The Gone Game 2 is tepid thriller sequel

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Season 2 is a tepid sequel to Season 1 of the series. The Gone Game, released in 2020, was an engaging thriller with a touch of ingenuity in the fact that it was shot during the lockdown and told a story set in the period. It also had to use individual actors’ shots because of the restrictions. It told the story of Sahil Gujral (Arjun Mathur), scion of a business family, and the mystery surrounding his death—was it due to the virus, or a murder. If the latter, was Sahil’s wife, Suhani (Shriya Pilgaonkar) responsible?

At the beginning of The Gone Game 2, Suhani walks out of jail as she had been charged with his murder but no concrete proof has been there of her complicity. And she declares in public that her husband is alive and that she will prove it within three days.

Her father-in-law, Rajeev (Sanjay Kapoor) and Suneeta (Rukhsar Rehman) are naturally hostile to her, though sister-in-law Amara (Shweta Tripathi Sharma) has mixed feelings.

After a hostile meeting with the trio, Suhani is mysteriously killed by a gunshot by an unknown assailant at night. CBI officer Sharmila Gupta (Harleen Sethi) is assigned the case. It is no spoiler to state that Sahil is indeed alive, and is trying to cross the border to Nepal. And so the plot shifts to who killed Suhani—Rajeev, Suneeta or Amara—or someone else?

Season 2 emerges as a tepid thriller. There are side roles played by Season 1 performers Dibyendu Bhattacharya and Indraneil Sengupta (whose tendency to take on relatively unimportant roles is on the increase). Both these actors, coincidentally great Bengali talents, are wasted.

What happens during Sharmila’s investigations is fairly interesting, but there are a few loopholes and absurdities en route. Also, we, yet again ,find the alarmingly increasing and recurrent sickness of web series—bringing in an unnecessary homosexual angle where there was no need and which does not make an iota of difference to the plot itself! C’mon, OTT friends, why highlight something society is accepting, even if not as fast as would be ideal?

Abhishek Sengupta’s direction is erratic, and so are the punches in the script. The performances are good, Shweta Tripathi Sharma heading the list with a nuanced turn as the ardent yet confused Amara. Sanjay Kapoor, as in The Fame Game, is shown as a routinely gray family man, and the role seems as if he has been taken out from that show and given a new setting. He shows no variation at all between Nilesh there and Rajeev here!

Shriya Pilgaonkar too is routine, shockingly, while Arjun Mathur as Sahil is correctly callous and selfish besides being hassled and helpless. Harleen Sethi has a flat one-dimensional character.

The series is strictly average and those impressed by its prequel will go for it more.

Rating: *** (Just About)

Voot Select presents Bodhi Tree Multimedia’s The Gone Game 2  Created by: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat  Produced by: Aman Sharma, Mukesh Motwani, Mautik Tolia & Aakansha Bisht  Directed by: Abhishek Sengupta  Written by: Radhika Anand, Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, Ayesha Syed & Mautik Tolia Music:  Starring: Sanjay Kapoor, Shweta Tripathi Sharma, Arjun Mathur, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Harleen Sethi, Rukhsar Rehman, Lubna Salim, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Indraneil Sengupta, Amit Jairath & others