‘Bad Cop’ web series

The story begins in a hotel. Arjun (Gulshan Devaiah) along with his/her girlfriend Kiki (Aishwarya Sushmita) dupes a man, but while fleeing from there he/she witnesses the murder of a famous journalist. In an attempt to save him/her, Arjun leaves his/her DNA there, which puts the needle of suspicion on him/her.

Soon after this, we see Inspector Karan (Gulshan Devaiah) arguing with his/her wife Devika (Harleen Sethi) at the police station. Devika is not only his/her wife but also his/her senior. Due to this, their personal relationship has become sour. Immediately after this, in the series, an elephant is shown being killed in the forest, which gives the impression that it might be a case of ivory smuggling. But no. Wait a minute.

Now, the entry in the story is of Don Kajbe (Anurag Kashyap) wearing a lungi-bandi and performing Ganpati Aarti and having a sly smile, who reaches the jail with pride. What happened? Is your head spinning while reading these different scenes one after the other? Of course, you get the same feeling while watching it. Therefore, as a viewer, you need to be a little patient to understand the story and the relationship between these characters.

Trailer of ‘Bad Cop’ web series

‘Bad Cop’ web series review

The story of the series is that out of the twin lookalike brothers Karan Arjun who grew up in an orphanage, Karan becomes a policeman while Arjun becomes a thug. Karan is the enemy of Don Kajbe’s illegal business, so Kajbe is after his/her life. In such a situation, Karan dies after being shot in an encounter, while Arjun, who came to meet him/her, starts living his/her life. Now Arjun’s aim is to find out Karan’s killers. Also, how does he/she fit into Karan’s life? This will also be seen in the future.

Talking about the specialty of the series, Aditya Dutt, who has made films like ‘Commando 3’ and ‘Crack’, has created some excellent action scenes. The scene where Karan-Arjun fall in water during the encounter, in which one’s face and the other’s back are in front, is attractive. Aditya has got experienced actors like Gulshan and Anurag for this. Gulshan Devaiah has brought life to both the characters of Karan and Arjun. Anurag Kashyap has become such an expert in playing a villain on screen that he/she doesn’t need to work too hard. Harleen Sethi and Aishwarya Sushmita have also played their characters well. However, Saurabh Sachdev, who usually gives sharp acting, has failed.

Talking about the shortcomings, the biggest weak link is its writing. The quartet of Rensil D’Silva, Srinita Bhomik, Hussain Dalal, Venika Mitra have tried every formula of the 90s film formula in the series. Twin brothers, one honest and the other bad, placement of one in place of the other, all these formulas have been seen before in many films. Therefore, there is no novelty in the story.

By the way, only two episodes of this eight-episode series have been released so far (on the basis of which the review has been done), while the rest will be released one by one every week, so it should be expected that the story will take an interesting turn going forward.

Why watch- For Gulshan Devaiah’s balanced acting and excellent action scenes.