We would describe Rudra: The Edge of Darkness as a show as being fairly nice, and we found the six episodes to be quite entertaining. Yet, when you spend six hours reading a tale, it’s never that straightforward to form an opinion.
Idris Alba performed the titular role in the British television series Luther, which was adapted into The Edge of Darkness. The programme focuses on sophisticated criminals who would be challenging for a typical cop to apprehend. Although we acknowledge that the show is enjoyable and engaging, and that too for the correct reasons, how we feel about it has a lot to do with how remakes are created in India. Then you have a super cop on the scene who sees what people overlook and dares to take chances, going above and beyond. But that’s something we’ll cover later.
What Is The Story of Rudra: The Edge of Darkness ?
As previously said, Rudra: The Edge of Darkness is about very educated and stylish people committing crimes and then being apprehended by someone more intelligent and humane than they are. The best cop in the department is Rudra, the title character. His department respects and trusts him because of how well he does his work, but there is also concern about his mental health, which is not addressed until later episodes. Even though his wife has moved on and their marriage has ended, he is still in love with her. For once, we would want to see a smart detective in a relationship that is harmonious if we were to see him on TV. It almost seems as though the film industry is unwilling to abandon the misconception that emotion and intelligence are incompatible.
Raashi Khanna portrays the psychopath Aliyah Choksi, who murdered her own family and is the only suspect that Rudra was unable to apprehend. She is one of the show’s main characters. They end up getting along well, with Aliyah showing a keen interest in both Rudra’s personal and professional life.
Esha Deol and Satyadeep Misra, who play Rudra’s ex-wife and her boyfriend, are occasionally impacted by Rudra’s cases and are constantly on Aliyah Choksi’s radar. We realise how underutilised Esha Deol is and how welcome Satyadeep Misra’s appearances were when we see both actors on screen. We want to see more of them in the future because they have an unexpectedly good chemistry together.
Warning: Huge Spoilers
Rudra: The Edge of Darkness Ending Explained How Did Rudra Catch Gautam Navlakha?
Like most crime shows, the conclusion involves the investigator resolving a personal tragedy. We observe that Rudra is on the hunt to establish his innocence and find the real killer after being charged with killing his wife Shaila Durrani. As Atul Kulkarni’s character Gautam Navlakha, we already know who the real murderer is. His betrayal has a personal consequence because he was previously proven to be a close friend and confidant to Rudra. Rajiv, Shaila’s boyfriend, is utterly devastated and believes Rudra is the murderer. Rudra asks Aliyah for assistance because he thinks a criminal must understand another criminal and because he has forged a wary bond with her.
Rudra enters a trap on purpose by going to meet Gautam outside the police, where Gautam would incite Rudra by telling him how he killed his wife and how she was pleading for him to save her. As a result, Rudra temporarily loses his cool before running away. Following Raman’s questioning of Prabal, the police team comes to the conclusion that Gautam is the offender.
In a different scene, we see that Gautam was pursuing Rajiv before Rudra cornered him and the two of them got into a fight. He then follows up with an audio recording of himself confessing to his crimes. When Gautam realises this, he loses control and stabs Rudra. However, the next scene shows Rajiv and Aliyah entering the room, and the latter shoots Gautam. We can presume that Rudra survives the incident and has his innocence proven.
What Works And What Doesn t?
The show’s laid-back nature, which we assume wasn’t deliberate but absolutely works for it, was what we liked most about it. Rudra: The Edge of Darkness lacks the wow element that makes you wonder, “What did he think of that?” when compared to other gritty thrillers on the market. Also, none of the villains are remotely endearing, with the exception of the one in the third episode. The one episode that could have turned Aliyah Choksi’s character into a fan favourite was wasted, not to mention how liberal they were with our pet peeve—the repetition of needlessly complicated monologues. As they were doing that, they should have better established the charismatic genius side of her rather than just repeating it repeatedly. To be honest, we thought it was an odd move to let the criminal escape in the first episode itself. This constituted a risk in a sense since, had Ajay Devgan not been playing the title part, viewers would have likely grown bored with the show by now.
The biggest significant problem we have with the show is that it wasn’t made specifically for Indian listeners. Rudra: The Edge of Darkness has the lazy, hurried Indianized tailoring of something Luther might have written in Hindi. When you adapt a programme to a location like India, it has a lot of potential because it has such an excellent concept and a very skilled cast. But, this show made the mistake of depending too heavily on its star power to succeed. Because of this, a great product that could have been even better became heartbreakingly average.
Despite all of our criticism, it’s always enjoyable to hear Ajay Devgan’s distinctive husky voice reading the dialogue in his moody character. We weren’t expecting to appreciate Ashwini Kalsekar as much as we did, who played Commissioner Deepali Handa. We had become so accustomed to seeing her in insane roles on television that we felt she hasn’t quite received the credit she deserves until we realise how well she fits into the character of an authoritative and dignified cop.
Ajay Devgn is the star of the 2022 Indian crime thriller television series Rudra: The Edge of Darkness.
