As the Anil Kapoor produced and helmed 24 draws to a close this weekend, viewers are most likely to feel a tinge of withdrawal symptoms on Friday-Saturday nights.  On  October 4, as it aired for the first time on Colors, viewers who hadn’t watched the American original dram TV series  starring Keifer Sutherland as Jack Bauer, the CTU agent, found Anil Kapoor’s 24 a eyeball full of action from the word – go.

Anil Kapoor was no stranger to 24. In Season 8 of the US original, he played Omar Hassan, a charismatic leader of an Islamic country, who was the prime target before he could sign a peace accord with the US President.  When Anil Kapoor, chose to buy the rights to make a version for India, he chose wisely. As the just concluding 24 has borrowed the storyline from that season; authentically adapting it to current events and history identifiable with India. Yes, we cannot overlook the borrowings from our own first family, its charismatic political heirs and assassination attempt by a terrorist outfit from Sri Lanka. That much for the Indian touch and wardrobe of some characters.  But retained all the elements of the international series, the real-time, pulse-pounding, fast-paced format with split screens and complex interweaving storylines, with 24 episodes capturing 24 hours. 24 has set the benchmark for adaptations.

The casting was so totally complete – handpicked marquee names like Shabana Azmi, Anupam Kher, Mandira Bedi, Rahul Khanna and Anita Raj shared screen space with host of India’s finest actors, hitherto underutilized and acknowledged are  matchless with performances which show   class. Anita Raj’s  return is marked by a very dignified, but commanding matriarchal screen  presence, and a tour de force performance, matching that of Anil Kapoor, Mandira Bedi and Rahul Singh.

But stellar honors go to the scriptwriters  and the technicians. True every single line of the script, storyboard and production design was overseen and approved by the American producers and creators.  The international team’s  involvement   with the making is clearly the raison d’etre why 24 stands head and shoulders above the rest of the indigenous thrillers; and also earlier attempted ‘remakes’ as we call them. This is not a comparison, but the showcase of a hitherto untried production design.

Multi camera set-ups, and the replica of the ATU office,  notwithstanding; the viewer is spell bound for  one-hour of frenetic activity. Multiple screens push the narrative to over-the-edge excitement, episode after episode and segment to segment. The viewer would get breathless with the action, sometimes even jolted off the chair; if you blinked you could miss a subtle touch thanks to the crisp editing and cuts. For instance,  as the terrorists approach their hideout in a darkened alley, a lone stray is the only eyewitness.  This one hour was no way one could settle down with a bowl of chips or a drink lest it spill. The   camerawork calls for attention – it wasn’t just the actors who were moving, but so was the camera, possible with handheld camera work. That added more action to the scene. As did the fast pace, quick cuts and subdued lighting.

The technicians, all  home grown,  were exposed to a more advanced creativity with the technology made available to them. Having worked on 24, the advantage   the crew have stepped into a new horizon.  The fast paced dialogue and action, and the mellow lighting and tones  must have been off-putting for some viewers. As a friend remarked: “It’s all so dark, fast and there is no colour. I couldn’t understand  what was happening.” She has been watching far too many  garishly costumed, brightly lit saas-bahu melodramas; hence 24 was a breathless incomprehensible viewing.

But for the discerning viewer, 24 is the game changer among thrillers and drama series. When’s season 2?