Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Sobhita Dhulipala, Viineet Kumar Singh, Kirti Kulhari, Jaideep Ahlawat, Sohum Shah, Shishir Sharma and Danish Husain

Director: Ribhu Dasgupta

Rating: **

After "Sacred Games" the demand for Indian content soared and Netflix quickly jumped on the bandwagon. Since 'espionage thriller' is so in, Bilal Siddiqui's novel "Bard Of Blood" was picked for an on-screen adaptation. He wrote it when he was 20, already working on it since he was 17. The ones who haven't read the book don't know what's what, but the series alters several major details and events from the book. And in doing so, it suffers from the inauthenticity of its source material. However, Bard of Blood suffers from several other faults as well.

"Bard of Blood" is the tragic tale of Kabir Anand (Emraan Hashmi), once a spy who now has taken up a teaching job. He is forced to return to his former life after Sadiq Sheikh (Rajit Kapur) his mentor dies. Along with an analyst Isha (Sobhita Dhulipala) and a sleeper agent Veer (Vineet Kumar) he sets off to Balochistan on an "unsanctioned mission" to rescue Indian spies about to be executed.

"Bard of Blood" is bad, and has no right to be an example of content coming out from our country. From its amateur writing to confused direction, it successfully manages to be disappointing in every department. It sees black as black and white as white, leaving you baffled over its inability to present a storyline devoid of utter ignorance. The dialogue is heavily expository and when it's not that, it sounds like random one-liners being mouthed off with no emotion.

Moreover, it shamelessly rip-off action films predecessors in the most unsubtle way. Emraan Hashmi fights off bad guys in a washroom, similar to Tom Cruise in "Mission Impossible: Fallout" with an unbearably shabby camera work marring the experience. The editing feels immensely distracting and let's not even get started with the geographical disinterest. It also touches upon certain themes, which it conveniently disposes of as it moves forward.

Let's get to the performances now, which don't carry the uneven storyline. Emraan Hashmi as Kabir Anand tries his best to rise above the average material but comes off as a little more intense than needed. Sobhita Dhulipala as Isha looks stiff and disinterested, while Vineet Singh coming off as hammy most of the time. And all the characters other than three are nothing but poor, uninteresting caricatures which would bore you to death.

"Bard of Blood" is an action thriller that doesn't take any risks. There's a twist towards the end, but it comes when it is a little too late. Go watch " A Family Man" on Amazon instead.