Starring Mohit Raina, Konkona Sen Sharma, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Mrunmayee Deshpande, Satyajeet Dubey, and Natasha Bharadwaj, Mumbai Diaries 2 is the best returning season of a show in the Indian streaming space.
Director: Nikkhil Advani
Cast: Mohit Raina, Konkona Sen Sharma, Prakash Belawadi, Satyajeet Dubey, Tina Desai, Mrunmayee Deshpande, Natasha Bhardwaj, and Parambrata Chattopadhyay
Where to Watch: Prime Video
Rating: 4 stars
Two years back, the first season of Mumbai Diaries, set against the backdrop of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, showed how the Bombay General Hospital dealt with countless number of victims, including the citizens as well as terrorists, at the time when their hospital and staff were also attacked by a few terrorists. The second season of Mumbai Diaries, recently released, sees Bombay General Hospital and its staff affected by the devastating Mumbai floods of 26 July, 2005.
The compelling characters of CMO Dr. Madhusudan Subramaniam (an always reliable Prakash Belawadi), Dr. Kaushik Oberoi (a restrained Mohit Raina), Director of Social Services Chitra Das (a brilliant Konkona Sen Sharma) and the journalist Mansi Hirani (Shreya Dhanwanthary) act as the four main pillars of this medical drama. The three resident doctors Dr. Sujata Ajawale (Mrunmayee Deshopande), Dr. Ahaan Mirza (Satyajeet Dubey), and Dr. Diya Parekh (Natasha Bharadwaj), who had joined the hospital on the horrific day of 26/11 in the last season, return with fantastic performances. With solid character acrs, the show gives the three of them enough meat to chew on and they bite it totally. Parambrata Chatopadhyay as Dr. Saurav Chandra, Chitra’s abusive husband and Tina Desai as Ananya Ghosh Oberoi, Dr. Kaushik Oberoi’s wife, complete what is one of the best ensembles on Indian OTT.
The second season begins with Sonali Kulkarni’s Mrs. Kelkar pressing murder charges against Dr. Kaushik Oberoi as her husband ATS Chief Anant Kelkar passed away in the last season on Oberoi’s stretcher after being hit by a terrorist’s bullets during the 26/11 attacks. Within minutes, we move forward to 26 July, the day the Maximum City came to a standstill. The 26 July floods, in reality, occurred in 2005 but for the continuity purposes, the series shows it as 2009. As Mumbai gets flooded, we see how the Bombay General Hospital staff comes together to save the lives of hundreds as the show addresses several social issues of gender identity, child abuse in remand homes, domestic abuse, and mental health awareness across eight episodes.
Both the seasons of Mumbai Diaries have been directed by Nikkhil Advani. Advani, who made his directorial debut with Kal Ho Naa Ho and has had a varied filmography with titles such as Salaam-E-Ishq, Delhi Safari, D-Day, and Batla House among others. The filmmaker controls the entire narrative and screenplay in this season. With Mumbai Diaries, it is certain that the filmmaker is best suited for longform storytelling.
In one of the pivotal scenes in a episode, Dr. Sujata calls Dr. Kaushik “Doctoron Ka Shah Rukh Khan”, and then, we actually realise that it the same reason that makes us cheer for the superstar and Mohit Raina’s character. With such references, Mumbai Diaries 2 is highly relatable, even though when most of the time, the characters are talking to themselves in medical terminology, whose meaning we might not know but we understand its essence is completely.
But, the second season of Mumbai Diares isn’t flawless. Parambrata’s poor English accent was a major hiccup for me. The writing sometimes is too formulaic and filmy, specially in a scene in which a queer character comes out. A few episodes and a couple of narratives seem stretched, when I found myself distracted from the events unfolding right infront of my screen.
It is no doubt that Mumbai Diaries 2 is probably the best returning season of a show in Indian streaming space. As one of a character this season says, “Mumbai kabhi kisi se darti nahi, tabhi yeh kabhi rukti nahi (Mumbai doesn’t fear anyone, and hence keeps moving), I hope Nikkhil Advani and his team comes out with next season of Mumbai Diaries quickly, keeping us invested in these powerful chracters with their emotional and humane stories, backed with solid research and highly gripping screenplay.
