The kaali 2 series has been directed by Aritra Sen and Rohan Ghose the second season glorifies the lead character as a mother who can do anything to protect her son. The second season of bilingual series Kaali streaming on Zee5 is engaging but only in a few parts. It is another layer of narrative that cannot be termed as a twist in the plot.
The sole intention of the director is to show the journey of Kaali played by Paoli Dam a mother who can go to any extent to protect her son. The second season takes us towards the end with an intention to recognize Kaali as the woman who has her own ambitions. The characters surrounding Kaali do not have any depth and do not hold attention in the absence of the lead character.
Her survival demands her to visit the den of dreaded drug dealers and she fearlessly takes up the challenge while striving a peaceful life for her son. Kaali’s involvement with drug mafia exposes the equation between drug dealers and police. Aniket Banerjee featuring Rahul Banerjee is a police officer who is a victim of circumstances as his girlfriend Kaali continuously ends up in the middle of illegal activities and he has to compromise to save the uniform.
If we leave aside Kaali’s connection and police hypocrisy the narration including gang war between two drug lords Swapan Koley (Chandan Roy Sanyal) and Jing Liang (Abhishek Banerjee) does not offer anything meaty to the audience. The incidents which take Kaali’s journey further don’t progress smoothly.
There is no adrenaline rush for the audience to feel if Kole gets the consignment. Strands of narrative divert the audience’s attention when they start thinking whether Kaali will be caught by Jing Liang. The two drug lords are very much different from each other. Jing is a narcissistic powermonger while Swapan is a survivor for whom loyalty is important.
Jing has a close connection between crime and police and Koley is compassionate and humane. He shoots one of his members for declaring that he can kill a child if required and makes Kaali realize what she really wants in her life. Koley takes the narration ahead with a new alliance and calm composure.
Dam holds to the strength of character and makes sure to create an atmosphere of tension around her. She is the driving force and thrilling element in the series. Banerjee is a naive police officer and his frustrating expressions are repetitive. Shilajit Mazumder is of a dubious nature and does not have a single stand in the scenario.
The dramatic act of Banerjee and Roy Sanyal’s natural performance shows the contrast between two characters. Vidya Malavde as police officer Gupta has performed decently. The actor playing Sunny is dramatic as per the requirement and looks promising. The indoor camerawork of Srijit Basu is very amateur. He has done a great job with action-packed chase sequences. Editor Sumit Chaudhary could have easily pumped up the pace of the film.
Nabarun Bose’s background music holds the series together. Kaali will come up with many more seasons as evident from the ending. The writer deserves credit for coming up with a female-oriented web series without any unnecessary violence. He can invest in creating characters that the audiences can connect with in the coming seasons.
