The Israeli series Fauda (2015) came at a time of heightened hostility between Israel and Palestine in the West Bank – a situation that is now explosive. The slick show was about brave Israeli intelligence forces whipping evil Hamas militants. That Fauda was anti-Palestine propaganda was not lost on anyone.
The plot of Fauda’s first season was transferred to Tanaav, which is set in Kashmir and sees an anti-terrorist group battling militants. It was an uneasy fit, given how different the politics of the Kashmir conflict are. But the Sony LIV show worked as an action-heavy, emotion-packed thriller.
Tanaav 2 picks its plot from Fauda 2. However, conditions in the Kashmir Valley have changed. Without any political undercurrent, Tanaav 2 is merely a catch-a-terrorist mission, without any extra layers of on-ground reality.
The glum Kabir Farooqui (Manav Vij), pulled out of jam-making retirement in season one, is still glowering. Meanwhile, the show written by Sudhir Mishra and Adhir Bhat and directed by Mishra and E Niwas, acquires a new villain.
Fareed aka Al Damishk (Gaurav Arora) is the son of Mir (MK Raina), who was killed in the previous season. Trained by the Islamic State in Syria, Fareed returns with every intention to make the waning Kashmir fires rage once again.
There is a mention of peace talks between the Indian government and the separatist group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. That out of the way, Kabir’s team and the lone ranger Fareed can proceed to pull out all stops and pick their targets.
In spite of instructions to hold his horses by Harkat old guard Idris Lone (Mir Sarwar), Fareed’s aim is to kill Kabir and his family and then destroy Kashmir and the rest of India. He starts recruiting students willing to do his bidding.
There is no ambiguity about Fareed’s evil in this season. The cause is left by the wayside as he follows a path of vendetta and power-grabbing. Men like him will not allow peace, because it would rob them of their purpose, the series suggests.
Intelligence officer Jagjit Malik (Rajat Kapoor) is still around, scheming and plotting and having friendly chats with his identically named counterpart (Danish Husain) across the border. If relations between the top brass of India and Pakistan were so cordial, there would have been no problem in Kashmir at all.
Unlike the much more detailed first season, the second round seems lightweight. The action sequences by Abbas Ali Moghul are as terrific as before – as always, innocents suffer when hate poisons the air. The most sympathetic character is Farah (Ekta Kaul), the doctor whom the hot-headed Junaid (Shashank Arora) forced into marriage in the earlier season by taking advantage of her heartbreak over Kabir’s deception.
To crush Fareed, Kabir goes after Junaid without caring who gets hit. Unfortunately, the second season has been divided into two parts of six episodes each. The show ends just as the plot reaches an exciting point, compelling viewers to wait for the next instalment.
Quais Wasiq expertly shoots the deceptively placid landscape as well as the fight sequences. The pace seldom lags.
Manav Vij, Rajat Kapoor and Ekta Kaul hold the show with their performances. Kapoor’s calm is deadlier than Vij’s constant fury. When the two are in the same shot, it is like a heat haze shimmering in the air.
Also read:
‘Tanaav’ review: ‘Fauda’ remake rushes past important questions
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