The Night Manager Part II marks an exhilarating finish

- ADVERTISEMENT -

And so, the last three episodes of The Night Manager in Hindi have finally streamed! But, as I had thought while writing the review of the first four episodes over three months ago, I did not have the time to catch up on the English original. And I think it is always better to watch a remake without being influenced by watching its original, as one can both enjoy and judge it in an unbiased, clinical way!

But I am reliably told that this one’s almost a frame to frame remake, and since that is true, the adaptation has indeed been done with painstaking accuracy and effect, not to speak of the humongous technical effort involved. And yes, this series also proves that the original should be thus suitable for a faithful adaptation into the target language and nation!

The locations remain eye-catching (especially the deserts), the cinematography spellbinding (Benjamin Jasper and Anik Ram Verma) and the editing could not have been better—Parikshat Jha keeps his work nonpareil—with just the right mix of an edgy, lightning-paced flow that is neither abrupt nor jerky. The title music (Santhosh Narayanan) is excellent, but Sam C.S.’s background score overshadows it in its sheer perfection.

Akshat Ghildial’s and Shantanu Srivastava’s dialogues are also something to rave about. The direction is immaculate, and I loved the way the subtleties are expressed—especially in Shelly (Anil Kapoor)’s near-inhuman persona, where the only time he shows his emotions are either while interacting with his son, Tahaa (Shrenik Arora) or when mourning the death of his childhood friend and loyal accomplice, BJ (Saswata Chatterjee). On the other hand, the way Shelly disposes of a traitor in their ranks is chillingly haunting. I also cannot forget Shaan (Aditya Roy Kapur)’s inexorable expressions when Shelly tries to bribe him, or when Safina (Arista Mehta)’s murderer boasts of how he killed her, and again later, when Shaan despondently remembers Safina in the same place where she was given asylum by him.

As the harangued wife, Sobhita Dhulipala makes a mark with her expressions, and Tilottama Shome as the doughty Lipika is brilliant, especially in her sequences with her boss, and also her last encounter with Shelly. This performer needs at least a nomination in the Best Supporting Actor in a 2023 Web Series category!

Dominated by the excellence of Anil Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur, the second part picks up steam and ends in a crackling finale wherein a lot of aspects are highlighted more by visuals of sequences rather than in-your-face lines. And for me, the villain’s Nemesis shown here was almost as petrifying (for the villain) as it was for Saif Ali Khan in Ek Hasina Thi (2004).

My advice to those who have watched the British original: Do watch it to see how well a show can be adapted. For those who have not: Don’t miss it!

Rating: ****

Disney+Hotstar presents Banijay Asia’s & The Ink Factory’s The Night Manager Part II  Produced by: Deepak Dhar, Rishi Negi & Rajesh Chadha  Directed by: Sandeep Modi & Priyanka Ghose Created and adapted by: Sadneep Modi from a mini-series by David Farr Written by: John Le Carre, David Farr, Shridhar Raghavan, Akshat Ghildial & Shantanu Srivastava  Music:Santhosh Narayanan & Sam C.S.  Starring: Anil Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur, Sobhita Dhulipala, Tillotama Shome, Ravi Behl, Saswata Chatterjee, Varun Shashi Rao, Jagdish Rajpurohit, Resh Lamba, Arista Mehta, Shrenik Arora, Joy Sengupta, Vikram Kapadia, Akashdeep Sabir, Prashant Narayanan, Owais Bhatt, Bhupendra Singh Negi & others