‘Breathe S2’ Review: Amit Sadh Saves This Bizarre Thriller

The series is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Stutee Ghosh review of Breathe: Into The Shadows.

(Photo: The Quint/Shruti Mathur)

Amit Sadh reprises his role of senior Inspector Kabir Sawant in Breathe: Into The Shadows, which also marks the digital debut of Abhishek Bachchan and Nithya Menen. While the latter lends novelty to the sequel of the 2018 series Breathe, it's only Amit Sadh and his unwavering conviction while playing a cop trying to search for a new beginning even as he makes amends for his past mistakes that makes Breathe 2 worthwhile.

Directed by Mayank Sharma, who has written the screenplay along with Bhavani Iyer and Vikram Tuli, this universe is similar to the morally dodgy world of its prequel.

Here, too, they explore the connect of how far someone is willing to go to save their own kin. But, like the newly-added suffix, there are secrets lurking in the shadows.

This is the review of the whole series, and yes I sat up all night to finish the 12 episodes each of which are around 40 minutes long. And I’m not particularly happy about it. Because if work feels like work, where’s the fun? Watching a series requires more commitment than a film. The sheer length demands unflinching loyalty and attention. And as each episode draws to a close , how swiftly you press the next episode button without letting sleep or work or even a phone call distract you is the real test.

Abhishek Bachchan in a still from Breathe: Into the Shadows.(Photo Courtesy: YouTube screengrab)

Also, since this is going to be spoiler-free review I will suppress all urge to dissect the plot and throw light on the many gaping holes. What do we already know from the trailer? Six-year-old Siya (Ivana Kaur) is missing. Avi (Abhishek Bachchan) and Abha (Nithya Menen), her parents, are distraught. Usually, in case of a kidnapping, the call for ransom is made within 48 hours, but here months have passed and nothing transpires. Finally, the kidnapper does contact them but makes some weird demands about killing certain people and giving instructions on how the murders should take place. And to try and solve this mystery we have Kabir Sawant (Amit Sadh) on the job .

To add to that, Avi is a psychiatrist and thus becomes part of the police investigation team because “psychiatrist se better mind games kaun samajh sakta hai?” Where would all this lead us? Who is the kidnapper? Why is he interested in murdering people? These are questions the series promises to answer. I can only tell you that every message the parents receive from this 'mystery' man comes nicely packaged in an iPad. These free iPads really enticed me, but the narrative never pays much attention to them. The daughter is still missing even though the family is drowning in a supply of iPads.

Nithya Menen & Abhishek Bachchan in Breathe: Into The Shadows.(Photo Courtesy: Pinterest)

The unsaid deal that the viewer invariably strikes with a show/film is that the story could be about anything, from aliens to black magic, ghosts to talking insects as long as we are convinced enough to buy into the plot. Here, strangely, the pain of the couple on losing their only child doesn't move us as much as it should. Abhishek Bachchan‘s face remains frustratingly opaque. And once the big reveal takes place at the end of Episode 5 we are more or less done with the show. The only one who holds our attention is Amit.

Sadh is excellent. The scenes in the police station are the most gripping. Shradhha Kaul makes for a terrific cop herself. Prakasha and Jaiprakash aka Hrishikesh Joshi and Shrikant Verma are sheer pleasure to watch. In fact the supporting cast elevate the viewing experience. Saiyami Kher appears in the first couple of episodes and then disappears before making another appearance in Episode 7. Resham Shrivardhankar and Ivana Kaur making valiant efforts to trick the kidnapper and escape are effortlessly good. Shataf Figar, Shruti Bapna, Plabita Borthakurta, Shataf Figar and Shruti Bapna all welcome additions who keep peaking our interest with their performances.

All said and done, Breathe 2 is overwrought and sometimes plain bizarre. Things don’t always add up and parallel threads are picked up and abandoned at will.

Episode 12 ends with a huge hint that a next season must be lurking in the shadows, but we fervently wish that Amit Sadh is given complete control in that one. Our rating: 2 Quints out of 5