Mumbai Diaries season 2 review: A dramatic and emotional ode to Mumbai and the medical profession that embraces the overflowing of water and chaos beautifully!
Mumbai Diaries season 2 review: We are all guilty of watching and enjoying medical dramas from the West knowing full well that things have been twisted, turned, and dramatised for narrative satisfaction. Why? Because in a world that sometimes feels so bleak, watching someone save a life gives us some solace. And Mumbai Diaries now with its season 2 has become that seasonal medical drama for India. It takes a step ahead of its predecessor and is loud, dramatic, emotional, and chaotic but all for the right reasons!
The first season was based on the backdrop of 26/11, where following the rule book of medical dramas, Dr. Kaushik Oberoi (Mohit Raina) with his entire team knows how to use the resources at his hands to rebel against the unjust system while fighting the terror at hand as well as in their personal lives. Following a similar suit of doctors vs the system, this time around, everybody is battling Mumbai floods but it is the personal aspect that guides the professional. For the sake of the story, the 2005 floods of Mumbai have been brought to 2009 and are covered with various perspectives ranging from the Bombay General Hospital, the streets and a media house.
The show starts some months after that fateful night, and rebellious Dr. Kaushik is burnt out from fighting while the world finds in him a scapegoat and pins the blame on him for killing the ATS chief. The hospital is still reeling from the damage done to it by the attack as a delegate from the UK visits and with him comes Chitra Das (Konkana Sen Sharma)'s haunting past. Kaushik's three trainees- Diya (Natasha Bhardwaj) deals with her grief, Sujata (Mrunmayee Deshpande) learns a lesson in discipline without losing her identity, and Ahaan (Satyajeet Dubey) deals with his complicated love life.
Since there are no more demons to fight from the outside, the focus is on the demons that live within and haunt us. As each character fights a battle on their own and we eagerly wait for their triumphant win, an infectious outbreak spreads, a railway bridge collapses, a juvenile scam brings abused children, a burnt patient with a mystery and complicated family is brought in, nurses get involved in the medical black market, a pending court case decision hangs over their heads and of course the floods and its repercussion are still being dealt with. There's so much happening that no one has a breath to spare! But the eight-episode season has a lot to unpack and they do it without taking a break but giving space enough for each arc to unravel.
The brilliance of the show lies in creating a worthy drama that derives its commentary from its poetic writing so that even a monologue by the end telling you that every doctor has read Gita and knows the difference between 'dharma' and 'karma' doesn't feel preachy but much-needed statement to be made. Everything becomes a metaphor even while it literally exists - the hospital for the characters and Mumbai falling apart while learning to heal, water for the pressure that constantly gets built whether with the influx of patients or water overflowing up to a breaking point, and light for the darkness looming over large in a single night.
Even the technical aspects from the camera to the production design understand this and create this tight knit cornering everyone in a rushed experience while separating the varied perspectives. The world built by Nikhil Advani is supported by an exceptionally talented cast. Mohit Raina and Shreya Dhanwanthary happily take a little backseat while the others shine, especially Konkana Sen Sharma, and Parambrata Chatterjee. Mrs. Cherian, specifically, has stolen my heart!
But the valuable lessons this series teaches you is what stays with you. The show highlights a sense of community standing for anti-establishment rather than an individual. And the fact that in the wake of applauding a city's strength to come out of a calamity strongly and reducing it to just numbers, we miss out on actually finding the real culprit. Also, while some dark nights bring grave loss which is hard to accept, life will find a hopeful way to move on. You have to give it to the storytellers and the editor to bind the season so superfluously that something personal feels universal. And I sincerely hope to learn many more lessons from these confessional diaries of Mumbai!
Mumbai Diaries season 2 is streaming on Amazon Prime Video!
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