‘The Night Manager’ Review – Wraps Up Early
I don’t understand why Sandeep Modi and Sridhar Raghavan, the creators of the 2023 Bollywood series “The Night Manager,” decided to release only four episodes first. Just when the story gets more interesting, the viewers are left hanging with pre-mature end credits!
The Hindi version of the 2016 British series, with the same name, follows the story of Shaan Sengupta, played by Aditya Roy Kapoor. Shaan, a former navy man, works as a night manager at a five-star hotel in Sri Lanka. While on duty, he attempts to save a young girl from the clutches of evil men. His involvement leads to an undercover operation to expose Shailendra Rungta, also known as Shelly (played by Anil Kapoor), a top businessman who deals in illegal arms. Will Shaan successfully infiltrate Shelly’s inner circle and help Indian officials put him behind bars?
While the story and screenplay are far-fetched, it’s the riveting performances by Aditya Roy Kapoor, Anil Kapoor and Tillotama Shome that keeps the series interesting. Tillotama Shome plays passionate workaholic Indian agent Lipika Saikia Rao, who is hellbent on bringing down Shelly, and handles the logistics for Shaan to get close to the arms dealer. Saswata Chatterjee also stood out in his supporting role as Brij, Shelly’s sarcastic sharp right-hand man who has a weakness for men, but at once smells something shady about the handsome Shaan. Anil Kapoor pulls off the shrewd manipulative cold-blooded ‘merchant of death’ role in style, he adds a suave ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ touch to the character – while not dealing in weapons and murders, he puts up the charade of an altruistic cheery businessman with a genuine soft side for his young son.
The first four episodes are pretty pacy and frill free, I feared they’d dilute the thriller with a sobby romance between Shaan and Shelly’s girlfriend Kaveri (Sobhita Dhulipala), but that wasn’t the case. Spread over India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the cinematography captures varied landscapes and it was nice to see Dhaka not being drenched in dusty orange tints. It’s a little difficult to critique just this first instalment, because only part II can help decide if this show is worth streaming. It’s intriguing so far, even if exaggerated for effect.
It’s a 7/10 from me. Stream it on Disney Hotstar.
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