Tanaav 2 review: Despite its promise, season 2 part 1 fails to engage

While Tanaav Season 2, Part 1 has all the essential ingredients to fit the bill as a tense thriller, it falls short of being the gripping watch it aims to be.

The time gap between Season 1 and Season 2 is substantial enough that I had almost completely forgotten the previous storyline—and I’m sure many viewers feel the same. To recap briefly, Tanaav is an Indian adaptation of the famous Israeli series Fauda, which focuses on the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Set in Kashmir, Tanaav explores the tense dynamic between an anti-terrorist government task force and the separatist group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The show follows the relentless officer Kabir Farooqui (Manav Vij) and his team as they combat the terrorist leader Umar Riyaz and his followers. But the second instalment of Tanaav lacks that vigour, engagement and intensity needed to hold one's attention, leaving much to be desired.

Continuing from where Season 1 left off, Season 2 opens in the aftermath of Umar Riyaz’s death. Junaid (Shashank Arora) takes over as the new leader of Harkat, but he struggles to assert control as Fareed, also known as Al Damishk and Mir's son, returns after being trained by the Islamic State in Syria. Fareed's single-minded mission is to seek revenge from Kabir and his team for killing his father. This personal vendetta only intensifies the tension between Harkat and the task force, setting the stage for an escalating battle.

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Created and directed by Sudhir Mishra and his team, Tanaav aspires to surpass the surface-level portrayal of the Kashmir conflict. It attempts to delve into the complexities of how young, educated students pursuing careers as engineers are drawn into the world of terrorism. At the same time, the show examines the toll on national agents, highlighting how the line between their professional duties and personal lives begins to blur. This season, the war has become deeply personal for both sides as the losses on each end pile up. However, despite good intentions, Tanaav season 2 feels off. The action-packed sequences and dramatic plot points quickly become predictable and ineffective. Although the show doesn’t bog itself down with excessive details, the high-stakes moments fail to land with real emotional weight. Every episode seems to feature a chase sequence, but rather than generating tension and fear for the character, they feel repetitive and hollow.

Manav Vij’s portrayal of Kabir feels particularly uninspired this season; his character comes across as an angry version of Sunny Deol, constantly yelling, roaming around, and beating up adversaries without much nuance or depth. Meanwhile, Gaurav Arora, as Fareed, fits into the typical terrorist archetype but fails to instil the fear and menace that his role demands. The only bright spots in the season are when Rajat Kapoor steps into the frame, especially during the interrogation scenes, or when Shashank Arora and Ekta Kaul's performances lend layers of conflict to the characters of Junaid and Farah. Their arcs offer moments of intrigue, but beyond that, the plight of innocent Kashmiris and the emotional toll on the agents remain underexplored, never leaving a lasting impact. Although the show is grounded in its portrayal of Kashmir as it swiftly transitions its language between Hindi and the local dialects and is well-researched with its tactical operations choreographed by Abbas Ali Moghul.

Compared to the previous season, this one is lighter in tone and heavier on the action, clearly setting the stage for more significant events in Part 2, but it stumbles in execution. The narrative feels disjointed, constantly circling, making watching the six-part season a tiring experience, as it demands too much patience without offering a good payoff. The suspense falls flat, and the characters remain loosely connected, making it difficult to invest in the story. In short, Tanaav Season 2, Part 1, struggled to connect with me on any level, leaving me disappointed as this is a show helmed by Sudhir Mishra, whose filmography boasts of titles like Afwaah, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Inkaar, Chameli, and more! 

Tanaav season 2 part 1 is currently streaming on SonyLIV! 

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