Mirzapur 2 is back with a bang but this time with less ‘Bhaukaal’

New Delhi: The much-awaited second series of Amazon Prime video’s original Mirzapur is out and it begins exactly where season 1 ended. An injured Guddu Pandit (Ali Fazal), along with Golu (Shweta Tripathi), is set on a journey of revenge. There are a total of 10 episodes hovering around the 50min mark which means there is some serious time commitment that it warrants.

Guddu (Ali Fazal), Golu (Shweta Tripathi ) and Dimpy (Harshita Gaur) are on the run. Bruised, broken but seething with rage as they try and consolidate help to avenge the deaths of Bublu (Vikrant Massey) and Sweety (Shriya Pilgaonkar).

Mirzapur season two is essentially a feud between four sets of fathers and their sons. The Pandits, The Tripathis, the Shuklas and the Tyagis, the father-son duo in all these clans are at loggerheads.

The quirk with which Guddu Bhaiyaa established himself as the ‘lion of Mirzapur’ seems missing in season 2. As the episodes progress, one thinks of Golu taking Babloo’s place in Guddu’s life by assisting him with her sharp mind but that doesn’t happen. Even in those scenes when it appears that the two are mean to operate as a team, they look like far ends of a strand trying too hard to build a partnership.

More actors join season 2 but no one makes up for Babloo Pandit’s (Vikrant Massey) absence in the story. Isha Talwar, Vijay Verma, Lilliput, Priyanshu Painyuli, Meghna Malik, and Anjum Sharma lead their own parallel stories but it all appears frivolous and irrelevant as the season progresses towards its end. Isha, though, manages to pull off her part well, by establishing a strong character which is capable of making her own choices and leading her own path in a world driven by gun-holding, gory-seeking, power-thirsty men.

Mirzapur season two fails to learn from the mistakes of season one. There are some improvements, sure. Production quality has gone up; it no longer feels and looks like a telefilm from the nineties that used to air on Doordarshan. But everything else gives you a sense of deja vu. We even see a recreation of a famous scene from The Godfather, the one where someone comes to propose the selling of drugs to Don Vito Corleone, and the ageing Mafia don declines, while being interrupted by his younger offspring.

But the pitfalls are familiar too. Some episodes particularly are too long for comfort and while the bloodshed and abuses seem organic this time, the setup seems rather ambitious. Too many characters vying for attention that appear unnecessary in the larger scheme of things.

However, with a clear indication that a follow-up Mirzapur 3 will most certainly come our way, it’s hard not to care about this dark, twisted world and the new contenders that the Mirzapur ki gaddi throws up. If you are a fan of the genre and watched Mirzapur 1 then Mirzapur 2 overall will not really disappoint.