- Date of Release: 1 November 2024
- Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Language: Hindi
- Watch On: Zee5
Mithya (Season 2)
Introduction
If ever there was a mantle of a needless followup to the first season, then that would go to Mithya. I must admit that I had liked the first season of Mithya, an adaptation of the show Cheat, which did unfold as a psychological thriller coupled with a game of cat and mouse between Juhi (Huma Qureshi), a Hindi professor and her student Rhea (Avantika Dassani), a student. The plot that started with a mere charge of plagiarism, soon became darker by the minute with some unexpected twists and turns that soon ends with murder. The success of the show for me was the ability of the writing to expand on its central conflict while opening a can of worms along the way. But when the creative decision was to further expand the show, I was skeptical given that the writing needed to be much sharper to expand this universe. And I must say that the show did fail in this very account because the writing gave me an impression that it was confused on what it stood for – was it a psychological thriller? A murder mystery? A game of one-upmanship? In the process of the same, it ended up being none of them.
Story & Screenplay
It is very early on in the show that the central conflict of plagiarism was reintroduced, just that the tables have turned now. Juhi who had previously alleged this charge on Rhea, soon finds herself in the mix of a plagiarism charge by Amit (Naveen Kasturia) who slowly starts playing his cards well. But unknown to Juhi, Amit is just a pawn that is planted (and also used) by her arch-nemesis Rhea who still wishes to extract revenge from Juhi and her father (Rajit Kapur) who had abandoned her at birth. So essentially, this drama ought to have been a game on character dynamics soon starts running in different directions like a headless chicken with the onset of a murder investigation too, a plot point that was setup at the end of the first season.
The issue with the writing is that it never allows any sort of momentum to build in the drama. I must admit here that there were a few moments of intrigue before the simplistic resolutions kick in. So therefore, the payoff just wasn’t there even with the feeble twists and turns in the narrative. Another flaw with the writing was its characterization, particularly with its new characters that never allowed the conflict to be threatening. There are two instances here – one of Amit, a character that didn’t seem to have an identity of his own because just a plagiarism charge turning him into a stalker just did not make sense. This was in contrast to Rhea from the last season who was indirectly associated with Juhi’s family that did make her journey intriguing and personal. Secondly, the character of the cop Suman played by an incredible Anuritta Jha felt just so one-dimensional and devoid of any excitement, that it failed to generate any interest even in the whodunnit angle of the drama which was just so poorly written.
The writing wants you to believe that it is deliverately using an understated approach that is cerebral, while trying to create an atmosphere of intrigue. This, while even randomly introducing an emotional angle as a sub-plot that felt terribly out of place and quite forced. While there were undercurrents prevalent with respect to the Juhi-Rhea face-off, the track didn’t have much meat this time around to sustain interest or even root for either of the characters. After a point, it all felt routine even with a few ‘twisted’ sub-plots that really didn’t have an overall bearing on the screenplay.
There was a momentum shift in the third act with a potential kidnapping plot gone wrong, but its resolution which by the way had a good buildup, ended on such a whimper. The reason being that the writing wasn’t brave enough to raise the stakes in the drama by making it even more personal for the characters. This resulted in a finale that tried to cram in multiple twists within a short framework that felt just so abrupt and rather pointless with its setup for the next season. I was kind of shocked on how average the writing was, while being greenlit in the first place with the entire show being bland and rather unnecessary.
Dialogues, Music & Direction :
The dialogues are understated and decent but they don’t really enhance the impact of the drama given its already weak and substandard screenplay. The BGM is also forgettable while completely failing to create an ambience of tension and intrigue at any point in the narrative. The notes needed to use a theme connecting the plotpoints in the narrative or atleast trying to get into the psyche of the characters with individual compelling notes, but the notes instead were far too generic. The cinematography is decent comprising of frames that are adequate in setting up the mood of the drama. I must add that the lighting in the frames does work well in the context of the drama wherein the efforts of using a grim lighting was evident and appreciable. The editing is a little choppy while never allowing the tension in the drama to fully buildup. A building momentum is brutally cut short by frequently switching tracks such that none of them left a mark. Director Kapil Sharma misses the mark here. The confusion in him is evident onscreen as well wherein he absolutely stumbles with the setting and staging of the scenes. He is largely unsuccessful in creating bouts of tension while failing even with the characterization which is largely unimpressive. The direction was pretty average to say the least.
Performances:
The performances are pretty ordinary too with no other truly dominating the proceedings. One of the biggest gripes of the screenplay was that none of the characters here were well-developed, which is a cardinal sin in the longer format of cinema. Talented actors like Rushad Rana and Anindita Bose are wasted and they fail to leave a mark. Indraneil Sengupta as Vishal was a crucial character here but heavily underutilized while his performance was strictly average. Krishna Bisht as Arun is perhaps my favourite character here, not because of his awful character traits on the scale of morality but because atleast he was trying to make a fist of things with his performance. He definitely is pretty good and manages to impress. Anuritta Jha as Suman does a good job but the writing of her character is so uni-dimensional that it never allows her character to fully bloom. Rajit Kapoor as Anand delivers a dignified act and does a good job although his trauma and regret never found its way in the script. Naveen Kasturia as Amit is a sketchy character wherein even the prowess of a sincere act by him, cannot quite salvage the character that has hardly any high points. Avantika Dassani as Rhea is good but I did not quite see an improvement in her act from the last season. And it may partly have been due to the writing that never explored her sinister traits to the extent that it would come across as shocking. Huma Qureshi is nicely understated as Juhi but again, there is nothing much to write home about because her character here seemed confused about her intentions, while being flat with the writing.
Conclusion
The second season of Mithya is a bland thriller that totally fails to impress. The writing here is so weak that neither the actors nor the filmmaking (which was also weak) could salvage this season that ends up being just an average affair. Available on Zee5 (from 1st November ’24).
