Director
Raj Acharya
Cast
Abir Chatterjee, Aahana Kumra, Anant Mahadevan, Mohan Agashe, Neeraj Kabi, Rajesh Khattar, Sanjay Suri
What’s The Story
‘Avrodh 2’ follows the course of an additional Income-tax officer, Pradeep Bhattacharya (played by Abir Chatterjee), who is also a Captain in the Indian territorial army, as he decodes an elaborate siege that is being planned against India. The siege is not just at the borders but an attempt to disrupt the economical balance of the country. Will Bhattacharya be able to save the country? Will there be a need to take harsh decisions to save the people? Will the country end up going into economic doom? Well, you’ll have to watch the show to find out.
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What’s Good
Abir Chatterjee Impresses On Debut
Bengali superstar Abir Chatterjee makes an impressive debut in Hindi after doing a small cameo in ‘Kahaani’ almost 10 years back. He allows the story to be shown from a very realistic point of view where you’re not watching an army man flexing his muscles but on the contrary using his mind to track down and beat the enemy. Chatterjee never delivers any heavy feet-thumping jingoistic dialogues, and rather keeps the patriotism within the limits of reality.
The other supporting cast members have played their parts decently. Aahana Kumra, Neeraj Kabi, Anant Mahadevan and others have managed to make the most of their screen time. Kumra brings a humane side to the villain’s gang. However, the calling of Sanjay Suri as ‘Professor’ reminds you of ‘Money Heist’.
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The outdoor locales where the show has been shot are fantastic. The terrains in which the army scenes have been shot seem very real, and the way the cinematographer has brought the thrill aspect to those scenes is superb.
Brijesh Jayrajan and Sudeep Nigam’s writing is another plus point as they try to keep the narrative believable. Whether it is Abir Chatterjee getting an earful from his boss at the income tax office or it is Aahana Kumra, who is from the jihadi group, actually feeling afraid about getting caught when her plan gets busted – the writers have tried to make the story as human as possible.
The story is predictable and everyone knows what’s going to happen at the end. But still managing to keep the audience hooked on till the 9th episode is a commendable job done by director Raj Acharya.
What’s Bad
Feels Like An Election Campaign
The brand ‘Avrodh’ has been associated with a thrilling story which is led by the Indian army. That’s what the first season of the show ensured and did so well at. However, midway through this season, you would start questioning whether the show is more about an army operation or is it more of an election campaign propaganda trying to show off the good things and the sacrifices done by the government. From Demonetisation to Digital India, ‘Avrodh 2’ keeps pushing on about how the government was trying to do good for the people of the country even when they had to make some harsh decisions. This invariably killed the thrill of watching the army doing a lot of selfless patriotic stuff.
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Another thing lacking in the show is the background of Abir Chatterjee’s character. Like he is an Income Tax officer and also in the Territorial army and he is suddenly not present in office the next day and is at the border fighting against the terrorists. What’s his back story for being this patriotic? Had it been a film and the makers wanted to jump directly to the point, it would have been okay, but in a 9-episode web series, they could have shown a bit more of where the character draws this nationalistic inspiration.
Verdict
The first season of ‘Avrodh’ with Amit Sadh as the lead had a lot more thrill to it. However, this season works only because of Abir Chatterjee and his ability to keep the character’s patriotism never becoming jingoistic. Had the writing not been so much in-your-mouth propaganda of the government policies, it would have been a lot better thriller. Nevertheless, it’s definitely a great One Time Watch. I am going with 3.5 stars.
