Rahul Desai
Shave off the slow-mo swagger and ramp-walking, the slow-mo breathing, the slow-mo bullets and cars, the slow-mo acting and thinking, the slow-mo Islamophobia and cop propaganda — and all that remains is one episode worth of naked and nervy body.
The best performer in this action thriller soars through the sky and defies gravity in style. Except, it’s not human — it’s the drone camera. The beginning has the pace of a climax and the end has the rhythm of a prologue.
Given that this is Shetty’s first foray into long-form entertainment, the show tries everything possible to stretch out its episodes and inflate time. The result sets Indian streaming back by at least a decade.
Shootouts happen on roads, station platforms, city centers and crowded markets. Covert operations are for losers. Collateral damage and dead civilians are but a flimsy footnote; it’s their fault if they dare to obstruct the path of a Bollywood bullet.
There is no blatant Pakistan-bashing here, but it has many surrogates, which makes me wonder if I should just compose a stock paragraph about iffy politics for the rest of the year.
The editing is — to quote one of the characters — “rushed in a hurry,” with most scenes unfolding as if the ten-second fast-forward button were perpetually pressed.