Netflix’s Bard of Blood Review: Captivating from Start to Finish!

Produced by Red Chillies Entertainment, Netflix’s 2019 original, Bard of Blood stars Emraan Hashmi, Sobhita Dhulipala and Vineet Kumar Singh in the lead roles. The series is based on Bilal Siddiqi’s espionage novel of the same name and centres around an undercover agent and a large Taliban group based in Pakistan. Coming off the success of the widely controversial second season of Sacred Games, this Netflix Original carried ample amounts of expectations from the viewers and also the people who were fans of the novel. However, did it skim over the sky-high expectations and is entertaining all along? Yes! I would say so!

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Set in Balochistan and the hilly terrain areas of Pakistan (at least in theory), the storyline of Bard of Blood kicks off when four Indian agents get captured by a Taliban group which is on the rims of advancing a ‘Holy War.’ Upon hearing the news and getting no help from his higher officials, Sadiq Sheikh (Rajit Kapur) reaches out to Kabir Anand (Emraan Hashmi), a former RAW agent.

And, despite the delay, Kabir joins hands with Isha Khanna (Sobhita Dhulipala), an analyst and sleeper agent Veer Singh (Vineet Kumar) to go on an unsanctioned operation to rescue the agents. The remainder of this seven-episode explores the unfortunate tales of this covert mission and the internal disputes between different groups in Pakistan.

With limited screentime and a lot to get through, one of the primary upsides of Bard of Blood is that it wastes no time in developing the storyline. Right from the beginning, the narrative keeps moving and does a decent enough job to adapt and interweave itself into diverse storylines which helps the narrative sneak up from point A to point B. Although the overall premise felt pretty straightforward at the beginning, the subplots and the deviations helped the series remain captivating inside and out. Equivalently, the serious tone and the dusty terrain outlook complimented the storyline even better and made the show look legit.

As far as the screenplay goes, creators Bilal Siddiqi and Gaurav Verma had done a tremendous job by maintaining a swift pace through and through. Every dialogue and most of the scenes demand your attention as I occasionally found myself watching the same scene twice to get a hold of the happenings. However, this might also be a drawback of the entire series as details, and significant information passes by at breakneck speed. Maybe too much at times which might result in you getting lost in the shuffle.

Moving on to the characters and the performances, also one of the positives facets of the show is it’s leading man, Emraan Hashmi. His character had depth, was illustrated with a brief backstory and had a good enough reason to join this rather high-risk mission. Hashmi’s top-class performance, in an avatar we, are not accustomed to watching, and the seriousness he brought to his role is commendable.

Regarding the remaining two leads, Sobhita Dhulipala’s character is by and large one-note and lacked any sort of development. Although she impresses with her stellar performance and looks qualified for the role, I couldn’t get behind her motivations altogether. Similar to Sobhita, Vineet Kumar also suffers from minimal to zero character moments and made the best use of what he’s offered. On the more impressive side of things, Kirti Kulhari plays a significant role in the series and her interaction scenes with Hashmi worked and offered a refreshing vibe to the narrative.

Technically and on a production standpoint, Bard of Blood looked grand and imposing. The cinematography by Chirantan Das and the drone shots overlooking the leviathan mountain areas looked and were presented incredibly on-screen. The fitting locations and the production design also helped the technical team put together a visually striking image which made the viewer believe in this terrorist filled world.

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Nonetheless, Bard of Blood is overall an entertaining watch which keeps you engaged from start to finish. Hashmi’s noteworthy performance and the captivating storyline which keeps moving on a rapid pace are worthy enough to give this show a chance despite its glaring flaws. Yet another satisfactory addition to the Netflix Indian Originals library.

Rating – 3.25/5 | Grade – B

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