‘Sacred Games 2’: Gaitonde Spirals Downward as Bombay Is Reborn
‘Sacred Games’ will be streaming 15 August onwards.
Note: This is a review of the first three episodes of ‘Sacred Games 2’.
The familiar audacity of Ganesh Gaitonde’s (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) brusque voice, a mysteriously deceased Trivedi and Sartaj Singh’s (Saif Ali Khan) constantly perturbed expression – the highly-anticipated second season of Netflix’s Sacred Games feels like stepping out of the dark. After more than an entire year.
Taking off the from the inevitable madness of season one, season two’s premise is more or less the same. Gaitonde is still in captivity, albeit in international waters. Sartaj, previously portrayed as the ‘rebel cop’ who works against the system but towards the right thing, is now officially leading the investigation. And, coming a full circle from her 5-second death in pilot of season one, Jojo Mascarenhas (Surveen Chawla) takes centre stage as the epitome of female power in Gaitonde’s life.
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An adaptation of Vikram Chandra’s 1,000-page magnum opus, Sacred Games is co-directed by Anurag Kashyap and Masaan filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan, with Vikramaditya Motwane returning as showrunner. If season one introduced us to the dark underbelly of Bombay through the eyes of gangster Ganesh Gaitonde, season two makes us privy to his downfall. In a parallel narrative, we accompany police officer Sartaj Singh as he copes with the death of his close friend, constable Katekar, while trying to get to the bottom of a conspiracy he’s thrust in the middle of.
What You Need to Know
As Sartaj, in present-day Mumbai, investigates the clues he’s gathered from the underground bunker where Trivedi was found dead, Gaitonde is far from the land that birthed him. Now, an undercover Indian agent in Kenya, South Africa, Gaitonde has no option but to operate like a puppet in a strange underworld territory. His personal goals (of returning to his gangster life of fame and avenging his rival, Isa) are set aside – as Bombay comes of age to become Mumbai, so does Gaitonde.
Meanwhile, Sartaj, tries to unsuccessfully reconcile with his ex-wife, tracks down Gaitonde’s third father ‘Guriji’, a saffron robe-clad Pankaj Tripathi, and begins his search for Shahid Khan (Ranvir Shorey) who runs a terrorist outfit called the Hizbuddin. A nuclear threat appears imminent.
New Faces
Like me, if you also had a tough time keeping up with season one’s ensemble cast (Jatin Sarna, Radhika Apte, Kubra Sait, Rajshri Deshpande... you get the drift), season two won’t be that much of a task save a handful of additions like Kalki Koechlin, Ranvir Shorey and Amruta Subash. While Kalki takes on a mystifying Ma Anand Sheela-esque role as the successor of Guruji, Ranvir Shorey is the bad guy who, so far, has appeared fleetingly in photographs only. Amruta Subash’s performance as that of a curt, strong-headed, and badass member of the Indian intelligence is a force to reckon with. As she puppeteers Gaitonde in the wake of impending doom, the latter begins seeking answers in faith. His once-upon-a-time weapon is now his only tool of survival.
What to Expect
Some things haven’t changed. Gaitonde’s epiphany-filled monologues continue, so does the interspersing of memories with present reality. However, as we inch closer to the turn of the millennium, the visual differences between the two story lines begin to merge.
Mythology still runs deep in the skeleton of Sacred Games. Only it’s no longer limited to Hinduism. The second episode makes an obscure reference to the Epic of Gilgamesh. While the first and third episode still stick to their Hindu roots.
So far, season two also lacks the grit and grime of the first season. There’s no blood-soaked encounters, no point-blank shootings, no jarring deaths that will stay with you. Like the first season, Sacred Games’ second part too takes you gently by the hand and pulls you in steadily. There’s no rush. However, the underlying anxiety is hard to miss. In a flashback scene, when Gaitonde finally comes crawling to Guruji in Croatia, we catch an unexpected glimpse of Malcolm (Luke Kenny) who fled in the season one finale. And before we can recover from that information, the camera pans to show that it is the supposedly naive Guruji who might just be the missing piece in the puzzle. But, plot twist: Guruji is dead.
Perhaps the only disappointing bit about the second season, so far, is that the show’s treatment of its female characters doesn’t seem to have evolved much. They’re still just used as plot points used to bolster men who front the show. However, Betya Abelman, Kalki’s character, provides some semblance of hope. Whether or not Sacred Games will live up to the impact it left after its season finale is a question that still remains unanswered. But so far, so good!
‘Sacred Games’ season 2 streams on Netflix 15 August onwards.
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