Brown series review: Karisma Kapoor is raw in this slow burn that tests your patience

OTT and crime dramas have become almost synonymous. Karisma Kapoor, who once said in an interview that she was enjoying life away from the spotlight, chose to return with Abhinay Deo’s Brown. The eight-episode web series comes with dark visuals, a mystery to solve, and a police officer haunted by emotional trauma. The script feels familiar; it’s a formula we have seen countless times.

The only differences are the cast, the location, and the dialogue, of course. But the core remains the same. And Karisma’s new show has all of it. So what makes Brown different? That depends on the viewer’s patience. If you connect with it, you will sit through all eight episodes. If not, the first episode alone might be heavy enough to make you pause and walk away. Despite that, I watched the entire show. Here’s the good, the bad, and the neutral.

Brown: What is the show about?

Based on Abheek Barua’s book City of Death, the show centres on Rita Brown, played by Karisma Kapoor. She was once the best cop in Kolkata. But after a personal tragedy, she’s now an alcoholic living in silence, carrying her grief with her. She’s pulled back into the police world to solve the brutal murder of a young girl. The victim is the daughter of an influential businessman who controls much of the city. Rita is paired with Inspector Arjun Sinha, who has his own personal baggage. As they dig into the murder, they peel back layers of a corrupt system and dark family secrets.

Brown: The dark world of sadness

The colour brown is formed when bright shades are dulled with darker tones, letting the shadows take over. That’s exactly how Abhinay Deo crafts the world of Brown. Set in Kolkata, a city known for its vibrancy, the show lets darkness lead. The show runs on the pillars of sadness, grief, and mystery. So while you are watching Rita and her partner solve the murder, your attention is not on the case. Instead, it gets swept up in her sadness, her trauma, and the question of what happened to her that turned her into a loner and an alcoholic.

Rita’s character is so consumed by sadness that it starts to weigh on you as a viewer. You do feel empathy for her, but the sadness is so overwhelming that it pushes past the point of connection. The show is dark, with everything you have probably seen before in the neo-noir crime world, a sad protagonist, a brutal murder, an antagonist, and the culprits that takes all the attention and torture from the police. So most of the show does not feel new or exciting.

Karisma Kapoor's still from Brown Photograph: (Zee5)

What works and what doesn't?

The answer to that is patience. If you’re someone who can pause, step away, and come back to a show, Brown might work for you. But for binge-watchers, it’s not an easy one-sitting watch. At the start, the show sticks to its plot. The first two episodes are genuinely interesting. But as the story moves forward, so many new characters are introduced that it becomes hard to focus on any one of them. Another drawback was the heavy use of Bengali. I enjoyed the music, and the rap part. But if the dialogue had been limited a bit, it would have been easier for viewers who don’t speak the language.

Still of Surya Sharma from Brown Photograph: (Zee5)

However, what makes you stick with the show is the way the story is told. Each episode begins with a brief backstory of a character, often a young boy. It’s an intriguing way to tease what’s coming next, and all this with Amogh Deshpande’s cinematography, which captures the tone of the situation perfectly. But after the fourth episode, the story derails, and it becomes tough to stay focused. While you are trying to follow a boyfriend subplot, a political angle suddenly appears. Then the police start investigating someone’s past, but whose past? The scenes aren’t well assembled, so it gets confusing to track what’s happening and when. For example, Sanjay, played by Paresh Pahuja, enters with intrigue, but his character is never fully explored. Too many threads end on an unfinished note.

What about the performance?

Karisma steps into a never-before-seen avatar. She plays the role with raw honesty, and surprisingly, she suits up in the role of Rita; nothing about her feels forced, not even when she lights a cigarette. Surya Sharma is excellent as Inspector Arjun. Paheh’s character has potential but gets sidelined. Jisshu Sengupta is wasted in a role that adds nothing but the star value. Helen and Soni Razdan add a little light to this dark world, perhaps as a metaphor for how family can be a source of happiness and light when everything else feels bleak and dark.

Abhinay Deo crafts Brown as a slow burn that tests your patience. If you get past that, then this show is for you.

Brown is streaming on Zee5