SEASON 2 REVIEW
CAST: Amit Sial , Aksha Pardasany , Anshuman Pushkar, Prashant Narayanan , Anurag Arora, Harleen Sethi
DIRECTOR: Sachin Pathak
The second season of Kathmandu Connection doesn’t create as much impact as the first season. Still, the SonyLIV thriller manages to pack a punch with brilliant performances and tight storytelling.
Amit Sial’s cop loses everything after being painted as a terrorist in the first season. Not keeping his nose out of strange matters and his urge to clear his tarnished image brings him back in the second season. He yearns for acceptance from his daughter and does all he can to win back his lost honour. Jailed criminal Sunny Sharma (Anshuman Pushkar) is paying the price for his love for a journalist until she contacts him once again in order to unearth a dangerous conspiracy.
The show is set in the backdrop of the 1999 IC 814 plane hijack and the Indo-Pak peace summit with several characters coming together in Kathmandu to figure out what the terrorist activities are leading to.
The runtime of the six-episode series also works in its favour as the crisply edited show doesn’t let one bat an eyelid. Serving same old tea but with a perfect taste is key.
The performances keep the series interesting. Amit Sial looks disheveled without a uniform and convincingly plays the part of a man who has lost it all. Anurag Arora as his former colleague shines yet again with a bigger and better part. Aksha Pardasany, too, does a decent job as a determinant journalist especially in her last scene. Anshumaan Pushkar as Sunny Sharma has too much going on and doesn’t disappoint and you can also catch Panchayat’s Binod in a decent role. We had rooted for Anshumaan Pushkar in the first season- he redeems himself.
SEASON 1 REVIEW
BLUF: The story of an investigation related to the 90’s Mumbai blasts involving a high-profile cop, a television reporter and a casino operator in Kathmandu and their intersectionality.
THE MEAT AND THE POTATOES: Kathmandu Connection is the story of three characters, Samarth Kaushik (Amit Sial), Shivani Bhatnagar (Aksha Pardasany) and Sunny (Anshumaan Pushkar). Samarth breaks the laws often while catches criminals using non-orthodox tactics. This lands him in trouble, but he does not mind it.
Shivani is a top news reporter who has a mysterious stalker. Sunny is a Casino owner in Kathmandu who aspires to become a top mobster in South Asia. There are superfluous subplots of the cops’ divorce and a booming love story adding layer and depth to the cop’s character but that acts counter productive to the strength of his performance.
IN THE ZONE
Amit Sial has the right attitude and demeanor for the role. The direction with Sachin Pathak is great and the plot narrative offer enough scope for a gripping drama play. The series begins with an attention-grabbing sequence and then slides into a slow slump after introducing the blasts, CBI and the underworld. For some reason, the screenplay just gives up on pace and the genre seems to change drastically with the stalker narrative. The slower pace of the track completely slides the focus of the series into a slow drive.
FWAR
Aksha Pardasany is great in her role and gets most of her parts right but what really gets our attention is the new kid on the block – Anshumaan Pushkar looks a perfect fit for the part – as the Casino owner Sunny.
He is the one to look out for. He not only eases himself into the narrative but also fits himself into the character with great ease. This one is for the eyes and we are definitely going to see a lot more of Anshumaan. He is for keeps.
Among the rest, Anuraag Arora also stands out.. His scenes with Amit Sial are emblematic of the genre, but are pure chemistry.
Sneha Khanwalkar’s music is good and is able to uplift the mood of the show even if it is not edited properly into the narrative. gives the music for the series. It is good and brings a unique mood to the show. The cinematography by Arun Kumar Pandey is passable.
WHAT WE LOVED
ASHUMAAN PUSHKAR
The climax
WHAT WE MISSED
Good writing
Weak subplots (writing, again yes)
