Sapne vs Everyone is not a typically entertaining show; it is dark, and often depressing. At the same time, it is not completely hopeless, notes Deepa Gahlot.
Key Points
- Sapne vs Everyone Season 2 follows Jimmy Mehta in Delhi and Prashant in Mumbai as they navigate their ambitious journeys.
- The show starkly contrasts the power dynamics of Delhi (money, politics) with the struggle and hope of Mumbai’s showbiz.
- Prashant maintains his decency and ethics amidst the cutthroat film industry, while Jimmy hardens himself in the vicious Delhi real estate and political landscape.
In the second season of Sapne vs Everyone, the plot picks up the two lead characters, whose lives run parallel in Mumbai and Delhi. Ambrish Verma, who has written and directed this TVF show, also plays one of the protagonists, the brash Jimmy Mehta who lives in the capital. His buddy Prashant (Paramvir Singh Cheema) is an aspiring actor, who moves to Mumbai to try his luck in films.
Contrasting Dreams in Two Cities
While Jimmy does whatever it takes to get ahead, Prashant starts working with a casting agent, while also auditioning for parts in an industry where it is notoriously tough for an outsider to get a break.
Verma has captured the vibe and character of the two cities — in Delhi, money, politics, swag is the currency of power, in the showbiz circle of Mumbai, it’s struggle and endless hope.
Jimmy manages to build an apartment building, opposite his uncle Kukreja (Vijayant Kohli) and installs a statue of a middle finger to annoy him. He puts all his effort and money to get his candidate a ticket for the MP seat for Gurugram, to end his uncle’s political career. But he didn’t factor in the entry of his cousin Tony (Abhishek Chauhan), the mild-mannered man, who claims to just want peace, but hides a vengeful side.
The Struggle for a Break
Prashant shares a flat with two other aspirants: A writer, Ashvin (Akhil Kaimal), who has been trying to sell a script; and an actor Manish (Rajat Dahiya), who aces auditions, but gets a bad rep for a difficult attitude.
Strugglers in the film industry, whose lives revolve around the miracle of a break, have been seen on screen (and stage) before. Verma portrays them with a sympathetic eye. Most of them scrounge to pay the rent, and have stories about how long it took for them to get a break.
When the goal is so difficult and the payoff so precious, there is also back-stabbing, betrayal and the dreaded grapevine fuelled by jealousy.
In the midst of it all, Prashant retains his decency, innocence and ethics, that don’t allow him to climb over the ambition of a friend to fulfil his own.
The Price of Ambition
If the dream is elusive in Mumbai, in Jimmy’s Delhi, it is violent, unscrupulous and dog-eat-dog vicious.
Jimmy, who understands the real estate market, calls himself ‘sales God’ because he uses psychological trips to snare apartment buyers. Which is why he has hardened himself to project toughness — when a snooty family insults his father in a restaurant, Jimmy makes sure that they pay with humiliation.
At some point, there is the question of where fate or free will comes into the picture. Do dreams mean anything unless there is also the means to fulfill them?
A Pragmatic Ending
Jimmy is fiercely ambitious, Prashant is idealistic, and Verma does not take sides over which approach is better.
Both men are willing to work to get what they want, but Verma is pragmatic enough to not let a typical optimistic ending get in the way of telling a story that has as many triumphs as it has heartbreaks.
Both Verma (a bit too inspired by Emraan Hashmi) and Cheema have done their parts with utmost sincerity, working towards conveying the emotional highs and lows of the characters.
Sapne vs Everyone is not a typically entertaining show; it is dark, and often depressing. At the same time, it is not completely hopeless.
The characters make the audience care for them, and even the vile uncle and his son get a grudging admiration for how they deal with the enemy. Where the five episodes end, there is still some curiosity about where the paths of the two will take them, and whether they will meet again.
Sapne vs Everyone 2 streams on Prime Video.
Sapne vs Everyone 2 Review Rediff Rating:
