Review: Rudra - The Edge of Darkness (2022)
Rudra: The Edge of Darkness is a perfect cat and mouse chase, with depths of the past shimmering under the surface.
Directed by Rajesh Mapuskar of Ferrari Ki Sawari and Ventilator fame, this show marks the web debut of Ajay Devgn, as DCP Rudraveer Singh, a hard-working man who broods the streets of Mumbai in search of killers. He struggles with problems of his own, including his broken marriage. His wife in one scene tells him that he is a man who understands love but not relationships.
Mapuskar, along with DoP Sanjay K Memane work together to cast an oppressive gloom over the series, best experienced in the opening shot of episode one. Tall buildings with flashing lights – almost out of the scene of Gotham City, with Rudraveer Singh standing on the edge of a building, without a cape. It sets the show off beautifully in a cold and eerie way.
Devgn dons a new but similar avatar of a cop, from Rohit Shetty’s Singham. In scenes, he bashes furniture to let out frustration, smokes cigarettes, tells us how he can look in the mind of killers, and pulls of the character with his bravado and masculinity.
Mapuskar’s direction is controlled. Each frame is well created like painted portraits, which also makes the edit look seamless. There are no flashy camera movements or cuts. Tapas Relia’s background score throughout the show is just fine. Ananya Birla has does a fine job with the opening theme, Inaam.
Rudra consists of six episodes, each making us dive into a new killer and crime – a child-stealing paedophile, a deranged shooter who only murders cops, an artist who drains the body of young mothers and paints in blood, a cuckolded serial killer who preys on single women, and so on.
Each villian’s arc has been creatively crafted. Do watch out for some terrific performances like Hemant Kher (from Scam 1992) as the cab driver, and K.C. Shankar as the blood-drinking artist.
The show overall shoots Mumbai like a cold and gloomy London. The setting has no character or geography of its own. In one scene in Aliyah Choksi’s (Rashii Khanna) sea-facing bungalow in Bandra, we see the sea link. The next shot when she and Rudra come out, they are at the Gateway of India. Evidently, no research has been done on the geography of Mumbai.
Another aspect of the show which did not work for me was the sheer non-acknowledgement to detail. The density of people in Mumbai and other Indian metropolitans plays a huge role in the way crimes are committed and laws are broken. However, Rudra rarely acknowledges this detail. Crimes are committed in eerily deserted Kala Ghoda circles, taxis pick up women in areas where there is miraculously not a soul for miles.
Additionally, for the entire series, Devgn is dressed in a shirt with a pullover jacket – in Mumbai. Evidently, there has also been zero effort to study the climate of the location on the series before approving the wardrobe.
The show also lacks continuity between the first two episodes, but eventually picks up. The killer of the first episode is not revealed at all, throughout the show. Instead, the psychopath genius, played by Rashi Khanna be-friends Rudra and forms a sexual connection with him. The only continuity between episodes that happens, is in the last two episodes, which leads to the final showdown between Rudra and his friend.
Overall, Devgn is terrific in this role where he just lets his quiet masculinity do the talking. But to be honest, I’m over the cop role portrayed by Devgn. I would love to see him doing comedies again - Golmaal being my absolute favourite!
You can watch Rudra: The Edge of Darkness on Disney + Hotstar.
