Ajay Devgn's Lalbazaar On Zee5 A Tribute To Kolkata Police

Lalbazaar Rating: 2.5/5

Should someone say Scotland Yard, what comes to your mind would be the UK. However, did you know which police department is known as the Scotland Yard of India? It's the Kolkata police force. So Lalbazaar seems to be a humble tribute to them. Directed by Sayantan Ghosal, Lalbazaar, the latest web series on Zee5 features Sauraseni Maitra, Rob Dey, Subrat Dutta, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Gaurav Chakraborty, Shantilal Mukherjee and Sabyasachi Chakraborty among others. Presented by Ajay Devgn, Lalbazaar Web Series is also dubbed into Tamil, Bangla and Hindi.

Lalbazaar plot: Men in Khakee want to restore Kolkata to its former glory by turning it back into a city of joy. However, all hell breaks loose when a prostitute is murdered. The cops now have to deal with the cold blooded murderers connected to the case. An anonymous man suffocates a prostitute to death after realising she is pregnant. However, the brothel boss tries to disguise the death as suicide. However, the Kolkata police smells a rat and out to find the truth. Do the cops manage to nail the culprits? Watch the web series to find out.

Lalbazaar Review: The plot is there, so is the intent. However, the treatment of the subject is lame. There's a lot happening at the same time and cops have so much in hand so how does the maker expect the series to hold the attention of the viewer. The depiction of Bong sex workers as loud, smokers and drinkers is too stereotyped. Perhaps they wanted every scene in the web series to scream out that this is the heart of Bengal and they achieve their mission in doing so. Hrishita Bhatt gives her best to her role. The cop drama needed a punch which is lacking in the screenplay.

Verdict: Bengalis might find the lanes and bylanes of the city of joy in the web series and a few dialogues closer home, but the web series fails to keep them engaged. But Kolkata Police have something to cheer about. Like the hashtag goes Wait #TillTheEndOfCrime