Rudra Review: Noir Enters Indian Crime Scene

Rudra: The Edge of Darkness is a psychological crime thriller starring Ajay Devgn, Esha Deol, Raashi Khanna, Atul Kulkarni and Ashish Vidyarthi. It is directed by Rajesh Mapuskar and produced by Sameer Nair. The series is streaming on Disney+Hotstar.

General Rating

In a nut-shell:

Noir Enters Indian Crime Scene

It’s an unlikely partnership. Sociopath Dr Aliyah Choksi (Raashii Khanna) is the biggest professional challenge before DCP Rudra (Ajay Devgn) – he cannot pin a flawlessly executed multi-murder on this woman with brains. 

But she’ll do just fine as a partner for Rudra to tune into the twisted minds of other super-intelligent killers and nab them. 

Much like the Neil Cross-written British TV show Luther, DCP Rudra’s investigations must probe into the sadistic, dark recesses of the criminally-inclined. But, like the old saying, set a thief to catch a thief, Rudra has to think like the perps to stay a step ahead of them.    

Rudraveer Singh is the DCP who won’t play by the rule book. His boss Deepali (Ashwini Kalsekar) respects Rudra’s brains and his doggedness in solving a case. But she can’t rein him in to be the good boy of her team. 

For a bit of personal distraction, Shaila Durrani (Esha Deol), the wife Rudra deeply loves, has moved on to another man (Satyadeep Misra). The husband and wife have to find their own solutions to deal with Rudra’s deep dark side. 

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With Ajay Devgn smouldering and Raashii Khanna edgy-smokey, Rudra is an interestingly crafted crime thriller. While he cannot find irrefutable evidence to nail Aliyah, the cat-n-mouse friendship between them aids Rudra in bringing to book an array of criminals for whom the thrill is in the catch and torture more than the kill. Each chunk brings closure to one new case with catching Aliyah continuing on a parallel track and spilling over from episode to episode.   

Director Rajesh Mapuskar keeps the creepy edginess going with support from other players including Atul Kulkarni as Rudra’s sounding board and Ashish Vidyarthi as Jt CP Raman Acharya, brought in to investigate the DCP who bucks the system. 

Ananya Birla’s husky, mysterious ‘Inaam’ plays well in the background.  

For those who can’t stomach the starkness of dark crime, don’t switch this on. For those who’ve applauded Luther, Dexter and all those blood-chilling crime shows, don’t diss this Indianised version. Noir makes a confident entry into the Indian crime scene.

Watch Rudra Trailer:

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Noir Enters Indian Crime Scene Rudra Review: Noir Enters Indian Crime Scene