One and a half months after the first episode of the second season of Abhay 2 was premiered (in mid-August), the series has come to a close. There was a staggered approach taken for the eight episode series which was divided across three release timings. With the last three episodes of Abhay 2 now being out, one can say with confidence that this one has to be the most brutal, gory and spine shilling affairs to have come out of the Hindi OTT medium.
The first season of this Ken Ghosh directed crime franchise had anyways set the tone and hence it was not surprising when Chunky Pandey decided to drink some brain soup right at the onset. Well, if that was blood curdling enough, one has to watch out for what the recently released episodes of Abhay 2 have to offer. This time around, a homophobic youngster (who is an electrician/mechanical expert/spiritually inclined/psychologically disturbed person, all rolled into one) indulges in the kind of crimes that one just shudders to even read on paper.
Honestly, for those few minutes when the crime unfolded at the beginning of the newest episode, I felt that the gore element was overdone by a long margin. Agreed that the makers perhaps wanted to show the dark side of the world; however, I actually shut my eyes and even put the sound on mute when the crime was on action; it was so unbearable to even imagine what was actually transpiring on screen.
Hence, it seemed like rather relief when a (comparatively) calmer criminal [Ram Kapoor] took on Kunal Khemu, the cop, in his jail cell all over again. The idea is just like what one had witnessed in episodes before this; go and kill the criminal and a few kidnapped children would be set free. Kunal's conscience doesn't quite allow him to just indulge in a cold blooded murder act, even if the criminal here is a truly deranged person (enacted by Raghav Juyal). However, there is a lot at stake and the clocking is ticking. A decision needs to be made and soon.
Yet again, there are two women in Kunal's life who play a pivotal role in his decision making. While his girlfriend Asha Negi has her own thought process to nab the criminal by means of her media exercise, his subordinate Nidhi Singh takes the route of law to find the clues and hunt for the man on loose.
As expected, there are thrills galore, though at a couple of places the action that unfolds lends a sense of deja vu, especially the one that is centered in an under-construction building that had been seen before too. However, what you do like is the use of technology that comes into play when Kunal joins the dots. Watch for the sequence where he finds the true identity of the criminal and also the manner in which he traces his location; the whole sequence is done quite well.
The finale is something that you didn't quite see coming. It is interesting to see how all the principle characters in the second season of Abhay are actually connected, and that brings in a unique dimension as well. Of course, there are cinematic liberties as well and it is also tough to imagine that an intelligent cop like Kunal couldn't actually find some discrepancies early on itself. Moreover, none of it still justifies the whole kidnapping drama that had ensued. However, in the bigger scheme of things, this polished crime series does turn out to be satisfying.
The way second season ends, you are set up well for the third season to go on floors as well. While I indeed look forward to all the thrills and drama that follow with some added brooding act by Kunal and good supporting presence of Nidhi Singh, I just hope that the gore factor is kept under check. That would only end up giving Abhay franchise a much wider reach.
Joginder Tuteja is a trade expert and film critic, and loves to talk and write about anything that is related to films. Views are personal.