Mismatched 2 review: Prajakta Koli and Rohit Saraf starrer needs a chill pill with cold coffee

2.5/5

The brilliant developer Dimple (Prajakta Koli) has lost her app. The hopeless romantic Rishi (Rohit Saraf) no longer believes in love. Fate forces Rishi to step back into the mess left behind, which forces this mismatched couple back into each other's presence. While their futures are on the line, Dimple and Rishi have to deal with strained friendships, new romantic interests, broken promises, school stress, and surprising rivalries.

Dimple and Rishi meet once again with a splash of cold coffee, and sparks fly across their faces, but not towards one another. After two years of waiting, Mismatched starts from the very next day, when all hell breaks loose at the Aravali Institute of Technical Studies. Dimple (Prajakta Koli) kisses Harsh (Vihaan Samant). Rishi's (Rohit Saraf) friendship with Namrata (Devyani Shorey) comes to an almost end after she is outed by Celina (Muskkaan Jaaferi).

Dimple, the geek whose app is sold to a corporate by Simran (Kritika Bharadwaj) and Krish (Abhinav Sharma), changes the whole plot of the series. The first season was all about the unwanted and complicated lives of teenagers from different parts of the country coming together for their love of technology. This season it crusades through similar plots but with maturity.

Casual relationships are brought into the picture as the first season shows it's all about true love, even for Gen Z. Rishi has lost all his belief in love because, "Hello! Future Wife," Dimple didn't take a second to come on to Harsh after a heartbreaking altercation between them. And hey, it's absolutely fine as teenagers are meant to "commit" mistakes at their age and not think about lifelong commitments.

We see the sizzling chemistry between Dimple and Harsh happening because they are a part of the same project and he majorly starts crushing on her after their kiss. The cute moments of to be or not to be in the dating world are aptly shown in the few episodes.

On the other hand, Rishi, still trying to be fit in the practical world after a huge blow, has a meet-cute moment with Sanskriti (Sanajan Sarathy), who immediately crushes on him. This further disengages the possibility of Dimple and Rishi coming together.

There's not a time leap in the story, but the makers showed that everything can change in a day; in this case, every day. People also change in the course of a single day, and it seems like the story has just gone off on a different tangent altogether.

However, in the search to bring depth to this silly genre, even the actors are lost in translation, just like any other confused teenager. But isn't that the whole point of the series?

But, in the eight long episodes, the characters are stuck-in-a-loop despite being on the path of self-discovery. If we wish there was less toxicity in a bunch of teenagers, we can expect that only from Namrata and her newfound partner, Ayesha. Taaruk Raina's character Anmol continues to be a bad-mouthed person who gets into an aggressive, violent mode later in this season. Why isn't he rusticated yet? I kept on wondering throughout the season. Being a "victim" who hates sympathy gets him all the perks of being a handicapped person once again.

Akarsh Khurana, the director, comes as a therapist too in the series, to counsel Anmol, who is definitely in dire need of therapy (well, everyone in this world needs it).

But the rigidity of his character is too good to be true, and we can't deny the fact that the blame game towards themselves never stops.

The lead characters, Dimple and Rishi, the nok-jhok, the character assassinations, because a girl deserves all the hate, right, takes the most course of the series and seems repetitive.

This season, several issues that Gen-Z and millennials face are brought up, like body standards, the peer pressure of losing virginity, and even panic attacks. It does bring a little serious undertone to the show, but fails to create far more impact than just being dialogue.

Critical analysis of Mismatched Season 2 won't make much sense as the audience just loves the cheesy platter it serves. But if the story is just being there in that institute without taking it much further, then it might as well. It would have been a mini series.

The final few episodes take an interesting turn and have a lot of interesting yet cliched moments. But only a few moments are memorable and will leave you with a smile.

In terms of performances, Prajakta Koli's character arc seems interesting in this season. We see her being more unapologetic about her personal life, despite the chaos in her thoughts. At one point in time, she wants one person to take the blame so that her career goes forward, while at another, she decides to forgive people around her for their wrongdoings but never forgets them.

Rohit Saraf as Rishi gets the much-deserving reality check that love stories have thorns and it can't always be his way or the highway. As a result, he takes the easy way out and becomes the polar opposite of his beliefs, such as no longer believing in love and entering into a casual relationship.

Even Vihaan Samanth, Muskkaan Jaferi, and Devyani Shorey bring a little depth to the story this time, making their characters far more entertaining than in the earlier seasons.

Akarsh Khurana, who has directed the series, has taken an easy route for the narration. But it's the cliched script by Gazal Dhaliwal, who also wrote the dialogues with Aarsh Vora, Akshay Jhunjhunwala, and Nandini Gupta, that fouls the play to a great extent.

Mismatched Season 2 doesn't end on a very high note with a cliffhanger, but you never know what's more in store for Rishi and Dimple's complex and toxic relationship. We hope they get better!

Mismatched Season 2 has a few highs and a lot of lows. The series' premise stays the same, and the characters change in a jiffy. But the change is hardly for any good.