Inspector Zende - A missed chance to be a desi Pink Panther

Inspector Zende

Hindi - Comedy
112 mins
Netflix

Inspector Zende is based on the true story of the policeman who caught the infamous Charles Sobhraj not once, but twice! Writer-director Chinmay Mandlekar attempts to retell this cat-and-mouse story in a comedic way. The effort is earnest, the actors give it a shot too, but the film ends up stranded in no man’s land — neither silly or slapstick enough to be a comedy, nor thrilling or layered enough to be a cop drama. The result: a decent watch, but a bit of a slog, honestly.

One fine morning, Inspector Zende (Manoj Bajpayee) is standing in line for milk, when he hears on radio that Carl Bhojraj (Jim Sarbh) has escaped from Tihar Jail. He drops everything and rushes to his station, waiting for a phone call from his boss, DGP Purandhare (Sachin Khedekar). Except…the telephone is dead. A technician eventually fixes it, and Zende is finally summoned, as he expected. This whole sequence, meant to be slapstick, drags on for 10–12 minutes and you just get the sense of what is to follow.

Over the next 100-odd minutes, Zende relies on guile and his experience to assemble a crew of Pandus (slang for Mumbai police) for a “secret mission” to apprehend Carl Bhojraj, who’s lying low in Goa, scamming and killing people for passports so he can flee to America. Zende’s crew includes a bumbling constable Patil, Inspector Jacob (who never smiles), an officer from accounts named Patekar, a konkani speaking Naik and a couple more. On paper, this gang of misfits had the potential to make for plenty of bumbling laugh, though barring a few one-off moments, it just does not land.

The more pleasant moments come in Zende’s scenes with his wife Vijaya (the delightfully sweet Girija Oak), whose presence adds the warmth to the proceedings. Sachin Khedekar is fine but caught between being poker-faced funny and genuinely sincere. Jim Sarbh, is a great choice as the suave lady-killer. He looks good, charms easily, and nails those accent switches with style.

Manoj Bajpayee, brings all the sincerity that he can to Zende. He does his best to elevate the film into something just about watchable. Credit to him for pushing past weak material and trying hard to make if funny, even if he ultimately comes off as a low-key Shrikant Tiwari (The Family Man). I was left wishing the film had leaned more fully into its intent — our own desi Pink Panther (a la Peter Sellers). Instead, it settles for being a regular cops-and-robbers drama, with more galoch than gaali, and far too little guffaw.