I seriously wanted to dislike Rosshan Andrrews’ adaptation of his Malayalam film Mumbai Police for what the writers have done to the original in the second half. A key gay character’s dark secret has been completely wiped out and replaced—and here comes the surprise—replaced by a much more profound dilemma of social approbation and individual conscience.

In the second half, there is a defining sequence where the untameable cop Dev Ambre (Shahid Kapoor) tells his copy-buddy Rohan D’Silva (Pavail Gulatie) why he did what he did. It is the moment that will be flashed on screen if and when Shahid Kapoor gets a lifetime achievement award.

It is strange and saddening how most fellow critics have missed the combustive, compelling adaptive modes applied by screenwriter Bobby-Sanjay along with Abbas Dalal, Hussain Dalal, Arshad Syed, and Sumit Arora into the distinctive invigorating Hindi adaptation.

The adaptation boasts...