Mistry tries to do what Monk did, mix comedy with crime-solving but ends up missing the mark. Instead of giving the original concept a fresh spin, it feels like the show just copied things without thinking about how they’d actually work in a new setting.
Maybe it’s because there aren’t enough Indian shows that pull me in, but I grew up watching English-language series like The Good Wife, Monk, and Jane The Virgin. They became my comfort watches, way before their Indian versions ever came out. Sure, those originals weren’t flawless, but they were consistently interesting, which is more than I can say for most Indian remakes. Mistry is just another example of a show that had a good chance to reframe a known story in a new way but didn’t take it.
Like Monk, Mistry wants to entertain more than it wants to challenge your mind. But in trying to be both funny and smart, it ends up doing neither. Based on the 2002 American show that won Tony Shalhoub an Emmy, Mistry follows Armaan Mistry (played by Ram Kapoor), a former cop turned private detective. His “edge” is his OCD, which worsened after losing his wife. That condition helps him spot tiny details like dusty shoes or crooked tiles that others miss. He’s uncomfortable with physical contact, so he always has Sharanya (Shikha Talsania), his nurse and assistant, by his side. She’s a single mom who’s great at handling his quirks and helps him work with the Mumbai police, especially his old colleague Sehmat (Mona Singh), now heading the Crime Branch.
The concept sounds promising. Mistry isn’t some genius with a sky-high IQ. Instead, his brain works differently because of his fears and compulsions, which actually help him solve tricky cases. That alone should have made the show more interesting. But instead of letting the cases or characters develop naturally, the series leans heavily on showing off Mistry’s quirks like gimmicks. The clues feel forced, and his success often depends more on everyone else being clueless than on his actual brilliance. It’s like saying he only looks smart because everyone else is written to be a little dumb.
To make matters worse, the show sticks so closely to Monk that it even gives credit to Andy Breckman, the original creator. Copying something faithfully isn’t bad, if you do it well. But here, even that doesn’t work. If you’ve seen Monk, you’ll notice the missing warmth and subtle humor. And if you haven’t, Mistry still feels off, like it doesn’t know what to keep or change. What we’re left with is a detective-comedy that leans too hard on weak jokes and dull cases. Even the title feels like a pun that tries too hard—‘Mistry’ as in ‘mystery’, but it just doesn’t land.
Despite having a talented cast like Ram Kapoor, Mona Singh, and Shikha Talsania, the show’s flashy look, overly dramatic presentation, and loud style make it hard to truly connect with the characters or care about what’s going on. Ironically, the few moments where the show tries something original hint at what could have been a much better series. But all of that potential gets buried under its obsession with copying the source material scene by scene.
In the end, Mistry doesn’t pull you into the investigation or make you laugh along the way. It just makes you want to skip to the end and get the answers without sitting through the whole thing. And for a detective show, that’s the biggest mystery, how did it manage to lose the plot so badly when it had a ready-made blueprint? Mistry is streaming on JioHotstar.
