24: Exactly the thing that was missing from Indian television.

            Anil Kapoor's "24" comes in just in time to save Indian television from a drought of an action packed thriller and provides a much needed break from the dreadfully boring days of Saas-Bahu conflicts shown on the small screen as it brings a world of classy production values and mature performances unknown to Indian television.

  

                  The eight episodes, which have been aired till now have proved to be instant showstoppers. Like the show's agile energetic anti-terror hero, there is not an ounce of flab in the hour-long playing time of "24". 

               Rensil D'Silva and Bhavani Iyer's writing is topnotch. While retaining the looming suspense and the breakneck narrative speed of the original American series, the writers have created space for the very peculiar cultural compulsions of urban India where the householder must balance the demands of his posh job with family obligations. 

               The lead Anil Kapoor has shown his fantastic ability as an actor by displaying the range of his performing abilities from the RD of "Race 2" on the 70mm screen to the mature panther-like agility of a family man coping with a national crisis ATU chief Jai Singh Rathore in "24" on the portable screen. It's like a dream role for any actor and one into which Anil sinks his teeth with restrained relish. 56 year old Anil Kapoor's action performance looks comparable to any young actor doing similar scenes. 

                  Nowhere does he over-do the bravura, even in that intrinsically cocky sequence where he injects glucose into his insufferable senior pretending it would kill the boor in seconds. It just made the audience lol and understand the strength of ATU chief Jai Singh Rathore.

                 Though the lead star says it is a show beyond TRP or TVT, I am pretty sure that it will create new records. In my personal opinion it has proved itself better than any movie that is out in the theatre and trust me, it is going to take a lot of persuasive powers from filmmakers to drag viewers out of their homes on Friday and Saturday nights until the rest of the 16 episodes are aired.