Entertainment Review: Kartavya

It’s an OTT formula– small town, unchecked corruption, cop caught in a whirlwind.

In director Pulkit’s earlier show, Bhakshak, it was a crusading journalist, who shows what one person with a spine can achieve.  The new Netflix show, Kartavya, is more about personal conscience-awakening. The cop protagonist, Pawan (Saif Ali Khan) lives happily in Jhamli town with his wife (Rasika Dugal), son (Swastik Bhagat) and father (Zakir Hussain). There is a brother, Deepak (Saurabh Abrol), who later throws the family into a crisis.

When the film opens, Pawan had barely celebrated his birthday, when a journalist is killed on his watch. She had come to Jhamli to investigate allegations of child abuse against a local godman, Anand Shri (Saurabh Dwivedi), who has cops and powerful people on his payroll.

Pawan has been blissfully unaware of,  or wilfully  ignorant about, the suspicious goings- on in the ashram. His own father is a devotee. It is no secret that Anand Shri used one of his juvenile charges to carry out the killing, but nobody, not even Pawan’s boss, Keshav (Manish Chaudhri), dares point a finger at the godman.

The boy, Harpal (a terrific Yudhvir Ahlawat), escapes from the clutches of Anand Shri’s men. When Pawan and his loyal deputy (Sanjay Mishra) find him, the cop wants to protect the child, against all odds.

Running parallel to the case, is the elopement of Pawan’s brother with a girl from another caste. With a chilling cruelty, the town’s Khap Panchayat condemns the young couple to death. They actually have on call an executioner who specialises in murdering  recalcitrant couples, while the law looks the other way. But the boy’s father is adamant about carrying out the punishment himself, to save the honour of his family and community.

The show has a stellar cast, and the right intention to berate the bigotry and cowardice of a society that allows men Anand Shri to flourish and a hideous caste system to exist, but it also lacks the menace and high drama the subject requires.

Anand Shri is supposedly evil, but, unlike, say the cult leader in Maharaj, he doesn’t exude the kind of charisma that commands the fear and faith of his followers.

Pawan is, kind of, wishy-washy till he is thrown into the deep end, and then suddenly acquires the wiles to deal with the situation, rediscovering his sense of duty (kartavya), so to speak. Saif Ali Khan, too urbane for the part, still manages the rustic accent and rough demeanor required of the character, in a role that Ajay Devgn would wear like second skin.