INDIA: One of the superhit show from the MX Player titled ‘Samantar’ is back with another season, season 2 of the series released on July, 1. The first season of Samantar, which was directed by Satish Rajwade, had six short episodes. The second season, directed by Sameer Vidwans, have 10 episodes and have a longer running time. This web series continues to adapt the story from the novel of the same name by Suhas Shirwalkar, which is a notch better than its predecessor in most departments. It has more drama, more twists, and more suspense than Season 1.
Storyline
In the last season, Kumar Mahajan (Swwapnil Joshi) finally meets the elderly Sudarshan Chakrapani (Nitish Bharadwaj) whose past is Kumar’s future. Chakrapani has written his life story in a diary, which he presents to Mahajan. However, he puts conditions, Mahajan is allowed to read each day’s entry only the night before and he should not tell about the diary to anyone. The season-1 ends when a mysterious woman is about to enter Mahajan’s life.
She turns out to be Meera (Sai Tamhankar). A woman, named Sundara, also (Tamhankar) had entered Sudarshan’s life 30 years ago. Her presence wreaks havoc in Kumar’s life just as it did with Sudarshan several years ago. He is then arrested for a murder crime charge, which jeopardizes his relationship with his loving wife Nima (Tejaswini Pandit). the sequence of events that happened in Chakrapani’s life reflects on Kumar’s life. It’s heartening to see the hype created around the release of Samantar 2 which is a Marathi language web series dubbed in four languages. No other Marathi web series has made such an impact on the viewers as Samantar is making. One can say ‘ Marathi paoul padte pudhe’.
Pluses
Swapnil Joshi is truly stunning with his performance as always, his transformation of expressions during the sequences was just mind blowing. The way he changes his expression and controls his anger and anxiety issues is worth watching. He acts with his eyes and this one is one of his best performances to date. His body language, expressions, and dialogue delivery are superb. The pause before dialogue delivery now becomes a hallmark of his acting. He shows no qualms in going against his family-friendly image when it comes to being aggressive or showering abuse on his tormentors. He is just like a vintage wine that tastes more as it ages.
The new entrant in the series, Sai Tamhankar, looks brilliant. She is very much expressive in the series and this is the best part about her character. She acts smoothly in a seductive woman, in both roles. Her different accents in two different roles speak volumes about her astute acumen in her acting. Tejswani Pandit was also good in her character, she looks perfect in the role of a caring, loving, and loyal wife. Nitish Bharadwaj as Sudarshan Chakrapani gets more teeth in his role. He looks quite intense in his role, his dialogue delivery is a treat to watch. The way he handles the anger of Mahajan is quite amazing. The rest of the characters from the series were good in terms of performance.
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Minuses
The only loose point about Season 2 is a slow start in a couple of episodes.
This is a must-watch for those who want thrill and suspense in the web series.
Transcontinental Times rating: 4.5/5