Inside Edge 2 Is Every Bit As Engrossing As Season 1

Inside Edge 2 (Amazon  Video)

Starring  Angad Bedi, Richa Chadha, Tanuj Virmani, Vivek Oberoi, Siddhant  Chaturvedi

Created  by Karan Anshuman

Rating: *** ½ (3 and a half stars)

 The  house  of  Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani excels  in  films and now webseries  populated  by good-looking people,gliding across  gleaming surfaces , managing to be substantial  in spite of their  obvious pursuit of  worldly pleasures , namely money, sex and  fame.

Here in the second season  of Inside Edge the  momentum and  velocity  of Season 1  are maintained. Not once  in  the  first  five  episodes  did I feel  the characters or the narrative  were  dragging their feet. The passion and energy  of  the cricketers,  and of the cricketers’  mentors and manipulators  flows without  any stressful  push  from the serial’s creators.The push,if any,comes from the  drama itself.

Season 2 opens with a kickass preamble where a hotshot tv journalist (no resemblance  to Arnab) crosses the  line while interview  the powerful IPL baron Bhaisaheb (Amir Bashir,  splendidly  reined-in and  enigmatic) and pays for it with his  job which he loses with one text message  sent from Bhaisahab’s  phone, Immediately we know the  pursuit of and passion for power remains uncompromised in  the series even as these exceedingly ambitious  entrepreneurs  and sportspersons manipulate every rule in  the  book of life  and ethics to get what they want.

 This  riveting series  ambitious people wouldn’t have  worked without  the  ambitious  writing. The  screenplay allows the characters to float  freely and then drown in their own ambitious. That almost  all the actors get the point, helps  pump up the adrenaline level even further. I found every  actor to be outstanding. But special mention must be made of Aamir Bashir, Tanuj Virwani(as a hotheaded star cricketer, get it?), Angad Bedi(playing the only morally correct  character  among the shortcut seekers)  Richa Chaddha, Siddhant Chaturvedi(as  the paranoid panic-stricken smalltown cricketer his  role is here is a far cry from his cocky aggressive Gully Boys), Manu Rishi and Sayani Gupta. These  are sparkling performances,that shine when  applied to  situations and dialogues that are  dramatic  without going over-the-top.

Observe  how Richa’s  Zareen Malik  manipulates her way into the  powerful  IPL, sorry PPL  baron undermining the  sports baron’s own daughter(Sapna  Pabbi)’s prominence. The  crackling  but curbed chemistry between Chadda and Aamir Bashir blows the  screen apart.

You don’t have to be  a cricket fan  to enjoy Inside Edge 2. What this handsome series says about arrogant ambition and self-destructive  pride is  applicable  to every walk of life.

What this series  could have avoided are  an overdose  of  one-liner  googlies .They tend to get in the way  of  the real issues. Also , why the stereotyping of Pakistan? When Vivek Oberoi lands in Lahore  to threaten/cajole/seduce  the  vice president of the Pakistan cricket team  everything including the vice president’s shirt turns green.

And the song Khai ke paaan baneraswala is translated in the subtitles as ‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance’.

Bachchan Saab would not  like the  gender of the dancer  or  the  finality conferred upon his iconic  danc