The Night Manager Part 2- manages to deliver closure to viewers left with a cliffhanger by Part 1

Disney+ Hotstar surprised its subscribers by releasing the concluding episodes of the first season of The Night Manager a day earlier than scheduled initially. The show which revolves around the interaction between the protagonist Shan SenGupta (Aditya Roy Kapur) and the antagonist Shailendra Rungta (Anil Kapoor) is an adaptation of the English show with the same name. Even though the show is a remake, Sandeep Modi’s personal touch has resulted in the show retaining its own individual take on the original storyline.

Highlights:

Cast: Aditya Roy Kapur, Anil Kapoor, Sobhita Dhulipala, Tillotama Shome, Saswata Chatterjee, Prashant Narayanan.

Creators: Sandeep Modi, Shridhar Raghavan

Runtime: 3 episodes roughly an hour long each

Language: Hindi with subtitles

Platform: Disney+ Hotstar

Plot:

Part 1 of the show revolved around Shan (Aditya) getting acquainted with the true business of Shelly (Anil) being the illegal trade of firearms and the evil ensuing from it. Part 1 ended with Shan having secured a place in Shelly’s empire in Sri Lanka and Part 2 picks up from there with Aditya Roy Kapur taking on a new identity as Abhimanyu and replacing Brij (Saswata Chatterjee) as Shelly’s right-hand man. It revolves around the growing closeness between Shan and Kaveri (Shobhita Dhulipala) as he slowly works as a spy to bring Shailendra’s empire to its knees. As the plot thickens, it gets to a nail biting climax with Shan’s cover being nearly blown on multiple occasions. In the end, the patriotism of an ex-navy officer Shan manages to save the day with the unwavering support of Leepika (Tillotama Shome) a RAW officer under inquiry for her unconventional ways.

Review:

The special effects (VFX) showcased in the demo of the weapons of mass destruction by Shelly to the potential buyers in the middle of the desert are a visual delight. The trajectory followed by the growth of the characters is delightful and the storyline manages to stay crisp without any dips or unnecessary lengthening. The end is not as predictable as one would expect it to be and even though it delivers adequate closure, it maintains a degree of openness, shall Sandeep choose to return with a Season 2. All in all it’s a must-watch for lovers of Indian-origin OTT content.

Verdict:

We would like to rate the show a solid 4 stars out of 5 for the finesse in storytelling and for managing to maintain its originality despite being an adaptation of an English show.