‘Abhay 2’ Review: Kunal Kemmu’s cop drama is a dark gory thriller that is sure to satiate your taste buds

Directed By
Ken Ghosh

Produced By
B.P. Singh, Renu B.P. Singh

Cast
Kunal Khemu, Asha Negi, Ram Kapoor, Nidhi Singh, Chunky Pandey, Raghav Juyal, Asheema Vadaan, Bidita Bag

Bollywood Bubble Rating

A perfect crime thriller is the one that keeps you on the edge and hooked thereby leaving you asking for more. Zee5’s latest offering, ‘Abhay 2’ is one such web series that brings out the essence of crime thriller and does complete justice to the genre with its amazing writing and direction. The first season garnered much love from the audience and this time it has gone grand in terms of scale and is bound to generate a massive fan following. The second season cranks it up a notch as it serves 5 amazing serial killer stories with an overarching villain in the form of Ram Kapoor. It explores themes like serial killings, occult and mental derangement as each villain comes with its own backstory and their unsettling ways of executing their crimes.

The season starts off with a chilling murder scene where Chunkey Panday plays the villain. The story then takes off in the inverted detective format which is maintained throughout 5 episodes. Each actor playing the villain has got into the skin of the character and they make you hate the characters to the point of total disgust. Perhaps, that’s the beauty of portraying negative characters and that’s when you say the actor has does a good job.

The show boasts of an ensemble cast in the form of Kunal Kemmu, Ram Kapoor, Nidhi Singh, Asha Negi, Chunkey Panday and Bidita Bag. Kunal Kemmu, who plays the titular role of SP Abhay Pratap Singh goes on to sequentially solve the cases, each more gripping than the other. Kunal gives a restrained performance perfectly in sync with the show’s tone. As Abhay solves the cases one after the other, somewhere in the midway, he meets the main villain and a cat & mouse rivalry ensues. Ram Kapoor has played the villain with absolute finesse. He throws the biggest surprise. So far, we have seen him portraying likeable characters but here, the man looks menacing with the impeccable charm of a sociopath. It’d be right to say that he along with Kunal holds the show on its axis. The two are ably supported by the new entrants Nidhi Singh, who plays Abhay’s assistant and Asha Negi, who plays a journalist and also Abhay’s love interest. The core strength of, ‘Abhay 2’ is its casting. Seldom, it happens in any Indian series that you can’t really pick your favourite cast member from the show.

‘Abhay 2’ is a well-written show executed seamlessly by Ken Ghosh. The director brings out the thrill and spins an amazing saga of a nerve-wracking crime thriller. Never for once, the narrative loses its grip and keeps pushing the boundaries with every passing second. What’s interesting is that Abhay’s character isn’t one dimensional; he has his own secrets and dark side that surface the show progresses. The greys make the title character alluring. The direction is further nudged by crisp editing and the sound design. The show makes good use of match cuts and cross-dissolve between the scenes and sequences with a pitch-perfect colour tone that is in line with the city of Lucknow.

In addition, the 6 part series also critiques the culture of media trial and the machinery that works behind the media, in a subtle way. Overall, the second season of, ‘Abhay’ offers great stories and is a treat to watch and promises a thrilling ride from the opening through the last episode with a well-placed overarching theme of, “The Final Trap”. Indian connoisseurs of the crime thriller genre now have another great content to look and satiate their taste buds on Zee5.

I am going with 4 stars.

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