If you go through Apoorva Lakhia’s filmography, you will realize the director has a penchant for thrillers and crime based stories. Thus, it comes as no surprise to see him making his digital debut with ‘Crackdown’, a series which deals with a terrorist threat.
Directorate Of Operations (DO) is a wing of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) which deals in covert operations and issues pertaining to the security of the country. The team, which engaged in all field based operations, is led by Riyaaz Pathan (Saqib Saleem), a young and diligent officer who is still traumatized by the kind of experiences he went through when he was held as hostage and tortured by the crooked officers of the enemy country. This time, Riyaaz is dealing with a serious security threat on his country and he has very little time to stop the worst from happening.
With eight episodes with a runtime of approximately 30 minutes each, ‘Crackdown’ offers a plethora of twists and turns along with a bunch of well-choreographed action sequences that keep you invested in it as a viewer. The biggest strength of the show is its pace. Apart from the main plot, it delves into the lives and the background of different characters and that helps you familiarize yourself with them apart from understanding the intent behind their motives. Apoorva Lakhia, who is in familiar territory here, managed to hold the narrative well and lead it towards the culmination in a smooth manner. When one says culmination, one is referring to the culmination of the season and not the conflict one is dealing with here. A major incident takes place in the final episode and one has to wait for the second season to find out where it leads to.
While the narrative is crisp and there are very few dull moments in between, the show does not score very high on novelty value. Many of the twists are interesting but not the kind you have not seen in some film or show earlier. The basic plot is also the kind that has been explored in various formats in the past. A lot of things which happen during the course of the show, like the ease with which a prominent character reaches the ‘safehouse’ in one of the episodes and discovers important information about a covert information, come across as very convenient. Some of the subplots do not work and slow down the narrative.
‘Crackdown’ is a technically sound product. The performances, too, are competent. If you are looking for a show that would offer something fresh or new, this is perhaps not something that would work for you. However, if you are looking for just about entertainment and a well-mounted thriller, you could make time to watch this.