Inside Edge season 2 review: Amazon original is like a thrilling game of IPL
Cricket aficionado or otherwise, Inside Edge season 2 has a lot to offer, and is not unlike a thrilling game of T20 with its highs and lows but enough moments to keep you wanting more.
Inside Edge season 2
Cast: Angad Bedi, Tanuj Virwani, Vivek Oberoi, Richa Chaddha, Aamir Bashir
Creator: Karan Anshuman
Much like the Indian Premier League (IPL) that it draws inspiration from, Inside Edge is an all-round entertainment package, with cricket at its core. Season 2 amps up the drama, with higher stakes, new rivalries, lust for power and more conniving characters.
The first season of Inside Edge went beyond the matches and overdone politics of team selection, taking viewers inside the murky underbelly of match-fixing and betting in T20 league cricket. It ended with an explosive cliffhanger, with up-and-coming bowler Prashant Kanaujia (Siddhant Chaturvedi) shooting his teammate Devender Mishra (Amit Sial), unable to take the caste slurs hurled at him on a regular basis.
While Inside Edge 2 takes off from where its predecessor ended, the writers - Karan Anshuman and his team - do a slapdash job when it comes to taking this particular storyline forward. Unlike when coach Niranjan Suri was killed, there isn’t so much as an investigation this time around, when a top cricketer is shot in the dressing room on the night of the Power Play League (PPL) final.
Minor flaws aside, Inside Edge 2 is brisk and engaging. The striking resemblance to real-life incidents, whether it is shifting the PPL to South Africa or the Jauhar protests over hurting religious sentiments, the make-believe world of Inside Edge 2 keeps you captivated. This is one of the biggest strengths of the series.
With Vikrant Dhawan (Vivek Oberoi) getting booted out of the Mumbai Mavericks, the team gets a new co-owner in Mantra Patil (Sapna Pabbi).
Richa Chadha returns as co-owner Zareena Malik, but gone is her naiveté. She displays the most interesting character arc, as she transforms into a calculating and manipulative businesswoman, who will stop at nothing to get where she wants. In fact, even in the testosterone-driven world of cricket, the women, be it Zareena or Rohini Raghavan (Sayani Gupta), are given equal agency.
The battle lines of the Power Play League are clearly drawn, with Vayu Raghavan (Tanuj Virwani) taking over as the captain of the Mumbai Mavericks and Arvind Vashishth (Angad Bedi) moving on to the Haryana Hurricanes.
At the centre of it all is Yashvardhan Patil aka Bhaisaab (Aamir Bashir), quietly pulling the strings.
The stellar performances - Aamir Bashir, Tanuj Virwani, Richa Chadha, Angad Bedi, Sayani Gupta, Vivek Oberoi and Siddhant Chaturvedi - propel Inside Edge 2 forward. However, the romantic angle between Vayu and Mantra feels shoehorned into the plot.
Cricket aficionado or otherwise, Inside Edge has a lot to offer, and is not unlike a thrilling game of T20 with its highs and lows but enough moments to keep you wanting more.