Brown Review: Engaging!

Karisma Kapoor makes a powerful return to the screen in Brown, a compelling series, applauds Deepa Gahlot.

If it weren’t for OTT, a lot of semi-retired actresses would not have gotten to headline web series. There is, however, a tendency to slot them as cops, so that it looks like if an actress has not played a sullen police officer in the Mare Of Easttown mould, she hasn’t got a complete filmography.

Brown brings back Karisma Kapoor, who, at this stage of her career, is able to shed heroine vanity and play a cop, dressed in drab male outfits, and a permanent frown.

It is almost an unwritten rule that most television detectives have to be ‘troubled’ in some way. Rita Brown is still mourning a lost love years later, is an alcoholic and chain-smoker of hand-rolled cigarettes.

A Slick Kolkata Procedural

That out of the way, the series, directed by Abhinay Deo, is based on Abhik Barua’s book’s City Of Death, and developed by Suri Gopalan. It is a slick police procedural, set in Kolkata.

Brown moves at an unhurried pace, stopping to capture faces, listening to music (Gaurav Chatterji), going into those gorgeous mansions as well as the dinghy alleyways of ChinaTown. In the book, the character was not Anglo Indian, like Rita Brown in this show.

That adds a little hint of the lifestyle of the community in Kolkata, represented by Rita, her mother Janice (Soni Razdan) and Aunt Bertha (lovely to see Helen on screen), who makes ginger wine and has a profile in a dating app.

The Gruesome Case Unfolds

When Brown opens, it is amidst the chaos and noise of Durga Puja, when a young woman is hog-tied and beheaded. To digress a little, it is disconcerting to see such graphic violence on screen, particularly in a home entertainment medium.

Also, it may not be the intention to denigrate women, but to show a serial killer judging them and selecting them for killing is such a dangerous cliché that it should be dropped from crime shows.

The woman, who is murdered in this grisly manner (Rita is stoic while a male cop throws up), is Ahana (Vaibhavi Malhotra), the daughter of the wealthy Jaiswal family, estranged from them — the arrogant father Dheeraj (Ajinka Deo), shell-shocked mother (Meghna Malik), step brother Sanjay (Paresh Pahuja) and his disgruntled wife Ananya (Pamela Bhutoria).

Rita’s Battle Against Corruption and Personal Demons

Rita is called back from cop exile — she is a maverick the top brass resent — at the chief minister’s behest. Assisting her is Arjun Sinha (Surya Sharma), who unlike male colleagues in some other shows, has no problem working with a woman.

In fact, he respects her and at one point, sticks his neck out for her.

The series goes into his life as well: He lost his wife and daughter in an accident for which he feels guilty, and lives with his father (K K Raina), who is sliding into dementia.

Rita’s mother shows concern for her 45-year-old daughter’s angst by trying to feed her, while the non-nonsense cop lives on cigarettes and coffee.

There is pressure to close the high profile case, even if it means arresting the wrong person. When Rita protests, she is pushed out of the case into an inconsequential women’s grievance cell that nobody really cares about.

She is excoriated by the media for being ’emotionally unstable’ and her past dragged out, while her career is almost destroyed. When another case with the same modus operandi turns up, the tide turns again in Rita’s favour.

Unravelling the Mystery

Deo and his writers (Diggi Sisodia, Sunayana Kumar, Mayukh Ghosh) allow Rita and Arjun to unravel the case gradually, working around the corruption in the force, and the secrets the Jaiswals are trying to conceal.

There is legwork, and connecting the dots, as possible suspects pop up, like Ananya’s cheating boyfriend, her best friend, and possibly someone within the family.

A friendly psychiatrist (Jisshu Sengupta) offers comments and guidance as Rita struggles with her addiction and her obsession with the case. The pace is not break neck, but the suspense is maintained almost till the end.

The series is visually engaging (shot by Amogh Deshpande) and performances are top notch.

Karisma Kapoor plays Rita Brown with empathy, even though she is made to look unsmilingly resolute at all times. In one scene, when she actually laughs, everybody around her is startled.

Surya Sharma manages to soften his macho appearance with emotional vulnerability and the two of them make a good team.

Hopefully, Rita Brown will return in another season. She deserves it.

Brown streams on Z5.