Pukaar/Being a hero

Man in uniform : Rannvijay Singh

A father who is left bitter by betrayal; a son suffering in silence; a brother missing under mysterious conditions and a Sanskrit shloka reciting villain — Vipul Amrutlal Shah’s television premiere Pukaar was nothing short of a potboiler. The only difference — 24 one-hour episodes slow down the speed. A rather damp beginning (literally) has ‘superhero’ army man Rajveer Sheirgill (Rannvijay Singh) racing on his bike to rescue school children in a bus held hostage by terrorists. The serial moves to Sheirgill’s hometown where his younger brother, Rahul, is making arrangements for their father Amarjeet Sheirgill’s (Raj Babbar) 60th birthday.
It’s a special occasion and Rahul wants Rajveer to attend but his father bears a grudge against him as he holds Rajveer responsible for Yuvraj, his other son’s death. The celebrations are then marred by Rahul’s mysterious disappearance. The first two episodes lay the foundation of the Sheirgill family — Rajveer’s journalist girlfriend Aarti (Adah Sharma), his uncle Pradhan (Kiran Karmarkar). Rahul comes across a plan to raze the Shivaji Nagar slum to make way for a township for Dhanraj Rastogi (Prashant Narayanan).
The only grey character, so far, has been Pradhan as opposed to Rastogi, who has his phone brought to him on a gold platter. Rannvijay is the brooding macho man who walks into the jaws of danger, knocks out the bad guys, and is here to save the world. Many questions are left unanswered. Where does he get his orders from to rescue children? How does he turn Sherlock and go about investigating his brother’s disappearance?
So what if there are repetitive flashbacks, obvious dialogues and a bit de-spirited acting? Clearly, Shah is in awe of men in uniform and this is Holiday, Force and Commando, all packed into one for the small screen. But that still doesn’t prevent us from looking forward to the next episodes. Till then, we are paying heed to the hero in Pukaar.