There is something oddly comforting about seeing Karisma Kapoor refuse nostalgia. At a time when many stars from the ’90s are carefully protecting their legacy with glamorous cameos and feel-good roles, Karisma does the exact opposite. In Brown, she is exhausted, chain-smoking, emotionally fractured, carrying enough guilt to sink an entire city. She looks tired. She sounds tired. And for perhaps the first time in years, she feels real.
Directed by Abhinay Deo, the Zee5 series opens with the brutal murder of a wealthy young woman in Kolkata. Soon another body appears. The killings are ritualistic, unsettling, and point towards a serial killer operating with frightening precision. But unlike most crime dramas that become obsessed with clues and twists, Brown seems far more interested in the broken people trying to solve the mystery than the mystery itself.
AT A GLANCE:
- Film: Brown (Zee5)
- Director: Abhinay Deo
- Producers: Zee5 Studio, Umesha Kumar Bansal
- Cast: Karishma Kapoor, Jissu Sengupta, Shaan
- Rating: ★★★☆☆
The Cast
Karisma plays Rita Brown, a police officer battling alcoholism, trauma and the ghosts of a past she cannot outrun. The character could easily have become another familiar “damaged cop” stereotype. Instead, Karisma strips away every ounce of vanity. There are no grand hero moments here. Rita limps through life, makes mistakes and constantly feels like she is one bad day away from collapse. It is easily one of the strongest performances of Karisma’s career.
Kolkata is not merely the backdrop. It becomes a character. The city isn’t romanticised with yellow taxis, Howrah Bridge montages and endless rosogollas. Instead, it is wet, dimly lit and heavy with secrets. Narrow lanes, ageing mansions and rain-soaked streets create an atmosphere that feels closer to Nordic noir than postcard Calcutta. Perhaps after Vidya Balan starrer Kahaani (2012), Brown has made the most of the potential the city holds cinematically in a thriller.
The supporting cast quietly elevates every scene. Jisshu Sengupta brings his trademark restraint, while Soni Razdan adds emotional depth whenever she appears. Spot Bollywood singer Shaan in the series if you can; he does decent too. Even the smaller characters seem to carry invisible emotional baggage, reinforcing the series’ larger theme that grief is contagious.
The cinematography embraces darkness without becoming visually exhausting. Shadows aren’t merely aesthetic choices; they become emotional spaces where every character hides something. The background score wisely avoids melodrama, allowing silence to become one of the series’ most effective storytelling tools.
That said, Brown is not a binge-watch in the conventional sense. It moves deliberately. Sometimes too deliberately. Those expecting relentless action or constant plot twists may find themselves impatient. The series often pauses to examine emotional wounds rather than chase the next suspect. Certain episodes could have benefited from tighter editing, and there are stretches where the investigation loses momentum under the weight of personal trauma.
Brown is ultimately asking a different question. Not “Who is the killer?” But “How much pain can a person carry before they stop recognising themselves?”
In an OTT landscape overflowing with crime thrillers trying desperately to shock audiences, Brown chooses melancholy over spectacle. It trusts viewers to sit with uncomfortable emotions instead of racing towards easy answers.
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