As a sequel, Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein 2 is a compulsory yet far-from-compelling add-on to the first season, though if one were to compare it with the same creator-director-co-writer Sidharth Sengupta’s Apharan 2, it is many shades better, for Apharan ranks among Hindi web series’ finest and its follow-up was very disappointing. Sengupta was also the director, creator and co-writer of one of the most consistent Indian web series, Undekhi, which spanned three seasons, each of which was better than the previous one!
In that sense, we find YKKA 2 a meandering exercise that relies overtly on twists. Viewers of S1 will recall the harmless and innocent Vikrant becoming victim to the machinations of unscrupulous politician and criminal Akheraj Awasthi (Saurabh Shukla) and his daughter, Purva (Anchal Singh), who is obsessed with him and looks at him as a kind of trophy.
This creates havoc in Vikrant’s life and in his romantic relationship with Shikha (Shweta Tripathi). Matters are not helped by Vikrant’s father (Brijendra Kala) being hugely obligated to his employer Akheraj, and by Vikrant’s mother (Sunita Rajwar) and sister (Hetal Gada) deciding that he must toe the line his father has, so to speak, drawn for him.
In a trap, Vikrant is married off to Purva and Shikha and her family hunted. Rebelling finally, Vikrant gets into the same zone as his antagonists, led by Akheraj’s ruthless foster-son, Dharmesh (Surya Sharma). He decides that he has to murder Purva and hires an assassin, Jalan (Arunoday Singh) but things go woefully wrong as Jalan gets consumed by lust for Mammon and kidnaps Purva instead.
Meanwhile, Dharmesh is making life terrible for Shikha and family and murders galore follow.
Season 1 began with a helpless yet determined Vikrant (who is narrating his own tale at junctures in a sarcastic way) in a log cabin set to fire on his attackers and this time, a situation is shown with Purva, her late mother (Rajeshwari Sachdev) and good friend Guru (Gurmeet Choudhary), who is a detective abroad, if you please, for after all the meandering in the land of twists, the series has yet to explain either of the beginnings.
However, unlike Undekhi, we no longer crave for Season 3 as the idea seems just to deliver twist upon twist, murder upon murder, more and more blood and gore and (just like Apharan 2) have scant regard for either logic or the viewer’s patience.
Sidharth comes up with absurd twists as well, like a body being dismembered in a home inhabited by a bride’s family and though disposed of in part outside, its remnants are actually flushed down the domestic drain as meat! Then we have the amoral Sherpa (Varun Badola, also responsible for the expletive-suffused dialogues) who has his own agenda and victimizes even Jalan, who has a tenuous link with Akheraj.
At the end of the day, the series is just another frenetic killing spree with little to recommend and looks like a desperate ploy to juice out more and more episodes from a threadbare core. The angle of a police officer not suspecting the fishy behavior of his wife all along is simply ludicrous, as are the excuses doled out by her for her conduct. The same goes for Purva being a generally sharp woman who still is remarkably imperceptive about her hubby’s motives.
At six episodes, the series thus still seems too long—and arduous.
Vikrant’s character is given just about one expression, no matter what he is feeling, and Tahir Raj Bhasin’s performance gets monotonous because of this. Anchal Singh is effective, but her character graph’s inconsistent intellect got to me. Shweta Tripathi’s is perhaps the most confused character in the series, while Surya Sharma, almost replicating his Undekhi (which also featured Anchal Singh) act as a vicious young man, is repetitious with his scowls and grimaces. Saurabh Shukla as Akheraj, Varun Badola as Sherpa and Brijendra Kala as Vikrant’s stubborn father are alright, as is Anant V. Joshi as Golden, Vikrant’s weird best friend. Gurmeet Choudhary is wasted, but I liked Arunoday Singh again in his black role, just as I had loved him in Apharan.
Overall, I would give this one only pass marks—just about.
Rating: **1/2
Netflix presents Edgestorm Pictures’ Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein 2 Created by: Sidharth Sengupta Produced by: Jyoti Sagar & Sidharth Sengupta Directed by: Sidharth Sengupta Written by: Sidharth Sengupta, Anahata Menon, Umesh Padalkar & Varun Badola Music: Shivam Sengupta & Anuj Danait Starring: Tahir Raj Bhasin, Shweta Tripathi, Anchal Singh, Surya Sharma, Saurabh Shukla, Brijendra Kala, Sunita Rajwar, Gurmeet Choudhary, Rajeshwari Sachdev, Benedict Garrett, Emily R. Acland, Anjuman Saxena, Shashie Vermaa, Anant V. Joshi, Hetal Gada, Arunoday Singh, Varun Badola, Nikhil Pandey & others
(Used with permission)
