Duranga Season 2 Review: Starring Gulshan Devaiah, Drashti Dhami, Amit Sadh, Barkha Bisht, Rajesh Khattar, Divya Sheth, Zakir Hussain and others, this crime-thriller TV series is directed by Rohan Sippy. The second season comprises 8 episodes, each with a runtime of around 30 minutes. The series is the official remake of the 2020 Korean drama series Flower of Evil, starring Lee Joon-gi, Moon Chae-won and Kim Ji-hoon.
Duranga Season 2 Plot
After the real Sammit Patel (Amit Sadh) wakes up from his coma, a fresh slew of murders begin once more. As the police try to find Bala Banne’s accomplice and put an end to the reign of terror, Abhishek Banne (Gulshan Devaiah) fights to save his family’s life and keep his identity secret as he desperately seeks to protect what is the most important to him.
– Duranga Season 2 Does Not Contain Spoilers –
Duranga Season 2 Review
If there ever was a lukewarm remake of a fantastic original, Duranga is that show. Lukewarm, uninteresting and a constant reminder of how well it could’ve been if the makers didn’t try to spew their own little additions to it. For fans who did get to watch the 16+ hours of content of Flower of Evil, you will be able to ascertain the ways in which the remake is thoroughly different from the original.
As I had mentioned in my season 1 review, though, it’s fine for the remake to be different. However, Duranga can’t hold on to the thrill and tense atmosphere of the original, in spite of having all the materials to do so. Even the most thrilling moments seem a bit too long, although the episodes are so short. The episodes are too similar, but they still seem a bit too different; it’s an odd conundrum of feelings while watching the series.
Also Read: Duranga Ending Explained and Key Differences With Flower of Evil
The series also should’ve all been released together. I think the fact that they are releasing it in two parts with such a huge gap in between them takes away the thrill of binging such a complicated series. The break in between takes away the tense atmosphere of the situation and waters it down quite a bit. Amit Sadh joins this season as Sammit Patel – he’s a goofy villain. I don’t know what it is with making him make these odd raspy sounds and the constant tongue sticking out, but it doesn’t work, and it’s silly. However, when he looms in the background undetected, he feels rather menacing.
Unfortunately, he is the silliest in the last episode, and that’s also when the show is at its lowest point. It just goes from following the original script to going absolutely solo and ends up ruining what little intrigue it had created. The last episode is by far the stupidest, with the entire fight sequence culminating in a dramatic and utterly unnecessary ending that has no explanation and can be classified as a cliffhanger.
Also Read: Duranga Review: Byte-Sized Flower of Evil
That being said, I would also say that Devaiah, who is usually quite a dependable actor, doesn’t capture the mental pressure and confusion of Lee Joon-gi’s Do Hyun-soo. He mostly looks extremely stoic and emotionless, which feels odd and sorta sociopathic in itself! In the end, Duranga season 2 is a dramatic mess which remakes the original but without any of its thrills or character developments. Even Drashti Dhami’s Ira feels like she’s just reading lines without feeling the heartbreak of realising that her life until now has been a lie. The things that we see, thus, don’t stick together cohesively to provide a thrilling or emotional watch.
I also wonder why they had to push a few deaths in the Hindi series for no reason. It takes away some justifications for no reason, making things a bit more Bollywood just for its sake. The point is that it’s unnecessary – the series pushes an already complicated original to its brink, adding more and more stuff to make things even more complicated but without any reason. With just 30 minutes in comparison to the original’s almost 70-minute per-episode runtime, you will feel yourself asking where it stops!
Duranga Season 2 Review: Final Thoughts
Duranga Season 2 feels like it’s nothing and everything. There’s not much happening, but at the same time, a lot is happening. It’s a mess of a series that is overdramatic and without any cohesive elements. If you truly want to watch a good thriller with great twists, watch Flower of Evil – it’s streaming on Netflix and will keep you at the edge of your seat while giving you all the emotional feels.
Duranga Season 2 is streaming on Zee5.
Shit review