I Watched Sacred Games 2. I Got Bored, Annoyed And Confused. Maybe The Writers Had Some Gochi?

So, you were a underwhelmed with Sacred Games 2 too, huh? I say too because I was thoroughly disappointed. I was up till 2am trying to get to end of the series. And these were testing times. Because by the end, I was so poorly invested in the story, the neighbour’s light coming on and off had me more intrigued than if the omni-present but ever-conflicted Sartaj had saved the city. This was supposed to be a cliff hanger. But I had run out of fucks. There are spoilers and some bits may read like a rant. Proceed at your own risk.

First of all, in a space of just 8 episodes, we were introduced to Guruji, given insights on how he is and his plans for this world and even told his back story. All well and good. But it was Gaitonde and Sartaj’s story that was driving the plot in the first season. It was them playing off each other, their connection that was propelling the story forward. There’s just so much Guruji in this one, you want him off your screen for some respite. And I can’t be the only one who wanted to give him a haircut. But, seriously. This is a man who reeks of insincerity in the garb of a guru and we are given details that frankly, I didn’t care for. Except what was that material that the ashram’s clothing was made of, it looked supremely comfortable. So if someone could direct me to that shop in Santacruz, I would appreciate it very much.

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I understand. Every character’s conflicts are being drawn out, there’s social and political commentary but all of it feels forced. Like the writers (Vikramaditya Motawane and team) were told to include these talking points and they tried to bung those in. There’s one very filmsy sub-plot about Gaitonde’s man having an affair with a married woman – I still don’t know what I was supposed to make of it except that this man is making up for the husband’s erectile dysfunction. A strange barter, if you ask me. There’s the bit about Yadav madam’s husband. That guy has such a short role, item girls in movies can claim more screen time.

Then of course, there’s Shahid Khan. What a waste this was. This is a man who is to be feared- for he brings pure hatred and a NUCLEAR BOMB- with him. Bro, he be having nukes on him! He’s spent months years meticulous planning, detailing and funding for Mumbai to be blown to smithereens. You’d be scared shitless of this dude. But nope. He gets beaten up and then shot at by Sartaj. This guy has intelligence about how compromised the city is, what the state of security is, what channels are being used to carry out terror acts and potentially stop the bomb from going off. And yet, before they get an iota of information from him, Sartaj shoots and you know that the writers have as many fucks to give as you- which are basically none.

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Besides this, the story isn’t moving forward as much as it is oscillating wildly between the past and the present so that you don’t know what time you are watching and while that’s oh so cool, you know, to not have a linear narrative and all that, it starts to annoy you. And you don’t know how the characters are feeling. Because you can’t remember what time they are in. This isn’t a dark, gritty thriller anymore. It’s a confused, convoluted plot with convenient resolutions so that the loose ends all get tied up.

Also, can someone please explain why Gaitonde’s face, much like the storyline, goes from puffy to haggard, back to puffy so that now he looks like Shraddha Kapoor did in Haseena Parker? And also, could we get some clarity on why Sartaj is so sweaty? Entire shirts are filled with sweat stains. Was this supposed to be an allusion to the rising heat in the city of Mumbai? ‘Coz honestly, it’s sweltering and then I would get it. May I suggest a deodorant?

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Look, I know I am not deep. I don’t claim to be. But I am calling out the second season of Sacred Games for attempting to layer a storyline and then not allowing us enough like to feel before tossing us into the next character’s conflict. So I want to feel bad for Sartaj and his ex wife’s situation but before I get a chance, she starts spouting some very rando rubbish about the world ending and opening the door to a world of CGI fire and now I am lost. I want to be invested in Gaitonde’s love for Mumbai but before I can process that dead-but-only-to-the-world but now murdered Guruji is, well, truly dead. It’s like the audience is on a trampoline of emotions and you’ve only a few seconds before you’re bounced off again. It’s exhausting.

Add to this that I still don’t have a clue as to why that book that took years for Guruji to write is so important to Sartaj. Because it doesn’t look like the hand patterns were of any help. Even if it had all the details of the new world order, Sartaj and book are probably going to be blown up and it couldn’t be helpful. For all you know, Guruji was simply biding his time and has now written a Bollywood potboiler under the pseudonym Ketan Magat.

There are a few good things. Like every one gives gaalis. And juicy ones. And it’s not limited to the men. And kudos to the peeps for doing a good job of hiding Surveen Chawla’s pregnancy. All of her shots don’t give away that she’s mommy to be. We couldn’t tell. But they also hid any semblance of a coherent story and if there was one, we couldn’t tell.