Mirzapur (Season 2) review: Performances are the highlight of this overlong revenge saga

The first season of Mirzapur saw Guddu Bhaiya (Ali Fazal) and Bablu Bhaiya (Vikrant Massey) compelled to enter the underworld of Kaleen Bhaiya (Pankaj Tripathi) and his son Munna (Divyenndu Sharma). The brothers soon start enjoying the power and money that are by-products of working for Kaleen Bhaiya.

Then they get too big for their boots and end up making enemies of Kaleen Bhaiya and Munna. The season ended with Bablu and Sweety (Shriya Pilgaonkar), Guddu’s wife, dying at the hands of Munna and his men.

In the second season, Guddu and Golu (Shweta Tripathi Sharma), Sweety’s younger sister, are hell-bent on taking revenge for Bablu's murder and ultimately ruling Mirzapur.

Mirzapur (Season 2) has quite a few changes from the first season, the most prominent being in the primary characters. The short-tempered and impulsive Guddu has now become cold and calculating. He is angry for sure, but he has gained control over his emotions.

Golu hated the very idea of violence, but the deaths of Sweety and Bablu have transformed her, too. More serious and thoughtful now, she has taken up the gun and learnt how to shoot cold-bloodedly.

Munna was a wild monster earlier but in the second season we see a slow transformation in him as well. We begin to see a human side to him in the midst of all the evil.

It is to the credit of Ali Fazal, Shweta Tripathi Sharma and Divyenndu Sharma that the changes in their respective characters appear not just convincing but worthy of applause.

Kaleen Bhaiya remains the same, however, and rightly so. It is amazing how Pankaj Tripathi can invoke fear without doing much. In fact, he doesn’t even need to say much to convey his mood.

Another change in the second season is in the story and its treatment. This change, however, is not a good one. The first season told the simple tale of two siblings rising through the ranks of a criminal outfit and facing the consequences of crossing the line.

Going by how the first season ended and what the trailers for the second season showed, the viewer would have expected the simple story of whether Guddu and Golu succeed in their mission of taking over Mirzapur and avenging Bablu and Sweety.

But then this could not happen in the first or second episode, obviously. Viewers would have to wait till the final episode for the denouement. What to do till then? The question seems to have bothered the writers who have tried to fill the space by complicating the story and adding too many characters and subplots.

There is a moment in the second half of the season when Golu urges Guddu not to forget their goal. The viewer can relate to the warning very well, having waited and waited for the main characters to do what they set out to do. Clearly, Mirzapur (Season 2) has been needlessly stretched. Ten episodes, nine of them over 50 minutes long, was simply too much.

Things do hot up in the final episode, but by then you just want it all to end anyhow.

Thankfully, the performances fall in the 'jolly good' category and ensure that you don’t switch off even when the proceedings are dreary. The line-up includes Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Rasika Dugal, Harshita Gaur, Rajesh Tailang, Amit Sial, Shaji Chaudhary, Anil George and Pramod Pathak. The new entrants like Vijay Varma, Lilliput, Priyanshu Painyuli and Isha Talwar are also fabulous.

Mirzapur (Season 2) would probably have worked for viewers if it weren't a sequel to the intriguing and exciting first season.

Amazon Prime Video is now streaming Mirzapur (Season 2).