Randeep Hooda returns as the titular supercop in Inspector Avinash Season 2, but the series struggles to maintain narrative coherence and pacing, sighs Sreeju Sudhakaran.
Key Points
- The three-year gap between seasons makes it challenging for viewers to reconnect with the numerous, often melodramatic, subplots of Inspector Avinash.
- Season 2 attempts to juggle multiple storylines, leading to a messy and fragmented narrative.
- The series suffers from poor pacing, abrupt transitions between plotlines, and an overuse of soap-opera melodrama, hindering viewer engagement.
- Randeep Hooda’s performance remains the series’ strongest asset, providing intermittent watchability amidst dated screenplay and problematic stereotypes.
Correct me if I am wrong, but most of the second season of Inspector Avinash, consisting of 10 episodes, appears to have been shot around the same time as the first season.
Whether that’s true or not, therein also lies a problem.
The first season arrived in 2023, and it has taken three years for the next batch of episodes to drop.
For a series that never really maintained a sustained presence in Internet chatter, that gap makes it rather difficult to reconnect with the events of the new season, especially for someone like me who tends to consume content on the go.
The recap helps only marginally. You vaguely remember the titular hero and his mission, but I genuinely had to rack my brains to recall some of the melodramatic subplots, like the deal involving Shalin Bhanot’s character and his fiancée.
What’s Inspector Avinash S2 About?
So what exactly is happening in the new season? Well, it continues with Avinash and his STF team’s crusade against the illegal weapons cartel operating in Uttar Pradesh, secretly controlled by politician Sheikh (Amit Sial) and the transgender godperson Devi (Abhimanyu Singh).
But that is hardly the only storyline here.
Avinash must also solve the murder of a schoolboy, a case in which his own son becomes a suspect. His wife Poonam (Urvashi Rautela) grows increasingly frustrated with his methods and eventually walks out after a disturbing incident.
Avinash and his team head to Bihar for a dacoit encounter operation. Then they find themselves trapped in a court case after being accused of carrying out a fake encounter.
In all this brouhaha, Avinash also has to find out if there is a traitor amidst them. And I am merely scratching the surface of the numerous plotlines the overcrowded second season attempts to juggle.
Overcrowded Plotlines, Pacing Issues
Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with multiple story threads. Acclaimed series like The Wire and Game of Thrones built their reputations on handling sprawling narratives.
Closer home, shows like The Family Man and Sacred Games also balanced multiple tracks with reasonable finesse. What helped those series succeed was rhythm, pacing and smart editing that allowed viewers enough breathing space to absorb each subplot.
That has been a major struggle with this new season of Inspector Avinash. Particularly in the first five episodes, the storytelling feels messy and fragmented, jumping from one thread to another with little fluidity.
Just when a plotline begins to get intriguing, say the schoolboy murder case, the series abruptly abandons it and rushes off elsewhere before returning to it on a random whim.
It also does not help that nearly every emotional beat is treated with soap opera excess, complete with melodramatic songs and slow-motion reaction shots.
Dated Screenplay
There is admittedly a bit more coherence in the latter half, once the show starts tying together the loose ends from both seasons. These episodes are comparatively easier to watch.
Unfortunately, the resolutions themselves feel disappointingly routine. Even the aforementioned schoolboy murder investigation, arguably the most intriguing track here, gets wrapped up far too conveniently by Avinash.
Now, Inspector Avinash is based on a real-life supercop who earned considerable fame during the 1990s. What I cannot quite figure out is whether Bollywood borrowed heavily from his exploits back then, or whether this series borrows too heavily from old Bollywood cop dramas instead of the man’s actual life.
Almost every plotline carries an overwhelming sense of déjà vu, following patterns so predictable that no amount of cross-cutting or narrative jumping can disguise them. Neerraj Pathak’s handling of the screenplay also feels dated and amateurish in places.
Like, for example, it is unintentionally hilarious how effortlessly Avinash’s spy slips into Devi’s heavily guarded bedroom unnoticed despite security stationed outside. And whenever the show struggles to explain something properly, it resorts to Avinash annoyingly breaking the fourth wall and spoon-feeding information directly to the audience.
The Performances Amidst Flaws
Even with the irritating narration breaks, Randeep Hooda remains the series’ biggest strength and perhaps the sole reason it stays intermittently watchable.
Amit Sial and Abhimanyu Singh are serviceable antagonists.
Urvashi Rautela is surprisingly restrained, even if her role mostly revolves around being distressed by her husband’s choices.
Among the supporting cast, Govind Namdeo, Rajniesh Duggal and Pravin Sisodia manage to stand out.
If you enjoy old-school ’90s-style cop dramas where the hero maintains his swagger while gunning down gangsters, where encounter killings are glorified and transgender characters are reduced to problematic stereotypes, Inspector Avinash as a whole might work for you.
Though honestly, if that is what you are after, why not simply revisit an actual Hindi cop film from that decade instead?
Inspector Avinash Season 2 streams on JioHotstar.
Inspector Avinash Season 2 Review Rediff Rating:
