Will Ajay Devgn's digital debut Rudra truly delve into the 'Edge of Darkness' that made Idris Elba's Luther popular?

Ajay Devgn enters streaming domain this week with the psychological crime thriller series _Rudra: The Edge Of Darkness_. It is officially adapted from the BBC drama Luther, starring Idris Elba. If you have watched the original, you would know that ‘gruesome’ is probably an understatement for a lot of what goes on in the show.

Devgn’s Rudra, too, has revealed sombre notes in the trailer, though the actor says the mood of his show is different than that of Luther.

Elba’s outing as John Luther is a detective chief inspector [DCI] in the UK’s Metropolitan Police Service, who constantly battles inner demons. It is a screen avatar that saw him enjoy global popularity over five seasons. On his part, Devgn, during the publicity campaign in the run-up to the release, has insisted that the tone of his character and reimagination will vary when compared to what Elba and John Luther’s world stood for. “Why should it be at par? This show is about a different kind of action. There is a lot of drama and thrill. The action is in the script. The twists and turns make this show very interesting. I hope it is better than the original,” the actor asserts when the question of comparison arises, according to a News18 report.

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The essence of his protagonist Rudraveer Singh, Devgn has suggested, lies in outplaying the mind games of master criminals and psychopaths without resorting to violence. “Rudra is a smart cop who uses his impeccable mind skills to stay ahead of criminals,” the actor explains. ANI further reports that Devgn has stated the “show depicts a very different kind of action. It has more drama, suspense,n and thrill for the audience”.

Luther, available for streaming in India on Amazon Prime Video, has carved a niche fan base in the country. Given its extreme sexual and violent content that includes graphic bloodshed and torture scenes, the show is not surprisingly rated ‘A’ for OTT viewing in India. Filmmakers here are wary that going extreme with violence or sexual content is often met with half-hearted or cold reception in the domestic market. The Luther brand of psychopathic violence or explicit sexual display might work with selective audience in India, but would be a no-no for the wider viewer base that a Bollywood superstar needs to reach out to.

Not surprisingly, Devgn’s insistence — that Rudra “doesn’t feel the need to use violence as a weapon” and “instead is analytical and puts details first” — seems to be an assurance that his remake tones down the shocking bits in order to accommodate the desi palate.

Rather, the psychological trait of Luther that became immensely popular, and that the publicity blitz around Devgn’s show has highlighted is that the character has the “mind of a criminal,” which lets him nab the culprits. The interesting bit is that the particular character trait is not wholly a new concept in the realm of Indian OTT.

Kunal Kemmu as special crimes detective Abhay Pratap Singh in the ZEE5 series Abhay has, over two seasons, already played out a protagonist who vaguely answers to that character description. In Abhay, Kemmu’s character is an investigating officer who thinks like a criminal to crack the grisly cases he sets out to solve.

Devgn’s Rudra, of course, falls back on the cushion of a bigger budget than Abhay, and is mounted on a more expansive canvas. Shots across 70 locations including Mumbai, Rudra is being touted as one of the most ambitious crime shows ever produced in India. Abhay is currently readying for a third season sometime later this year, and the success that the show has seen over two seasons would come as some sort of an assurance for Rudra makers.

To Devgn’s advantage, his screen image as a brooding action hero should work seamlessly while setting up the psychologically tormented crime-busting genius. The template set by John Luther, as a law keeper who is devastated by the horrific misdemeanours he has to handle in the course of his workday, is one that easily draws fan sympathy.

What makes John Luther remarkable, in this context, is the moral dilemma that his character sets up as he goes about trying to thwart dangerous crime. As five seasons of the original BBC series played out, questions over right and wrong pertained not only to the antagonists but also the protagonist. For John Luther, the deeper query beneath his bloody adventures has always been about whether he is merely a smart cop busting evil or at the same time, a toxic force that threatens to destroy everyone around him, including family and friends. This moral dilemma about Luther, as a character and a concept, has thrived on Christian symbolism too. The name John Luther has obvious Biblical connotation. Plenty of other characters, including Ruth Wilson’s brilliant psychopath Alice Morgan, have revealed allegorical contexts.

It is an approach that gave Luther a new twist of ambition as a cult show, at the same time expanding its universal appeal. In India, however, few mainstream thrillers work on rendering such deeper context to story and characters. Rudra director Rajesh Mapuskar would be pushing the envelope if he manages to insert symbolism beyond the criminal thrills he will try to set up through his storytelling.

Right now, the focus of Indian films and shows, especially the ones made in Hindi, seems to be on catering content that has a socio-cultural message for the audience. It is something that the world of an emotionally vulnerable but mentally sharp crime-fighting hero would accommodate. The world of Rudraveer Singh, beyond serving up hopefully engaging suspense drama, is guaranteed to try creating room for comments that aim at starting the odd societal conversation.

But would that be enough to set apart Rudra: The Edge Of Darkness as something distinct? Or would the makers be content churning out a show that will, in retrospect, be recalled as Ajay Devgn’s OTT debut and little else, one that grazed the edge of darkness instead of truly delving into it?

Rudra: The Edge of Darkness will premiere on Disney+ Hotstar this Friday on 4 March.

Vinayak Chakravorty is a senior film critic, columnist, and film journalist based in Delhi-NCR.

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