Jamtara Season 2 Review: Less Impactful Than The Predecessor But Manages To Intrigue Even With What’s Available

Jamtara Season 2 Review: Star Rating:

Cast: Amit Sial, Sparsh Srivastav, Monika Panwar, Anshuman Pushkar, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Aksha Pardasany, Seema Pahwa & ensemble.

Creator: Soumendra Padhi & Concept By Nishank Verma.

Director: Soumendra Padhi.

Streaming On: Netflix.

Language: Hindi (with subtitles).

Runtime: 8 Episodes Around 45 Minutes Each.

Jamtara Season 2 Review: What’s It About:

Taking the menace of phishing ahead, the village of Jamtara is now doing the activity in a full-blown manner. It is an occupation that has build palaces in the city. But for the main people involved there is always a hanging sword above their head. What happens when they decide to take revenge and the dirty game of politics unfolds simultaneously. Watch the season 2.

Jamtara Season 2 Review: What Works:

So Jamtara season 1 was a show that entered our lives exactly with the pandemic. It was the first show we binged in the lockdown for many of us. Add to the fact that it was a show about a scam that we have also been attacked by at least once in our lifetime. The show was a fresh concept, and an engrossing story because it took us inside our phones and right in the epicenter of the scam we thought was small but includes an entire village. I know it’s fiction, but you get me.

So after two years, the makers bring back the show to unlock the fear of unknown numbers and messages yet again with season 2. Written by Kanishka & Ashwin Verman and original concept by Nishank Verma, the season 2 takes off a few weeks from the point the last ended. The village is now a hub for phishing and it isn’t any secret now that every person who knows the basics of calling wants to do it. While they follow Rocky (Anshuman) like dead followed the Night King, there is an all-new game of politics unfolding in the village.

It looks like the makers realise the monotony of their subject. Because till when will the same trajectory of men and women looting innocent people through bogus phone calls keep the audience hooked? So they spread their show horizontally and bring in more of Jamtara in front of the camera. Enters Seema Pahwa who stands opposite Amit Sial and creates a political war that takes the centre stage in season 2. There is a lot to grasp here because the premise gets wider. There are characters from the first season popping up and some references made just casually. So you cannot watch this one without watching the first season recap.

There is also a feeling of chaos in how director Soumendra Padhi and his team of writers capture this town now. Because it is not just a group of young men and some kids earning big money instantly, but there is an entire monster called the local politics involved. So the game only widens and the conflicts increase much more. The show finds its soul showing you the expanse of the crime world of phishing and how easy it is to get into it and stay if you don’t wish to climb up the ladder.

This is also made possible because of the cinematographer Sayak Bhattacharya who now gives this village a bird’s eye view versus the close to soil vision of Kaushal Shah. Shah’s work helped us understand the landscape and Sayak’s frames are more of a entry to the madness. He captures a Banyan tree in a land far away to which the phishing gang hangs their useless phones. The visual of that tree and the phones hanging on it is exactly the state of the village and you understand the intensity.

Of course there is more of civil violence between the groups and some bonds being made and broken, but a lot is ignored too.

Jamtara Season 2 Review: Star Performance:

The cast of Jamtara have by now embodied their characters to an extent where they don’t need to be in the get-up to play them. Be it Sparsh Srivastav’s arrogance and gest even with a minus a leg, or Monika Panwar finding her power while staying silent, or Anshuman Pushkar living a dilemma of whom to support, it all looks real and never makes us lose the grip. Panwar especially has the most difficult job amongst the OGs this season. She goes through a complete character transformation amid all the man-children and the actor is good at it.

Amit Sial is the go to politician for the OTT makers now. I think he can rightfully contest an election in real life and he might get highest votes because he is that good. But there needs to be a break too now. With him is the amazing Seema Pahwa and there is no way this amazing actor is ever going wrong. Dibyendu Bhattacharya continues to be brilliant in what he does.

Jamtara Season 2 Review: What Doesn’t Work:

While widening the spectrum of the show, the makers give a side eye to a lot of things in Jamtara Season 2. The show just touches subjects and never digs deeper to give us a perspective. Take the relationships, for example, no bond is explored enough to make us feel the pain when one dies. There is no specific central character as such this time because the screenplay runs behind the first person who passes in front of the camera.

This also affects the larger context. Like the topic including caste divide and beef ban raised, even the times of demonetisation but never to be discussed or affect more than that one scene or a couple of next. So the effect is never long enough to sustain and create Impact. Even the fact that show never takes us to the people who are scammed feels like a bothering thing. This results in making the phishing job look very easy. Because we aren’t seeing any outcome, the process seems inconsequential.

The dialogues in season 2 do a very minimum job. There are no conversations that will stay with the viewer. Maybe this is a result of the constant chaos and running on the screen.

Jamtara Season 2 Review: Last Words:

Jamtara season 2 entertains us for sure but that is not the only thing it sets out to achieve. With a confirmation of another season, the makers have given a better climax this time, hope they better the entire season 3 too.