As the charismatic Omar Hassan, President of the fictional state of Kamistan, Anil Kapoor shocked his critics into silence. While his fine performance is much appreciated, the fact that he decided to make an Indian version of the show seems to have found more naysayers than takers.

For the uninitiated, 24 is an espionage drama, the best in its league, which typically involves 24 episodes that cover 24 hours in the life of Jack Bauer, an indomitable and extremely badass anti-terrorist agent. The final verdict on Anil Kapoor’s desi version will, of course, be decreed once the show goes on air; in the meantime let me draw up a list of pros and cons to help you decide:

5 Reasons Why It Might Work

#1. Anil Kapoor is a powerhouse of acting, as he has proved time and time again in his 34 year tryst with Bollywood. No matter what role he takes up, you can count on him to bring an extra edge to the character.

#2. As part of the strenuous preparations undertaken for the adaptation, Anil used his clout and got the original production team to fly down and help modify the script for Indian sensibilities. As far as business moves go, that was effing smart.

#3. Contrary to popular belief, adapting a foreign show involves much more than just translating the dialogues to Hindi, and Anil Kapoor is clearly in for the long haul. The fact that he sacrificed his foreign prospects – All Hollywood projects are put on the back burner for the duration of the show’s shoot – speaks volumes about his commitment to the project.

#4. Unlike his contemporaries, when Anil took the plunge from films to television, he did it minus the gag-inducing drama and 6 figure paycheques of a reality show. Kudos to that!

#5. He may have promoted himself to the lead role, but he was also smart enough to place his bets on Abhinay Deo and Renil Dsilva; one directed 2011’s cult comedy Delhi Belly and the other penned the poignant script of Rang De Basanti. The chances of this one going off-track are looking lesser and lesser!
Or are they? With all due respect to Anil Kapoor; he may have pieced together a brilliant team but there is something about the idea of Indianising an Emmy Award winning show that has true 24 fans cringing. In the name of Edward Cullen and all things fair, allow us to paint you a picture of the other side of the fence:

5 Reasons Why The Whole Idea Should Be Scrapped

#1. Jack Bauer. The lead character essayed by the indomitable Kiefer Sutherland, Bauer portrayed the hard-as-nails anti-terrorist agent with a flair that had members of the Russian mafia crumbling and hardened criminals crawling on their knees.
The comparisons are inevitable, and no matter how good a job Anil Kapoor does of essaying the lead, he’ll forever be in walking in Sutherland’s shadow. Or will he?

#2. The script of the original series is characterised by adept Government officials and a vigilant police force, capable of reacting to terror at lightning fast speed.  This becomes the precise reason why an Indian version of the show will be hard to digest. We can just about picture the terrorist mastermind escaping the clutches of the police because pandu havaldar had his hands greased with a fat 50 rupee note.

#3. Barring a few, Indian adaptations of foreign shows rarely ever work. And anyone who thinks otherwise should be locked in a room and made to watch all seasons of The Suite Life of Karan and Kabir on autoplay.

#4. ‘Indianisation’ of the show, as Anil Kapoor puts it, is underway. Already, the makers have added a son to the script, who wasn’t part of the original series. So does this mean that we should expect slow motion fight sequences and long winded speeches?

#5. Jack Bauer. To date, God created only one actor who can pull this role off; his name starts with Kiefer and ends with Sutherland. End of story.