Adrishyam 2 review: Eijaz Khan-Pooja Gor's espionage thriller is so lost, even its 'maqsad' feels confused

1.5/5

Adrishyam 2 – The Invisible Heroes story:

In Adrishyam 2 - The Invisible Heroes, agents take on the role of a secret team of elite operators who, to prevent attacks, operate in the shadows. Featuring Pooja Gor as Durga and Eijaz Khan returning as Ravi Verma, the latest season delves further into treacherous plots, startling betrayals, and an unyielding fight to safeguard the country.

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Adrishyam 2 – The Invisible Heroes review:

When we think of how our country is under threat, it's rare that we come across stories that external people are causing those threats and making the nation unsafe. Nowadays, people within the nation are posing threats and attacking one another brutally. Filmmakers continue to believe that Pakistan is plotting an attack, assigning various secret agents to safeguard the nation. No, I am not denying that it might not be true, but the number of espionage thrillers that are being produced in the form of films and series is likely based on a hunch that there are fewer attack threats than previously believed. 

Adrishyam 2 is another espionage thriller like Mukhbir: The Story of a Spy, marketed as a CID or Saavdhan India and featuring elite operators. The six-episode-long series delves into three distinct stories, each spanning two episodes. Each story is all about the "maqsads" made by Pakistanis to remind India that something worse than the 26/11 attacks can happen to the country, and the neighbouring nation won't budge.

The show is about terrorists who seem to have local ties or have been plotting to destroy lives and property for years. At one point in time, the show goes nothing like its title; everything is so visible, even the next steps of the terrorists as well as the secret agents who are stopping the attack in every way possible. 

We must illuminate the production value, an aspect the makers overlooked. Adrishyam 2 is heavily influenced by other films, leading the creators to believe that using a sepia tone or keeping an orange bulb on, similar to streetlights, effectively indicates the story's setting in Pakistan. The differentiation is so brutally visible that the dialogues and how the people talk there are not enough. 

It seemed like the actors playing terrorists were asked to repeat lines from the many Bollywood films they had seen. Because even though I am aware of those dialogues, thanks to the occupational hazards, these are the only ones coming out, and I am watching them at work.

The show constantly reminds its leading characters, Ravi (Eijaz Khan) and Durga (Pooja Gor), to maintain a work-life balance. On one side, Khan is about to become a father, but his wife, who still believes he works for the weather department, keeps testing him to ensure a smooth baby delivery. On the other hand, Gor is living with her adoptive parents, where the father is a Gujarati and the mother is a Punjabi, and they are constantly at loggerheads. 

These glimpses of their personal lives do come as a jerk but nowadays they have to be shown since not all agents are lone wolves, and even they do have their weaknesses. 

However good the distraction is, it's just mere filler, which has no impact on either the story or the characters. But let's not get distracted from our "maqsad", which is how can you break down a series which is miserably broken, uninspired, and adapted from every espionage thriller out there and still put minimal efforts to make it entertaining, knowing the fact that audiences are smart enough to figure out what would happen next? 

The characters look so tired that they don't care about the nation's danger. Them exuding it so well means that probably viewers also need not be worried because we know what's going to happen in the end, and probably they do, too.

Coming to performances, to be honest, like I mentioned earlier, the actors do look disinterested, or probably their story arcs are stitched in such a way that even these covert operators have a mundane life where they think, Another day, another terrorist attack. Khan's aggression in past outings is missed here, and you'd want him to respond better to his surroundings. Meanwhile, Gor does bring that edge, not to the extent that she makes a thrilling impact. But the efforts are visible and it definitely goes in vain while making it to the screen.

Adrishyam 2 is a series where everything is invisible – storyline, performances, production value and the constant "maqsads", which also has been planted without making any efforts for it to look thrilling.

Adrishyam 2 – The Invisible Heroes verdict:

Adrishyam 2 – The Invisible Heroes lives up to its name — not because the agents are undetectable, but because the plot, thrill, and originality are all MIA. What’s meant to be a covert mission turns into an overt mess, with recycled tropes, tired performances, and storytelling that’s more visible than invisible. 

Loved Adrishyam 2? Also watch spy thrillers Tanaav and Berlin that are available on OTTplay Premium