Inspector Zende

Manoj Bajpayee is indeed an effortless craftsman who can pull off any role and this time he plays the role of real-life Inspector Madhukar Zende who caught serial killer Charles Sobhraj.

Manoj Bajpayee's conviction makes this sluggish yet funny film on Charles Sobhraj's arrest work. Give him a script and he'll have you convinced that aliens are running the local paan shop, and you would still be first in line to try it.

The new Netflix film aspires to turn a gory story into a pulp fiction-like narrative but forgets that aspiration midway.

What is so funny about a cop trying to nab a notorious criminal? One would like to ask writer-director Chinmay Mandlekar why he thought it prudent to use the facetious tone of narration for a crime story that shook the world? And why is crime a laughing matter in the first place?

Inspector Zende had the potential to be genuinely entertaining. Instead, it settles for formulaic fun, making it a largely forgettable watch.

At a time when Bollywood theatricality is often used to manipulate history, I’ll take a story that uses clumsy wit to conceal emotions and cultural agendas. Most (inauspicious) days of the week, at least

Muddled history and a parodic tone hamper this new film version of the Charles Sobhraj story.

Mandlekar, the actor who makes his directing debut with this film, treats Zende's best-known exploit like one big joke. The shallow, silly script feels like an early draft, with barely any attention paid to Carl and too much focus on the hunt for him.

Mandlekar introduces observational humour into a police procedural to generate a series of heart-warming moments, making the predictability of the cat-and-mouse game pleasant for a weekend afternoon watch. The good thing is that the makers don't oversell, making one join Inspector Zende in this light-hearted hunt for the Serpent.