City Of Dreams Season 2: Racy Entertainer
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
By Linus Garg
First publised on 2021-08-19 22:37:41
About the Author
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
City of Dreams season one was about politics in Mumbai and the power struggle between a sister and her brother with the father supporting the brother. Season two (streaming on Disney Hotstar) is again about Mumbai's political scene but now the conflict is between father and daughter. After killing her brother Ashish (Siddarth Chandekar), Poornima Gaikwad (Priya Bapat) is now the chief minister of Maharashtra, supported by party senior Jagdish Gurav (Sachin Pilgaonkar) and cop-turned-politician Wasim Khan (Eijaz Khan). But her wheelchair-bound father Ameya Rao Gaikwad (Atul Kulkarni), who is universally known as Saheb, has not reconciled to the situation and wants to punish her for killing his son. The show is all about how he uses everything in his command to put obstacles in her way and cause her downfall.
There are several stories that are told, some a continuation from the first season and others new. Director Nagesh Kukunoor creates a vast canvas and keeps the show going at a fast pace so that viewer interest does not flag. He makes Saheb dig into Poornima's past, make offers to the main opposition party, tie up with goons and even manipulate her son to get back at her. It makes for an interesting and riveting watch to see corruption in high places and how a well-intentioned Poornima tries to combat her wily father. The unexpected climax adds a surprising twist and readies the viewer for the third season.
Priya Bapat is excellent as Poornima and displays the right amount of confidence and vulnerability which her character demands. She slips in scenes where she interacts with her lesbian lover but has a great screen presence and is not overawed by senior actors like Atul Kulkarni and Sachin Pilgaonkar. Kulkarni is once again in top form and proves he is underrated as an actor. Sachin is good as the supportive father-figure who is not immune to manipulating Poornima for his benefit. Eijaz Khan as Wasim fits in well as the troubleshooter for the chief minister. Though it becomes difficult for Kukunoor to do justice to or tie up all the loose ends in the many stories he takes up, it is to his credit that the viewer does not feel shortchanged. The show is entertaining even though the cutting edge of the first season is missing.
