Police Police Review: Stale Cop Story, Just for Timepass

BOTTOM LINE
Stale Cop Story, Just for Timepass

PLATFORM
JioHotstar

RUNTIME
1hr 59 mins, 4 Episodes

What Is the Show About?

The series follows the story of an SI Raja and a gambler named Murali, and how they clash and unite for a common purpose later. Giving up his past, Murali seeks redemption by helping Raja solve a crime. After Raja’s aggressive actions in a few cases, his manipulative colleague Vaavar rises to prominence. Meanwhile, Raja tries to reestablish his position by making an offer to Murali to turn a cop.

Performances

Mirchi Senthil does what’s expected of the role – play a rigid, no-nonsense cop with a fixed body language, controlled expressions and yet deliver the needful. Jayasaleen grabs the more playful character with a unique graph, and though the influence of Siva Karthikeyan in the mannerisms is apparent, he lends it enough vibrancy. The scope of Shabanaa Shahjahan remains limited in the early episodes, while Vadivukkarasi and Sujitha are as dependable as ever in key parts.

Analysis

Police Police, as the title suggests, is set in a world of crime, where internal politics within a police station operate amidst several bureaucratic pressures. The story focuses on two subplots – the resurgence of an angry young cop at work, facilitated through the reformation of a gambler. The righteous officer goes by the rulebook while the wastrel’s attempts to find a livelihood bear no fruit.

In the first four episodes, the viewer primarily sees the protagonist, SI Raja, at work. He cracks down on a series of illegal gamblers, bumping into an educated yet laidback youngster, Murali, who vows to change his ways. Murali later surprises Raja by helping him nab a chain-snatcher. Meanwhile, Raja catches hold of a politician’s son at a college for harassing girls, landing him in soup.

Raja’s father is a cop himself and repeatedly pleads with his son to go easy with his profession, take a chill-pill when necessary (advice he obviously doesn’t pay heed to). The only hope in Murali’s life is his mother, a flower-seller in a temple premises, who prays that her son will settle down someday, putting his past behind him. They share a love-hate relationship, but are each other’s lifelines.

For intermittent relief, there are hints of a love track between Murali and a female lawyer Lalithambika; they end up meeting in the most unusual of situations. Raja’s inability to work within a bureaucratic framework paves the way for his colleague Vaavar to grow. Though Raja is on good terms with his (female) superior otherwise, they approach their work differently.

There’s nothing earth-shattering about Police Police as a show. Its idea is simple – it charts the evolution of its contrasting leads through a series of cases. While the plot points are decent, the treatment isn’t exactly fresh or novel. Nevertheless, a neat platform is laid for Raja to find his groove at work and for Murali’s life to change for the better in the later episodes.

It’s interesting to notice that the women play a crucial role in both Murali’s and Raja’s lives. While Raja reports to a woman, who puts him in his place when necessary, Murali’s mother is a firecracker, relentlessly working towards transforming his son. The other woman in the story is also a strong lawyer with a firm mind who doesn’t budge easily.

Police Police yet again proves you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to create anything remotely engaging – all you could do is to bring some familiarity to the proceedings with relatable characters, conflicts and motivations, and not beat around the bush too much with the obvious genre tropes. Though it’s still early days and yet to take off fully, the show remains engaging to an extent.

Music and Other Departments?

James Victor’s catchy title track sets the momentum for the show, even if the background score is generic at best. Coolie Soundherrajan’s cinematography is among the show’s bright spots on the technical front – it may not do anything out of the box, but it does just what’s necessary within the scope of the show. The crisply edited episodes (with a 25-35 minute runtime) help the viewing experience. The writing is just okay, playing around existing tropes, enough to keep one invested.

Highlights?

Crisp episodes

Neat performances

Good characters

Drawbacks?

Superficially entertaining

Lacks any depth

No novelty at all

Did I like it? In parts, but remains watchable

Did I Enjoy It?

In parts, but remains watchable

Will You Recommend It?

If you want something easy and light to kill time

Police Police Series Review by M9