Show: Jaanbaaz Hindustan Ke

Cast: Regina Cassandra, Barun Sobti, Sumeet Vyas, Mita Vasisht, Gayathrie Shankar, Deepika Amin, Jiyan Hodar, Chandan Roy

Director: Srijit Mukerji

OTT: Zee5

Rating: 2.5 Moons

Zee5’s latest offering, Jaanbaaz Hindustan Ke is said to be inspired by true events and give viewers a look at the sacrifices and challenges faced by the IPS officers stationed across the nation. The show would have been mildly more interesting if it had come a bit earlier as after an array of cop vs terrorists shows and films it gets bogged down by viewer fatigue. There is nothing new on offer except that the two lead characters are women and drives the plot from the word, go.

Regina Cassandra plays Kavya Iyer, an IPS officer, a mother and a daughter is posted in Meghalaya and is nicknamed ‘Shillong Ki Sherni’ as she braves terrorists and miscreants. However, her posting does ring as odd since she is neither from the area nor speaks the language. Nevertheless, Kavya is not above resorting to police brutality to get her job done and dives headlong into dangerous situations without giving much thought to the safety of her team. One of her impulsive acts gets her posted to police academy to oversee the trainees as punishment posting and no one gives a hoot to her hunch that RDX has been smuggled over from Bangladesh.

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She is besieged by not only career setbacks but suffers a personal failure as well when her estranged husband Sameer (Barun Sobti) threatens divorce and demands custody of their son, Reyansh (Jihan Hodar). When a different set of terrorists assassinate the chief minister of Assam in a drone strike, she is reassigned to the National Investigative Agency (NIA), led by Mahira Rizvi (Mita Vasisht). The two women are at loggerheads with each other at first but Mahira warms up to Kavya when she realizes that she has her own way of doing things and usually get them done, pronto. They start to work on a similar case which leads them to Guwahati to Jaipur and finally Poovar in Kerala where terrorist duo Tariq (Sumeet Vyas) and Thasleena (Gayathrie Shankar) recruit misguided Muslim youths.

The show tries hard to depict the painstaking ways the cops employ to find clues, chase suspects and protect the country but it all comes out to be pretty dreary and taxing. The show also delves into the broken home life of Kavya, who resides with her son and mother (Deepika Amin). Jaanbaaz Hindustan Ke highlights the family drama where it prioritises her job for a few instances as the couple fights for Reyansh’s custody. The makers project a highly problematic premise here that women can’t have it all, family and career, and maybe it is all for the good that the fairer sex usually don’t follow such professions. Kavya’s personal life is contrasted with Mahira, who is a wife and a mother too and entirely devoted to her job but she comes across as more mature and in control, a fact that can either be attributed to the veteran actress’ acting chops or the writers’ prerogative to show the former’s immaturity.

 Writers Neeraj Udhwani and Ashish P Verma keep the narrative lax and predictable. You might get frustrated with the terrorists being one step ahead of the police force all the time, until it is time to throw your hands in the air and wrap the series. For a crime series based on terrorists, drone strikes and big assassinations, Srijit Mukerji’s direction keeps it low on tension. The show should have been more taut, crisper and high on adrenaline; instead there is a lack of urgency. Akhilesh Jaiswal’s dialogues also fail to keep the narrative gripping.

Regina excels when it comes to action sequences but falters with her dialogue delivery. Sumeet and Gayathrie lack the menace of cold-blooded terrorists. However, Chandan Roy and Deepika Amin lend credible support. Mita Vasisht shines throughout the series and lifts up the show on her own merit entirely.

Jaanbaaz Hindustan Ke ends with a cliffhanger and it is safe to presume that there will be a sequel to this. If it does come back with a sequel it needs to work on the narrative and its execution to keep the audiences’ attention intact as well as keep them invested to return back to the franchise.

PeepingMoon.com gives Jaanbaaz Hindustan Ke, 2.5 Moons.