Really loved this TV Show, good acting by all the actors specially Emraan Hashmi doing a really good job.
Entertaining till the end and will keep you engaged through out.
I think Bollywood movies should learn a lot from a tv show like this which shows no nonsensical drama to keep you engaged.
Beautiful screen play, Action-filled, suspenseful and a step forward to the level of Hollywood tv shows such as Homeland and Jack Ryan.
441 Reviews
Interesting espionage thriller from India.....
s327616925 October 2019
I have had little exposure to Indian cinema but if Bard of Blood is anything to go by, that may change.
This is a competent and well paced espionage thriller that predictably is nationalistic in character but not so much so, that its overbearing. Its cause is helped by a reasonable, if formulaic story and lots of action, in all the right places.
On the downside there are subs but really, I did not find this a substantial impediment, as a decent amount of this series runs on action and visuals.
All in all, a worthwhile watch that's accessible to a wide audience. 7/10.
This is a competent and well paced espionage thriller that predictably is nationalistic in character but not so much so, that its overbearing. Its cause is helped by a reasonable, if formulaic story and lots of action, in all the right places.
On the downside there are subs but really, I did not find this a substantial impediment, as a decent amount of this series runs on action and visuals.
All in all, a worthwhile watch that's accessible to a wide audience. 7/10.
Good but not great!
rathirishabh9327 September 2019
Bard of Blood is a political espionage thriller that is based on a book with the same name by Bilal Siddiqi.
Produced by SRK's Red Chiilies Entertainment, this Netflix original stars Emraan Hashmi in the lead role supported beautifully by Vineet Singh, Sobhita Dhulipala, Jaideep Ahlawat and others.
The story is good however, the execution is not very great. It has been shot delightfully even though the narrative is confusing for some parts. A surprise element towards the end saves it for the otherwise lack of grip in the script. The hand to hand combat sequences are nice though. I, for some reason binge watched the whole season that has 7 episodes of 45 min each.
Emraan Hashmi is a great actor and he carries himself nicely as Kabir Anand (I wonder why every other spy is called by this name). Sobhita Dhulipala is equally good while Vineet Singh struggles a bit with the Punjabi accent but is good overall. The rest of the cast is on point.
Had there been a less convoluted transition of events, this would have been at par with the other series, say "The Family Man". It is good if not great!
Produced by SRK's Red Chiilies Entertainment, this Netflix original stars Emraan Hashmi in the lead role supported beautifully by Vineet Singh, Sobhita Dhulipala, Jaideep Ahlawat and others.
The story is good however, the execution is not very great. It has been shot delightfully even though the narrative is confusing for some parts. A surprise element towards the end saves it for the otherwise lack of grip in the script. The hand to hand combat sequences are nice though. I, for some reason binge watched the whole season that has 7 episodes of 45 min each.
Emraan Hashmi is a great actor and he carries himself nicely as Kabir Anand (I wonder why every other spy is called by this name). Sobhita Dhulipala is equally good while Vineet Singh struggles a bit with the Punjabi accent but is good overall. The rest of the cast is on point.
Had there been a less convoluted transition of events, this would have been at par with the other series, say "The Family Man". It is good if not great!
Full of action
satishsuroshe28 September 2019
Have many flaws but still good to watch..
abasishbehera28 September 2019
Location Killed it. Like the Guns killing each and one.
filmsmahakal28 September 2019
Hashmi shines in a topnotch spy thriller series.
Tejas_Vinda_AITS27 September 2019
Netflix series Bard of Blood, based on a novel of the same name by Bilal Siddiqi.
The series, however, succeeds in showing us the human side of spies.
The biggest achievements and sacrifices made by spies generally go unnoticed by the people of the country.
Watching Bard of Blood one not only gets an idea about every aspect of their lives..,, but there is much more to it.
Story revolves around terrorism in Balochistan, pakistan & Taliban.
Emraan Hashmi leads from the front, n he gets here a good script after long time.
Overall, Bard of Blood is a topnotch thriller series based on well-researched subject that touches to the time we live in.
If you like spy thrillers then Bard of Blood is something that you dont want to miss.
One time watch for sure.
The series, however, succeeds in showing us the human side of spies.
The biggest achievements and sacrifices made by spies generally go unnoticed by the people of the country.
Watching Bard of Blood one not only gets an idea about every aspect of their lives..,, but there is much more to it.
Story revolves around terrorism in Balochistan, pakistan & Taliban.
Emraan Hashmi leads from the front, n he gets here a good script after long time.
Overall, Bard of Blood is a topnotch thriller series based on well-researched subject that touches to the time we live in.
If you like spy thrillers then Bard of Blood is something that you dont want to miss.
One time watch for sure.
Superb cast
nidhikedia27 September 2019
Desi version of spy thriller
shashwat-8462028 September 2019
The intention was good but series was badly scripted and screenplay is too bad. You can watch it for acting though otherwise everything else looks fallen apart.
The director of each episode looks confused with character and stories.
You will also not get the thrill and adrenaline rush which was usually expected from such series.
Watch it just to add one more coin in you piggybank of cinema.
Netflix, why?
vishal118030 September 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I actually waited to see this series. But when I saw it, i realised it was a Sunday that was wasted in yawning. Netflix (India) you'll should really think about the content coming up. This series is a Joke! I am giving 4-stars for just the location. There are too many flaws to point out which makes it unrealistic to watch. I pushed my self upto the 5th episode, post that, I said that's it. There have been spy or espionage movies in India. The recent being, Raazi. It was well done. What was this?
Let me point out a few issues - 1. Which RAW agent compromises his identity? Be it in any situation. You can't go and open up that your an Indian spy and that too to a Pakistani resident just because you are in love or the girl gets cosy with you. Its basic training 101 never reveal your identity.
2. Veer Singh is bashing and trashing cops in Quetta like its a video game. Nothing works your way, start bashing a bunch of cops. And the cops don't even end up following him. What bunch of BS!
3. Ok you decide to blow up an oil pipeline! Which oil company has no people working there at night? Its a cakewalk to enter the oil company and shut down supply of oil in a 10ft oil pipeline. No security. And the process to shut supply of oil in the pipeline is kept open on some printed sheets of paper. Oh come on!
4. Training 101. When you're training as RAW agent, you have to undergo basic training of weapons. Isha can't even hold a basic pistol.
5. How can 3 people just jaywalk around and try to stop the Taliban?
6. Too much complication and serious nonsense in the story. Indian RAW agent loves an ISI agent and the ISI agent's husband and brother are heads of a global terrorist group. Damn!
I can go on and on with the amount of crap that is shown around in this series.
Let me point out a few issues - 1. Which RAW agent compromises his identity? Be it in any situation. You can't go and open up that your an Indian spy and that too to a Pakistani resident just because you are in love or the girl gets cosy with you. Its basic training 101 never reveal your identity.
2. Veer Singh is bashing and trashing cops in Quetta like its a video game. Nothing works your way, start bashing a bunch of cops. And the cops don't even end up following him. What bunch of BS!
3. Ok you decide to blow up an oil pipeline! Which oil company has no people working there at night? Its a cakewalk to enter the oil company and shut down supply of oil in a 10ft oil pipeline. No security. And the process to shut supply of oil in the pipeline is kept open on some printed sheets of paper. Oh come on!
4. Training 101. When you're training as RAW agent, you have to undergo basic training of weapons. Isha can't even hold a basic pistol.
5. How can 3 people just jaywalk around and try to stop the Taliban?
6. Too much complication and serious nonsense in the story. Indian RAW agent loves an ISI agent and the ISI agent's husband and brother are heads of a global terrorist group. Damn!
I can go on and on with the amount of crap that is shown around in this series.
A must watch series
ushawaghmare28 September 2019
Poor actors ruined it. One time watch.
freakitude28 September 2019
Worth one time watch. Sobhita Dhulipala wasn't convincing in the role at all, her dialogue delivery was rubbish. They made actors speak regional languages obviously for authenticity but their dialogue delivery wasn't convincing at all, shouldve stuck with Urdu for the most part. Also, the worst acting award for this season goes to Kallirroi Taziafeta who played the American agent. 😂.
Knew after the first episode that it would not be worth my time. Watched it anyways.
dhavalvashi11 October 2019
Warning: Spoilers
There is a scene where the main character is shooting the Taliban using an M249. This is an American weapon which he supposedly stole from Taliban. He is shooting the weapon WITHOUT THE AMMO BELT connected to it. The gun visibly has no ammo box or any bullets attached to it. Yet he is firing and killing everyone.
It Is Good
sanketcool27 September 2019
Don't know why people are criticizing this show so bad. And comparing it to the family man. Both show are based on Balochistan. Both have different storyline,purpose and different aspect of story telling. Definitely worth a watch. And that last exposure scene is you can't think of. GO SEE IT.
Not as engaging as i thought
gk3030073 October 2019
I would say when i heard its production unit has Shahrukh's name, it rose a curiosity but somehow, it turned opposite. Series location is good, screenplay is ok, Emraan as lead is capable and did some job in here but Story lacked its spirit. Was in bits and pieces, some how i felt it lacked a grip to engage viewer.
Watch it if you have already seen other tv series. Not in my priority list to recommend.
Watch it if you have already seen other tv series. Not in my priority list to recommend.
Perfect show to binge watch!
yash-5629729 September 2019
7/10
shivapraneeth29 September 2019
I have read the book and all i can say is that this show is subtle in its own nature. I am satisfied with how it is put up but it could have been better.
Acting is solid but not all the actors did well, there were some characters they were just like forcing acting out of them and the thing concerning most was storytelling in front of the camera was weak. I felt there were plenty of loop holes.
Director managed pretty well and hope Season 2 gets better...
Acting is solid but not all the actors did well, there were some characters they were just like forcing acting out of them and the thing concerning most was storytelling in front of the camera was weak. I felt there were plenty of loop holes.
Director managed pretty well and hope Season 2 gets better...
Felt good
shaileshllb27 September 2019
Just completed watching Bard of Blood in one go and I thought of writing a brief review, a story as usual has some loopholes and definitely exaggeration of events. however, all in all it was entertaining and keeps viewers interested.....Vineet Singh was the best actor to me, Emraan is very underrated as an actor but he did justice to his role and looked good as well.
Seemed a bit far fetched, sort of hard to follow, but I liked it.
safsurfer6 October 2019
There's a ton of holes you can blow through this series, from cops not following after a shoot out, talaban easily infiltrated, the way people seemed to get around so quickly made for unbelievable timeline, just a lot of holes. That said, I still liked it and watched it all the way to the season 2 cliffhanger. The acting was very good, action good, location good, storyline was even good despite some implausabilities. So this one rates a 7, fair.
Lousy and 80% waste of time
mjgohar30 September 2019
Script: 2/10
(Please don't use google to translate your hindi script into Pashtu or Farsi. Pashtu & Farsi translations/dialogues and their delivery were as bad as it could be. If you can't get your actors speak the local language then DON'T include such stuff to make it feel real.
Story: 3/10
Cast: 4/10 (actors could have done better, but I guess that's what director asked them to do)
Direction: 3/10 Very cliché. Typical Bollywood masala movie style. The only thing which differentiate this series from other mainstream Bollywood stuff is Shahrukh Khan dances with butterflies on item songs, though I was expecting that somewhere down the line.
Location (outdoor): 6/10 (somehow managed to create a little bit feel of local authenticity)
Location (indoor): 6/10 (gave to much attention and in result end up overdoing the interiors with lots of Arabic scripts, cultural decoration and other small elements at the surroundings but put way to little efforts to get the soul in the indoor shots)
Local culture: 2/10 (miserably failed to rightly portray the local culture, language, norms, values and traditions, director should have spent at least an hour or so to study that.)
Costumes: 6/10
Actions: 3/10 (Either you make it look real or you take cinematic liberties, director was riding both the boats at the same time.)
Music & title graphics: 3/10
ADVISE TO DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER Please don't come up with season 2 within 6 or 8 months time. The least you could do to get some inspiration is to watch Reluctant Fundamentalist, Zero Dark Thirty, The Road to Guantanamo or some stuff of Anurag Kashyap or Quentin Trantino.
Story: 3/10
Cast: 4/10 (actors could have done better, but I guess that's what director asked them to do)
Direction: 3/10 Very cliché. Typical Bollywood masala movie style. The only thing which differentiate this series from other mainstream Bollywood stuff is Shahrukh Khan dances with butterflies on item songs, though I was expecting that somewhere down the line.
Location (outdoor): 6/10 (somehow managed to create a little bit feel of local authenticity)
Location (indoor): 6/10 (gave to much attention and in result end up overdoing the interiors with lots of Arabic scripts, cultural decoration and other small elements at the surroundings but put way to little efforts to get the soul in the indoor shots)
Local culture: 2/10 (miserably failed to rightly portray the local culture, language, norms, values and traditions, director should have spent at least an hour or so to study that.)
Costumes: 6/10
Actions: 3/10 (Either you make it look real or you take cinematic liberties, director was riding both the boats at the same time.)
Music & title graphics: 3/10
ADVISE TO DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER Please don't come up with season 2 within 6 or 8 months time. The least you could do to get some inspiration is to watch Reluctant Fundamentalist, Zero Dark Thirty, The Road to Guantanamo or some stuff of Anurag Kashyap or Quentin Trantino.
OUTSTANDING.
shalmalsoni27 September 2019
Watched the complete series in just 'ONE' go, and in one word it's BRILLIANT. I love the way how Red Chillies Ent. produces by focussing on thrillers in India. The amount of twists, the production value,the acting skills and action sequences are too DAMN HIGH, can't get enough of it. Would definitely recommend. 🔥🔥🔥
A disappointment from Red Chillies
anilk0077 October 2019
Series could have done with better direction, music and well-developed characters. Kirti Kulhari stood out. Some episodes are 40mins long with 3 mins of boring end credits. I could predict events from the start and it turned out exactly at end. Overall=average but could have been more gripping for a spy thriller.
Only Masala... Totally Random
ashunigam30 September 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I finished watching "The Family Man" just before watching BoB, so baseline set for this serial was pretty steep. Even after great star cast this serial failed miserably due to total random storyline.
The serial starts with pretty stupid scenario where chief of spy agency kidnaps disbanded agent like a criminal. And, stupidies do not stop here, it gets wierder and wierder. It can be compared with 1970's masala movies where hero is next to god and can do anything. The ending of the season will not disappoint you by giving something to look for. It is worst of what you can expect.
So rest assure if you did not pull your hairs in first episode, surely you will bang you head to wall after seeing ending of last episode.
The serial starts with pretty stupid scenario where chief of spy agency kidnaps disbanded agent like a criminal. And, stupidies do not stop here, it gets wierder and wierder. It can be compared with 1970's masala movies where hero is next to god and can do anything. The ending of the season will not disappoint you by giving something to look for. It is worst of what you can expect.
So rest assure if you did not pull your hairs in first episode, surely you will bang you head to wall after seeing ending of last episode.
Worth Watching !
altamasstar27 September 2019
5/5 ** After watching this I must say if rating would be more than 5 than this web series definitely deserved that. Would not disclose the story but wow what a series that was.
It's a fantastic web series, Great Job Netflix and of-course Emraan.
Its a big treat for audience that you are getting two amazing spy web series with in a month i.e. Family Man and Bard of Blood.
No surprise Emraan Hashmi is a brilliant actor and no one can justify this role more than him.
It's a fantastic web series, Great Job Netflix and of-course Emraan.
Its a big treat for audience that you are getting two amazing spy web series with in a month i.e. Family Man and Bard of Blood.
No surprise Emraan Hashmi is a brilliant actor and no one can justify this role more than him.
Many flaws but watchable once
randeep-bora29 September 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Anyone who has traveled to Leh....knows that the movie is shot in that area. This kind of spoils the mood as the real feel of the environment is missing. Secondly, acting is average from all the 3 lead actors. It's more of movie than a web-series where ppl don't die easily.....where Taliban & ISI guys disclose location with just a little bit of torture.
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