Rudra: The Edge of Darkness - 2022

Introduction

Rudra: The Edge of Darkness is an Indian crime thriller series created for Disney+Hotstar. This is a remake of the British series BBC One's hit drama series Luther, for which Applause Entertainment acquired the rights in 2019. You can witness commendable performances from stars like Ajay Devgn, Raashii Khanna, and Esha Deol. The series was released in April 2022. The entertaining and engrossing crime show is about a detective solving a personal tragedy. The story revolves around how he tries to prove his innocence and catch the real culprit.

Table of Content

• Details

• Plot

• Release Date

• Casting

• Crew

• Character Analysis

• Predictions

• Behind the Scenes

• Controversy

• Rating

• Awards

• Interesting Facts

• Conclusion

Details

Plot

The plot of Rudra: The Edge of Darkness revolves around DCP Rudraveer Pratap Singh "Rudra" (Ajay Devgn), who is a smart, dedicated investigation officer and is suffering from relationship issues with his wife, Shaila (Esha Gupta). His suspension is revoked by the authorities considering the increasing number of crimes in the city of Mumbai. 

Rudra has been accused of the murder of his wife, Shaila Durrani, and is out to prove his innocence and catch the real culprit. The story focuses on Rudra’s passion for his job which comes at the cost of personal losses, and the methods he uses to delve deep into the minds of intelligent and dangerous criminals, often putting himself at risk.

Rudra’s departmental head, Deepali Handa (Ashwini Kalsekar), and his co-workers, Gautam Navlakha (Atul Kulkarni) and Prabal Thakur (Tarun Gahlot), are awestruck by his gut instincts. It shows the chemistry between Rudra and Alia Choksi (Raashi Khanna), a genius in space research and a suspect in a double-murder case. Each episode has a new villain and it is about how Rudra solves so many mysteries which form the storyline.

Release Date

The six-episode first season premiered on 4 March 2022 on Disney+ Hotstar. In the US, the show will be available on Hulu as part of distribution agreements with Star India. The Runtime of the show is approximately 41-60 minutes.

Casting

• Ajay Devgn as DCP Rudraveer Pratap Singh (Rudra)

• Raashii Khanna as Dr. Aliyah Choksi

• Esha Deol as Shaila Durrani Singh "Shai"

• Atul Kulkarni as DCP Gautam Navlakha

• Ashwini Kalsekar as Jt. Commissioner Deepali Handa

• Tarun Gahlot as P. I. Prabal Thakur

• Ashish Vidyarthi as Jt. CP Raman Acharya

• Rajiv Kachroo as Mandar Naik

• Milind Gunaji as Colonel Yashwant Nikose

• Luke Kenny as JK Lamba

• Vikram Singh Chauhan as Captain Ashok Nikose

• C. Shankar as Anil Sharma / Siddheshwar Kumar

• Satyadeep Misra as Rajiv Dattani

• Saad Chaudhary as SCU Officer

• Rajesh Jais as Commissioner

• Vishwanath Kulkarni as Inspector Shivaji Memane

Crew

Written by - Ishan Trivedi, Abbas Dalal, Hussain Dalal

Directed by - Rajesh Mapuskar

Music by - Siddharth Pandit, Japjisingh Valecha

Producer - Sameer Nair

Cinematography - Sanjay K. Memane

Editor - Antara Lahiri

Production companies - BBC Studios India, Applause Entertainment

Distributor - Star India

Series Casting By - Kavish Sinha

Character Analysis

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• Rudra, played by Ajay Devgn, is suave, nuanced, and mindful. He is a smart cop who doesn’t use violence, but his impeccable mind skills to stay ahead of criminals. He is analytical and puts details first. His personality also led to the breakdown of his marriage to Shaila (Esha Deol Takhtani).

• Shaila Durani (Esha Deol) is a humanitarian lawyer who leaves Rudra for Rajiv Dattani (Satyadeep Misra).

• Aliyah Choksi (Raashi Khanna) is an intelligent woman with whom Rudra shares a crackling chemistry. She is termed a sociopath and has a layered personality, which can be challenging yet interesting at times.

• Rajiv Dattani, played by Satyadeep Mishra, brings a softness as Shaila’s hapless boyfriend. Rajiv is a slightly soft and unproblematic boyfriend who feels threatened by Rudra’s machismo.

• I. Prabal Thakur (Tarun Gahlot) plays Robin to Batman Rudra is quite understated yet comes across like a guy who would solve murders.

• Jt. Commissioner Deepali Handa (Ashwini Kalsekar) is a boss lady who trusts & supports Rudra and is surprised by how intelligently he solves mysteries.

• DCP Gautam Navlakha (Atul Kulkarni) is a friend and co-worker of Rudra, and there is something mysterious about him. You can see how he quietly pockets money at a perpetrator’s home and has the crime factor attached to him.

Predictions

Ajay Devgn's Rudra: The Edge of Darkness Season 2 is on the way, as confirmed by the Producer. The filmmaker says Sameer Nair is working on a sequel while he's working on another idea. The creators haven't announced a release date for Season 2, but it's expected to arrive in March 2023. The story doesn't end in Season 1. The next season will be released soon on Disney+ Hotstar. 

Behind the Scenes

Behind the scenes, everyone was captivated by Ajay Devgn’s personality. Rajesh Mapuskar has been highly appreciated for his sensitivity and comforting support to all the other stars. He would personally meet the actors in their vanities and brief them about the next scene.

Both Ajay Devgn and Rajesh went that extra mile to make sure every actor was at ease to give the best performance. The actors did have their share of fun and frolic at the sets, but everyone was quite serious about their roles, and the effort was towards delivering the right scene.

Controversy

The only controversy that Rudra: The Edge Of Darkness landed in was the constant comparison between Ajay Devgn and Idris Elba in ‘Luther’. There was a lot of speculation, criticism, and judgements made toward the Indian character of Rudra, played by Ajay Devgn.

However, the Bollywood superstar was not worried about such comparisons. He took the criticism in his stride and said he has never aped anyone and has a unique style of his own. It is also said that Rudra: The Edge Of Darkness was entirely a one-man show, which was run solely because of the remarkable presence and performance of Ajay Devgn.

Rating

This series got an IMDb rating of 6.7/10, based on 8.2K ratings.

This series got quite a mixed response from the audience. Although the character of Rudra was greatly appreciated by the critics and the commendable performance of Ajay Devgn was the highlight of the show, yet, other performances, dialogues, and the predictable storyline got mixed reviews.

Awards 

Interesting Facts

• Ajay Devgn and Esha Deol act together after 17yrs. The last movie they appeared in was "Insaan" (2005). This series also marks the web debut of both actors.

• It’s an official remake of "LUTHER "

Conclusion

Rudra: The Edge of Darkness is a well-crafted remake of the psychological crime thriller 'Luther'. The cast and the engaging storytelling hits the mark. The most appreciated factor of this series is the fantastic performance of Ajay Devgn.

The brilliant supercop Rudra Veer Singh travels through the maze of a psychopath's mind. However, the series stumbles on execution due to its uneven pace, and each episode sees Devgn solving crimes. The first 3 episodes are exciting enough to hold your attention.

The others have delivered good performances as well, but the series is popularly watched by the audience because of the magnetic presence of Ajay Devgn, and his famous portrayal as a cop, which is loved by netizens. The ending gives a slight chance to look forward to the next part.

The web series has received mixed responses, both from the audiences and the critics. The chemistry between the lead actor and Raashi Khanna has also grabbed attention. Those, who have watched the original series on BBC, found it difficult to comprehend it and match its competence with the main one.