Creator: Rohit Shetty
Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Vivek Oberoi, Shilpa Shetty, Nikitin Dheer, Shweta Tiwari, Isha Talwar, Mayyank Taandon, Mukesh Rishi
Where to watch: Prime Video
Rating: 2.5 stars
There is a pretty simple way to describe what makes Indian Police Force different from anything on the Indian streaming scene right now. It’s just more Rohit Shetty than anything you see. The Indian OTT scene has a lot of Kashyap, something Hrishikesh Mukeherjee, a bit of Bhansali, and even a dose of Kabir Khan. But it hasn’t seen Rohit Shetty-style grandeur. Indian Police Force brings that and gets along with that grammar some illogical plotlines, average acting, flying cars - the staples of any Shetty work. All this makes the show a rather curious watch that tests your patience but still engages you.
As the name suggests, Indian Police Force is the story of cops, this time from Delhi Police – DCP Kabir Malik (Sidharth Malhotra), an erratic and zealous officer who works with his righteous senior JCP Vikram Bakshi (Vivek Oberoi) to combat terror threats. As Delhi faces a deadly serial bombing, the two must team up with Gujarat ATS chief Tara Shetty (Shilpa Shetty) to hunt the mysterious elusive bomber Zarrar (debutant Mayyank Taandon). A typical cat-and-mouse game ensues that takes across the length and breadth of India, and beyond.
Indian Police Force is grander, bigger, and more ambitious in scale than anything that has been presented on Indian OTT platforms before it. Although he is sharing his directorial duties with Sushwanth Prakash, Shetty has the creative reigns firmly in his hands. His grip is evident in the show’s tone and action, particularly the opening sequence, which jolts you, immediately sucking into the world of the Cop Universe.
But thereafter, it’s a mixed bag. If you can avoid searching for logic, look past the plot holes, and tolerate some unnecessary dialoguebaazi, the show begins to grow on you. The breezy 30-35 minute episode length helps and the seven-episode run is quick too. Yet, Indian Police Force never justifies its grand scale to deliver blockbuster entertainment. It is merely good, and that too, just in parts.
The show is truly OTT, over the top. It never, for a moment, pretends to be subtle. But that has always been Rohit Shetty’s cinematic grammar. You have visuals of a cop washing his face in front of a mural showing Amitabh Bachchan from Deewar, very loudly drawing the parallels, affirming cops as superheroes. The lines and dialogue are a throwback to the 80s in terms of both bravado and melodrama. Yet, Shetty brings in some element of slickness, seen in modern web content, which means the show does not look dated.
But Indian Police Force is hampered by its writing and performances. The sheer number of plot holes are hard to count but my favourite is a moment where a cop opens a car to reveal an armoury of impressive weapons and then proceeds to use only pistols for the next 10 minutes even as the aggressors use Kalashnikovs. Go figure! Many scenes are stretched merely to convert them into social media-worth mass moments that will look good as YouTube shorts and Instagram Reels. It seems that has become the next logical step of planning any content these days – figuring out how the scenes will look on Instagram.
The acting is nothing to write home about. Vivek Oberoi is good, measured, and believable as the senior pro. He brings in a good amount of likability to his character. Shilpa Shetty, on the other hand, falls flat, largely relying on some snappy lines to elevate her one-tone character. She has been given a raw deal here. Sidharth Malhotra fares the worst. The actor is miles away from his Shershaah zone and turn Kabir Malik into a wooden statue in many scenes. That we can like the show despite such a bland protagonist is a miracle indeed. Mayyank Taandon, the debutant, steals the show in many scenes, as the show’s primary antagonist, while supporting actors Shweta Tiwari and Vaidehi Parshurami get their moments to shine too.
Indian Police Force is more layered than Shetty’s films but only slightly. The action, however, is on a much lower scale too. If you are looking for Cop Universe-level thrills, you may end up being underwhelmed. Having said that, it is still better than most Indian web shows out there right now and even gets real and gritty at times, a nice change of pace for a Rohit Shetty story.
But in the end, Indian Police Force ends up being a disappointing outing despite its stellar cast and promising concept. It is through the virtue of its slick packaging that it manages to hold your attention long enough despite its many, many flaws. I’d rather wait for Special Ops season 2 (if that ever happens).
