Even if it wasn’t as flawed as it is, Bard of Blood would still be disappointing. It never rises above the level of a typical Indian spy thriller, unintentionally bringing to mind the Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif-helmed flicks of recent years. Directed by Ribhu Dasgupta (Teen) and produced by Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, it plods along from checkpoint to checkpoint as it delves into the uneven espionage story.
Kabir Anand (Emran Hashmi) is a retired spy who spends his days teaching Literature to school kids. However, he is soon pulled back into spycraft when the Taliban capture four Indian intelligence agents. Kabir embarks on a dangerous, unsanctioned mission with two others, analyst Isha Khanna (Sobhita Dhulipala) and undercover agent Veer (Vineet Kumar Singh), travelling to Balochistan to rescue the agents.
The series has been adapted from a novel of the same name, written by Bilal Siddiqui when he was still twenty years old and a college student. At times, the story is cartoonish, painting the antagonists in broad strokes that leaves little room for grey shades. The fictionalized leader of the Taliban, for instance, is also an unrepentant pedophile.
While the three main characters spend a lot of time with each other, there’s little progress made in the way of character development.
Hashmi has to cycle through expressions of frustration, pained anguish and outrage, whereas Dhulipala appears mostly disinterested throughout the story. An early thread about sexism in the spy industry is soon discarded, and most of what Isha does is simply call her IT asset, Nihal, to do things for her. Singh, on the other hand, sometimes goes overboard with his delivery.
It’s remarkable how, despite making mistake after mistake, things tend to go the right way for our heroes. It helps that their enemies are even more blunderous than they are. In most cases, our heroes get away with barely a scratch. And then there’s all the exposition: at times, characters blurt out facts that the people around them already know.
There’s an unnecessary romance thread, invented exclusively for the show, where Kabir tries to reconnect with old flame Jannat Mari (Kirti Kulhari). Kulhari plays part competently enough, but she is soon ‘fridged’ by the villain to draw even more anguish out of Hashmi.
Even at the best of times, Bard of Blood’s narrative is messy.
Its narrative strikes with the bluntness of a hammer, and the head trauma one gets from trying to make much sense of the convoluted story is unnecessary. The constant Pakistan bashing also feels tacked on.
Bard of Blood is a disappointing result, considering the pedigree of most parties involved. The first season ends in a cliffhanger, and it falls on the inevitable second season to make up for the sins of this season. This is no Sacred Games: it’s painfully average, and riddled with a messy narrative. The homages to Shakespeare feel like a weak attempt to lend the story an air of gravitas. If you are thinking of watching this or The Family Man, then don’t waste your brain cells on this. There are far more productive uses of your time.