sacred games season 2

• Sacred Games 2 Review: India’s First Netflix Series Is More Reflective and Urgent on Return

After their debut last year, Sacred Games received approval from most Indian viewers who believed they finally got the local original series, which tried to follow in the footsteps of the prestigious television era that sparked a new era of gold television in the United States. (He probably had his flaws that we previously documented.) Although his global success remains controversial, as there is no open door policy in the Netflix rating department, Sacred Games is clearly a phenomenon in India. In turn, this means that there will be more pressure on the cast and crew when Thursday, season 2 of the Holy Games comes out.

In the first three episodes - this is what Netflix has given critics access to - Sacred Games 2, it is clear that at least stimulation is not a problem. This is partly due to the fact that Inspector Sartage Singh (Saif Ali Khan) has even fewer days to prevent a nuclear attack on the horizon. (The first three episodes take four days.) The Netflix series moves quickly from one scene to another, but she also knows when to take a break and linger a bit. It was then that the interactions between the characters came into play, and in the second season, there are several delightful ones, thanks to new and returning characters. And it also greatly facilitates the shift between memories and modernity, intertwining into a common thread.

In fact, the show is split. On the one hand, he is ready to make way to investigate Sartage’s guilt for the death of his friend and colleague Kontabal Katekar (Jitendra Joshi) in the first season, and the influence he had on the rest of the Katekar family. Some of this briefly refers to cow vigilance and Hindu nationalism, updating the book of Vikram Chandra and making the Holy Games more relevant for today. At the same time, the Ganesh Gaitonde storyline (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) spins its wheels in the first episodes. Of course, it is still watchable from moment to moment, but it looks like a binding of its early arch from the first season. Gaithonde’s track seemed to be stalled, so Sartaj’s path could catch up.

Whatever the cost, you can find some joys along the route - in addition to the above-mentioned conversations - with Sacred Games, who started the meta at the beginning of season 2. There is a carefully thought-out rest of some memorable moments of season 1, which works at two different levels. This is an obvious mocking trick, and it also takes on Bollywood's connection with the underworld of Mumbai. Interestingly, this self-referential approach sounds differently in the context of the second season, completing the storyline of Gaitond in the process of completing the book, as the creators of the Holy Games have shown. It looks like a way to bring him in a full circle, hinting that Siddiqui might not play a role if there is a third season that Netflix will undoubtedly want, given the popularity of the show.

 Sacred Games 2 starts mostly from where we left off, and Sartaj & Co. begins to explore the fallout shelter and its contents: the dead Trivedi ( Pankaj Tripathi). The nuclear conspiracy is connected with Hizbuddin, a fictional terrorist detachment that is associated with one Shahid Khan (Ranvir Shorey) - repeatedly mentioned but not seen anywhere at the beginning of the second season - which supposedly stands behind everything: from the 1993 bombings to 1999 Kandahar's abduction, for Inspector Majid Ali Khan (Aamir Bashir). As part of a new investigation team, Sartaj and Majid set off in search of Shahid Khan, while the first digs into Guruji (Pankaj Tripathi), a spiritual guru whom Gaitonde calls his “third father”.

This brings into the game longtime follower Guruji Batu Abelman (Kalki Koechlin), who oversees the Mumbai ashram and is one of several new female characters in Season 2 of the Holy Games. In much more important roles - at least in the first few episodes - for RAW agent Kusum Devi Yadava (Amruta Subhash), a character who was deleted from the book. At the beginning of the second season, Trivedi and Yadav come to Gaitonde to work in Mombasa, Kenya. Naturally, he rejects the offer, since he has only one thing in mind: to return home and take revenge on Suleiman Isa (Saurabhu Sachdev), who almost killed him in prison, and Gaitond almost escaped his life.

But everything has changed dramatically. In Bombay, police cracked down on gangs after the riots of 1992-93, while Isa climbed the stairs after moving the base to Dubai. (The parallels with Daoud Ibrahim, on which this character is based, naturally continue.) Gaitond - both drifting and powerless, and without any remaining cards, he accepts Yadav’s offer to essentially become a government pawn. Working for her means listening and making compromises, which ultimately violates the spirit of Gaitonde. It is not surprising that a guy who does not believe in God turns to the guru - with the push of the Trivedi - he lacks the answers and control that he desperately seeks.

By creating Guruji's view from all sides, Sacred Games 2 also boldly portends a potentially literal - but so far metaphorical - nuclear cloud that has hit everyone, giving Tripati lines such as "Time is Radioactive." Tripathi has a greater presence in Season Two scriptwriters - the main writer Varun Grover and his new team of writers Dhruv Narang (Gormint), Nihit Bhave (Hey Prabhu!) And Puja Tolani - can uncover the Hindu mythological aspects of this story. Sacred Games 2 also pushes to the other world, including several sequences of dreams in the first three episodes, which allows the deepest fears and fears of the characters to rise to the surface.

Pankaj Tripathi as Guruji in Sacred Games 2Photo Credit: Zishaan A. Latif/Netflix


This helps to avoid exposure, although it is not always as effective in other places. Fortunately, the dynamics between the actors - and profanity between the characters - make viewing easier. This is especially true for conversations between Gaitond and Yadav, and Gaitond and Jojo Mascarenas (Surveen Chawla), Madame "talent manager," who was killed in the first moments of season 1 but has a much larger presence in season 2. Both women are not afraid of Gaitonde which contributes a lot to the dynamics And it becomes even more intriguing due to hints of darkness in their respective worlds, be it demons in the past or a terrible fate around the corner.

In addition, most of the humor in the second season of the Sacred Games relies on the (all-knowing) narration of the Gaitond, as was the case in the first season. In the second season, a rare look at the other side of the screen, which gives us an idea of ​​how the people of Gaitond behave and react to the boss's fraud when he is not around. And there is another comedy that arises from the naivety of a drug dealer with a childish face that Gaitonde turns into his puppet.

As for filmmaking, the most attractive thing at the beginning of the film is a spectacular one-minute take, which is part of the chase sequence and includes a climb to a four-story building. But at the same time, Sacred Games 2 also makes some factual, logical, and continuity errors. Although most of them are small and excusable - they jump incorrectly through the years, senselessly kill secondary characters and the movement of furniture - the largest and most stupid of them is Sartaj himself. In an interview, Khan showed that he lost weight in order to repeat his role in the second season, which is absolutely pointless from the point of view of the story. The show begins where we left off, so when did Sartaj lose all this weight?

It will not be a big problem if the season as a whole is interesting and useful, but we cannot say for sure, given that Netflix provided us with access to only less than half. (A total of eight episodes.) This is the same as judging a film lasting two and a half hours in the first hour. Netflix, not wanting to let critics watch the entire season, is curious and reminds Leila, whose first and second half of the season were polar opposites. It is unlikely that Sacred Games 2 will share this fate, but it is impossible to say how well it will pay for storylines, including sharp ones, such as those in which the Katekar family participates. Left with these “ifs” and “buts,” we will get to know each other better when all episodes are available.Sacred Games 2 is out August 15 at 12am IST on Netflix in India.