Much anticipated web series ‘Mirzapur 2’ finally released on Amazon Prime after almost a year-long wait, with adequate violence and drama duly in place.
Season one finished with the death of two important characters — Bablu Pandit (Vikrant Massey) and Sweety Gupta (Shriya Pilgaonkar) — and the new season is all about revenge.
Meanwhile, Guddu Pandit (Ali Fazal) and Golu (Shweta) will be seen locking horns with Kaleen Bhaiya (Pankaj Tripathi) and his son Munna Tripathi (Divyendu Sharma).
Die-hard fans, who stayed up all night and watched the 10-part web series gave their honest reviews on several forums and social media platforms, shunning a section of trolls trying to give
Die-hard fans, who stayed up all night and watched the 10-part web series gave their honest reviews on several forums and social media platforms, shunning a section of trolls trying to give 1-star rating keeping up with the ‘boycott trend’ over Ali Fazal’s CAA-NRC tweet.
Set in Uttar Pradesh, the web series also features Rasika Duggal, Vijay Verma, Rajesh Tailang, Sheeba Chadha, Priyanshu Painyuli and Isha Talwar.
Fazal, who stars as trigger-happy Guddu, credited the audience for keeping the show relevant since its release in 2018.
“All the characters have been constructed beautifully while ensuring that the story moved forward. It becomes hard in part two to top (what you’ve done). But the audience has kept us in the news for the past two years. That has been a pleasant surprise,” Fazal said.
Divyendu said the show’s fans ensured that the “hangover” of season one continues.
His character, the emotionally volatile Munna bhaiya, has been an audience favourite and a constant presence in the meme-world on social media.
“Every day there is a new meme, a new thing in the news. No matter how subtle we try to play its success, our audience didn’t let us. They told us everyday how much they loved the show, which meant a lot to us,” the actor said.
While the show gained immense popularity for all its lead characters, Tripathi, whose character Kaleen Bhaiya runs an illegal arms empire in Mirzapur while using his carpets business as a front, could only watch the show during the lockdown.
“I am usually critical about my work. Though I saw some flaws of mine and I don’t like to blow my own trumpet, I realised we have indeed made a brilliant show,” Tripathi said.
The “Gangs of Wasseypur” star said his character became so popular he had to often remind people that his real name wasn’t Kaleen Bhaiya.
“The character has given me so much that I feel even at the airport my boarding pass will be printed as Kaleen Bhaiya! People look at me and call me by the character and I have to explain them that it’s not my name,” the actor said.
The series is produced by Excel Media and Entertainment, created by Puneet Krishna and directed by Gurmmeet Singh and Mihir Desai.
Aparna Purohit, Head of India Originals, Amazon Prime Video, said with “Mirzapur” the team was sure they were “onto something very exciting.” “Every script that we read, every edit that we watched, we knew that this show is going to connect, that we are building something that will span multiple seasons. And of course, when you have crazy fandom like this show has, it only reaffirms that we had made the right decision for our audiences,” Purohit said.
Ritesh Sidhwani, Producer, Excel Entertainment, echoed Purohit’s sentiments and said the show could have come earlier had it not been for the coronavirus pandemic which delayed their release.
