Brown (Season 1)
Introduction
The new Hindi show Brown instantly took me to the 2025 JioHotstar show Search. The parallels are for everyone to see – a female cop driven by trauma is being assigned a case involving a brutal murder of a young girl. And she has a sub-ordinate officer to assist her (incidently essayed by Surya Sharma on both occasions). So immediately, the familiarity of the writing acts as a deterrent to the drama, almost making it a template narrative that is used as a vessel for the investigation to follow. Yet, there is a certain charm to its setting with the dimly lit streets of Kolkata adding its own flavour of mystery and intrigue, much like the setting of Navi Mumbai in Search that had added a new dimension to the proceedings. In fact, the city of Kolkata acts as a mood piece of sorts with its crumbling architecture and shadowy ambience that sets the tone early for the investigation to follow. Like its protagonist, the city also is decaying under the realms of politics and crime, enough to extend its darkness to its characters.
Story & Screenplay
Adapted from the novel City Of Death by Abheek Barua and written by Diggi Sisodia, Mayukh Ghosh and Sunayana Kumari, Brown has a generic template to the characters it wishes to introduce. For instance when you are introduced to the protagonist Rita Brown (Karisma Kapoor), she has a zombie-like demeanor to her character. Struggling from the loss of her husband and her unborn child, she ia going through life on autopilot mode much to the dismay of her mother Janice (Soni Razdan) and her aunt Bertha (Helen Khan). She prefers to roll her own cigarettes while pondering on her life without her husband. An exact replicate of Brown is Arjun (Surya Sharma) – a young cop who is experiencing life trauma himself after having lost his wife and child in an accident, while continuing to stay with his dementia-driven father. So when the investigation centering around the murder of a politician’s daughter come to the fore, it ironically gives them a purpose in solving the case – which itself is a distraction from their usual trauma-induced lives.
The investigation itself is pretty interesting to begin with, given how a parallel flashback at the start of each episode acquaints us to the anatomy of a young mind who would turn out to be a killer. There is an interesting parallel that one can draw with the 2003 Hindi film Baaz: A Bird In Danger (also starring Karisma Kapoor) that followed a similar template of a serial killer narrative. The underlying themes are pretty dark with respect to its suspects – an abusive politician, a s*x addicted stepbrother, an abusive and cheating ex-boyfriend, a best friend involved with the boyfriend of the victim, a gay character involved with his best friend, amongst a few. And the dankness is often a byproduct of certain dynamics in play like the victim being pregnant with the child of her stepbrother.
The stakes in the drama are raised with the onset of another murder that invariably makes this a ‘serial killer’ pattern. And while the investigation has crucial points going in its favour including a proper path being paved to go from point A to point B, the minor issue for me remained on two accounts – one that the drama did get slightly convoluted with the politics in play which itself was surface-level, and second being the sudden cut-aways of subplots involving the family of the two cop protagonists. I would have still let go of this point if the writers had found a way to connect these plot-points to the central investigation. But when that was not to be, it remained a loophole!
The one thing that keeps the drama ticking was the investigation. Yes, the proceedings felt predictable to the core given how things would eventually end up – and the ultimate red-herring being a specific casting choice that made it even more convenient to guess the ultimate murderer. But the path still wasn’t bad while fairly managing to hold your attention. Again, it isn’t ground-breaking in any way but it still scores with its subtext and reasoning – of how women are exploited by men of the society, only for their vulnerable selves to be further exploited by men who usually feel safe at first before showing their true colour. Having said that, the fumble at the end cannot be discounted too – with writing that is convenient and spirally endlessly, without getting to the point quicker. And that sums up the narrative here, that is a mixed bag – the investigation isn’t bad but the tropes are slightly overdone.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are understated and in accordance to the immersive mood created by the setting. The conversational style helps to keep the drama grounded, although there is a slight tendency to spoon-feed the viewers with information as opposed to sticking to the moody tropes. For instance, Kohrra is a great example of fully committing to the latter, something that remained a half-baked affair here. The BGM caters to the mood of the drama pretty well, while creating notes that are intriguing, something that keeps the drama (and the investigation) ticking.
The cinematography comprises of frames that act as a mood piece – with dimly lit streets, or shady bars of Chinatown, or shadowy lights that are witness to the twin murders. There is a well thought-out process to create an ambience of intrigue through its setting that often supersedes the standard characterization, the latter by virue of which affects the emotional core of the drama. But the frames emitting a neo-noir theme through its lighting more than keeps things interesting.
The editing pattern is a little faulty given how there are fleeting moments of lag throughout the narrative. The idea to maintain a mood piece is fine, but the drama is guilty of indulging in its characters and the setting a little too much, so much so that things start to get repetitive. The impact of the drama would have been higher had the editing style been much sharper and crisper to contrive the overall length of the drama.
Director Abhinay Deo does a decent job with its world building and its setting, despite suffering from cliches with his characters. The steady grip on the unfolding investigation remains a key point in maintaining a level of intrigue with the drama. This, even as the direction falters at a few junctures – be it the lags in the middle, or the fumble at the end. I wouldn’t say that I was too distracted during the show, and that basically meant that the direction is satisfactory.
Performances
The performances remain the strongest aspect of the show, even though the writing doesn’t allow every character to fully bloom. The likes of Husne Shabnam as Nisha, Madhumita Das as Roshni, Anurina Mukhopadhyay, Purnendu Bhattacharya as the commissioner, Jagat Rawal and Neha Bam as Mr and Mrs Jain, Latin Ghai as Hemant, Anupam Bhattacharya and Neha Jhulka have their moments to shine. Kenny Basumatary as John John is an intriguing and shady little character that adds a fresh dimension in context to the setting, and Kenny does a fine job here. Meghna Malik as Nonnie and Ajinkya Deo as Dheeraj have underwritten characters, but they still are able to bring a streak of power, intimidation and a dash of hopelessness to their performances.
Leena Lal as Lisa, Pamela Bhutoria as Ananya and Ahalya Shetty as Shefali have wonderful screen presences to boast of, and each of them deliver a commendable act. Vaibhavi Malhotra as Ahana and Jayashree V as Usha showcase the vulnerable side to their personalities with understated and grounded performances that relatively help to elevate the emotional core of the drama. There is also an added layer of intrigue that Vaibhavi brings to the table, given her varied and erratic dynamics with characters around her. It further elevates the mood of thr drama whilr adding a streak of mystery to the proceedings, even as you get to witness the palpable vulnerability of her character. The sense of helplessness is evidently visible through her eyes and expressions.
Aryann Bhowmik as Saikat has a geeky presence with a shady core, and he flaunts this trait pretty well to add to the intrigue in the drama. Paresh Pahuja as Sanjay has a sinister presence to his aura, exploiting the dark shades of his character with ease, while putting forth a rather intimidating act. In fact, both these characters have a shady undertone that is well exploited, wherein both characters leave a mark. Jisshu Sengupta as Sandeep offers a sense of calmness to the proceedings, while managing to impress.
Soni Razdan as Janice and Helen Khan as Aunt Bertha often share a playful banter that works in isolation, given the immaculate skillset of the two performers. Be it the playful banter, or a worrying discussion about the future of their daughter – both of them wonderfully engage the viewers with their exchanges. In the same breath, KK Raina as Sukumar also scores well, being affected by dementia but still prompting his son to piece together a puzzle linked to his past. The grounded nature of his act is a sight to behold. Shaan as Nitin is seen in flashes, and he does a fairly sincere job here.
Surya Sharma is an extremely talented performer, and as Arjun, he uses his wonderfully expressive eyes to great effect in showcasing his vulnerability. And while his character reminded me of ACP Jai Kanwal from the show Search (also essayed by him) – there is a slightly deeper purpose here in terms of the trauma erupting from a sense of loss, while using the investigation as a medium of escapism. Surya also uses his poker-faced expressions and a commanding body language to good use, while putting forth a solid act.
Karisma Kapoor as Rita Brown is in top form here, while managing to leave a mark as the trauma-driven cop. In fact, she remains pretty similar to the character of Arjun minus the prevalence and the perks of patriarchy enjoyed by her male counterpart. And yet from a moral standpoint, her character remains in check – often using her vulnerability as a fuel to crack the investigation. This remains a wonderfully controlled performance that steers the drama tk safety, even with the standard tropes of her characterization threaten to lower the impact of her character. She was brilliant as ever while putting forth a commendable act.
Conclusion
Brown plays strictly by the thriller rulebook, using standard tropes that keep it from being truly groundbreaking. However, a highly intriguing, moody setting coupled with a strong cast keeps the investigation engaging. It remains a predictable but decent thriller that makes for a perfectly satisfactory watch. Available on Zee5.